People's Pilot, Volume 5, Number 37, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 March 1896 — FRANCE IS IRRITATED [ARTICLE]

FRANCE IS IRRITATED

PROTESTS AGAINST SOUDAN EXPEDITION. LorA Buffer) n Asked to Explain the Purpose of Sending British Troops Dp the Nile Britain Felt at Paris. Paris, March 18.—The French government up to this time has not defined its position toward the proposal to dispatch an Egyptian expedition up the Nile. There is reason to believe that the proposal came as a surprise to the French government. French statesmen had been entertaining the hope that an opening of negotiations was near at hand looking to the evacuation of Egypt by the British troops. Nextto the sovereignty of Germany over Alsace-Lorraine, probably the greatest source of irritation known to French diplomacy is the British occupation of Egypt. The present move od Great Britain’s part is doubly irritating, coming as a check to hopes which French statesmen had allowed themselves to entertain. The first intimation of the probable course France will take in view of the new conditions in Egypt came Tuesday. A sensation has been caused by the announcement made by M. Berthelot, minister of foreign affairs, in the cabinet meeting, that he had asked the British ambassador, the marquis ot Dufferin, for information regarding the proposed advance of British-Egyptian troops up the Nile, and had pointed out to him the serious consequences of such an advance. This warning note may be a preliminary to more decided steps. The prevailing sentiment expressed here is one of indignation at the course adopted by Great Britain, and the general feeling is that France must adopt a decisive tone in dealing with the matter.

France is not deciding upon the course she will pursue without a full understanding with her Russian ally and it is announced that numerous telegrams have passed between Paris and St. Petersburg on the subject. It is understood here that Great Britain also sounded the Russian government before announcing the Egyptian program. But the action of the czar in conferring upon the Negus Menelek the military order of St. George is accepted as peremptory notice that Russia has no sympathy with Great Britain’s plans foi aiding and relieving the Italians in Africa.

As one of the guaranteeing powers to the Egyptian bondholders, France has more than the usual interest of the other powers in the disposal of Egyptian revenues, and she may refuse to consent to the cost of the Nile campaign being charged to the Egyptian budget. The skepticism semi-officially expressed by the French government as to the alleged necessity of the campaign in the interest of Egypt indicates a purpose to try to restrain the disposal oi Egyptian revenues. The apprehensions aroused in France by a British campaign up the Nile extend beyond Egypt, beyond Dongola and Khartoum and into central Africa and the sources of the Nile, where French colonial expansion has been as active or more active than it has been in Tonking and up the Mekong. This French expansion threatens to absorb the valley of the Nile itself, and to push on to the borders of the Italian possessions in Ethiopia, thus forming an obstruction between British Uganda and Egypt. Great Britain has viewed these encroachments with impatience, and French observers do not fail to note thht even liberal members of the British parliament express the belief that Lord Salisbury is looking to reoccupying the Soudan and opening the way to the British possessions in South Africa. France fears that the Egyptian advance to Dongola covers a British advance to Khartoum and to Uganda and an interference with her prosperous colonial expansion in central Africa. The British occupation of Egypt is sufficiently galling in Itself, but more so in its threats to French plans in Africa beyond Egypt. London, March 18. —A dispatch from Rome to the Times says that the Marquis di Rudini’s statement regarding the new. government’s, policy in Africa has not produced a good impression, and is considered pointless and indicative of an uncertain policy. The comment of the press is mostly unfavorable. Kltirhener Will Command Cairo, March 18—Sir H. H. Kitchener, the brigadier-general in command of the Egyptian forces, has been definitely appointed to command the Brit-ish-Egyptian expedition which will advance April 1 on Wada-Halfa up the Nile and toward Dongola.