AN UNKNOWN QUANTITY.
What is a "Sphere of Influence"?
Say, warlike Wissmann; tell, pugnacious Pinto
(Whom England had to give so sharp a hint to).
The talk about the thing is now immense.
John Bull, the German, and the Portuguee,
Claim each a "sphere," and that alone makes three;
But what and where are they upon the map?
And do they intersect or overlap?
One wonders what they are and where they can lie.
Stanley flouts Emin, Emin rounds on Stanley;
On Shire's shore raid Portuguese fire-eaters;
Somewhere it seems the problematic Peters
Stirs troubles still in toiling for the Teuton.
Fergusson's diplomatically mute on
The matter, but it scarcely seems chimerical
To say these rivalries are mostly spherical.
Delimitation's talked of, and indeed
'Tis needful, in the face of grabbing greed.
Perhaps a pair of geometric compasses
Might stop these rival rumpusses;
For in these "Spheres of Influence" Punch hears
Anything but the "Music of the Spheres."
