Algiers is the chief coaling station in the Mediterranean, having become so largely at the expense of Gibraltar.
Shortly afterwards his term of office was brought to a close by the failure of an attempt to secure for Italy a coaling station at Sanmen and a sphere of influence in China; but his policy of active participation in Chinese affairs was continued in a modified form by his successor, the Marquis Visconti Venosta, who, entering the reconstructed Pelloux cabinet in May 1899, retained the portfolio of foreign affairs in the ensuing Saracco administration, and secured the despatch of an Italian expedition, 2000 strong, to aid in repressing the Chinese outbreak and in protecting Italian interests in the Far East (July 1900).
In 1877 the American consul hoisted his country's flag, but the action was repudiated by his government, which, however, in 1878 obtained Pago Pago as a coaling station and made a trading treaty with the natives.
It serves as a coaling station for men-of-war and as a highroad to Abyssinia.
Its harbour affords ample accommodation for the largest fleets, it is a coaling station for the British navy, the headquarters of the British military forces in West Africa, the sea terminus of the railway to the rich oil-palm regions of Mendiland, and a port of call for all steamers serving West Africa.
