“An Agitation Has Been Got up”; the Sale of the German Properties

Abstract

This chapter covers the build-up to the Nigeria Debate. A Lagosian merchant lobbying in London successfully projected an image of a colony economically subject to a ring of seven firms. Law resisted the Liverpool companies’ pressure to bar neutrals from the sale of the German sites. United over this, the firms disagreed about creating a new company to take over the properties. This scuppered their negotiations on amalgamation. Sir Edward Carson, the leading oppositional politician, took over the agitation as part of his campaign against alleged German influence over the government. Law seized the opportunity to counter-attack, saying his policy was to break a Liverpool ring formed “to squeeze the natives over palm kernels and other things”.