University of Warwick institutional repository: http://go.warwick.ac.uk ...

236,
1889,. " "The truth is, we must either advance or recede.
There is no standing still. If we recede now, other powers
will sooner or later take our place, a permanent barrier
will be established between the two principal spheres of
British influence in Africa, and South Africa will be
definitely cut off from the possibility of expansion to
the northward. " 0)
! tyaaaland was, not regarded as
suitable for annexation on its own merits alone, but was
seen as a crucial test cane in Britich participation in the
scramble.
The Scottish missions had been anxious an early
as 1879 about possible Portuguese expansion into the Nyasa
region, and James Stevenson was writing apprehensively to
the Foreign Office, agin, in 1883. It wan in 1885 that
the Scottish interests began to put pressure on the
Government to intervene in Eant/Central Africa. They
asked outright for a British protectorate in the Nyasa
areal on 20th February 188.51 a deputation from the Scottish
Churches and the Lakes Company, backed by the A. S. ", saw
Granville and asked "that liar Majesty's Government
authorize the African Lakes Company to hoist the British
(1) I bid, extract from Pnl1 Mall Gazette
t 28th May 1889.