CHAPTER XL EXTINGUISHING GERMANY'S PLACE IN THE SUN /'^ERMAN colonial activity is in the main a ^^ Post-Bismarckian development. For the Iron Chancellor remote and insanitary African holdings were not worth the bones of a single Pomeranian grenadier. To the close of his public career Bis- marck concentrated his attention, his interest upon Europe. It was only after he was sent into retire- ment that Germany tardily entered the race for pos- sessions beyond the seas. The new policy brought with it new perils and new rivalries. It was natural that Modern Ger- many, breaking her flag out on every sea, year after year distancing ancient rivals and pressing close upon English heels, should view with resentment a condi- tion in which her ships were at the mercy of the English, the French, even the Portuguese and the Dutch colonial ports. Nowhere about the Seven Seas was Germany in possession of naval or com- mercial bases such as some of the most insignificant of nations possessed. To repair the situation the successors of Bismarck hastily endeavored to plant the German flag upon such territories as had not yet been taken by other 225