PRANCE. 



Egypt to abandon in 1884. As the French were the 

 first to reach Fashoda, and had taken it from bar- 

 barism, to ask them to evacuate it previous to all 

 discussion would be to formulate an ultimatum, to 

 which France could make only one reply. In a 

 conversation with M. de Courcel, Lord Salisbury 

 said that M. Marchand had established himself sur- 

 reptitiously in the rear of the Mahdi while the lat- 

 ter was occupied in fighting the Anglo-Egyptian 

 anuv. The French ambassador could not see how 

 t he French could be blamed for taking advantage 

 of the Mahdi's difficulties, still less for co-operat- 

 ing with the English. He spoke of the injustice of 

 France being excluded from the Nile, to which Ger- 

 many and Belgium were admitted. When Lord 

 Salisbury declined to discuss the substance of the 

 matter iii dispute. M. de Courcel said that the evac- 

 uation of Fashoda was not an issue, but that this 

 should be preceded by a friendly delimitation, as 

 France was ignorant of the limit of the pretensions 

 Mf Kngland, either for herself or for Egypt. Lord 

 Salisbury would not reply respecting a delimita- 

 tion without first consulting his colleagues. M. 

 Delcasse, in a dispatch dated Oct. 8, asked by 

 virtue of what mandate and in what way the 

 title invoked by England could be better than 

 the French, assuming that Egyptian rights over 

 the territories in question had not lapsed, and on 

 Oct. 10 M. de Courcel, while regarding as unusual 

 the claim of Egypt to territories formerly belong- 

 ing to her in spite of the transformations produced 

 by conquests and evolutions, asked how it was that 

 this claim was not set up against France by an 

 Kiryptian minister nor by a representative of the 

 Sultan's sovereignty, but by the Prime Minister of 

 England. Neither treaties concluded with Ger- 

 many or other third parties nor the unilateral dec- 

 laration of an English Under secretary of State in 

 the British Parliament sufficed to create for En- 

 gland a right superior to French pretensions. If 

 the English claimed the upper Nile regions as com- 

 ing in their sphere of influence or in that of Egypt, 

 the French were not less entitled to claim, as be- 

 longing to their sphere of influence, territories 

 opening an outlet on the Nile that are the continu- 

 ation of their possessions in Central Africa. Be- 

 tween these rival pretensions a delimitation had 

 become indispensable. On Oct. 12 M. de Courcel 

 said that if the legitimacy of Egyptian pretensions 

 were acknowledged, it was not proved that the 

 pp'-ence of French troops was necessarily a deroga- 

 tion of them or was more incompatible with the 

 authority of the Khedive than the presence of 

 Knirli-h troops in territories more unquestionably 

 Rgyptiaa. Lord Salisbury replied that a mixed 

 Ooeapttton of Egypt would present inconveniences. 

 The ambassador then reminded him that England, 

 when her troops entered the old Equatorial Prov- 

 ince of Kgypt. raised her own flag, not the Egyp- 

 tian, adding that the two or three years in which 

 the Bahr el Ghazal province had been under the 

 rule of Egypt afforded a slender basis for an in- 

 alienable legitimacy such as had never been set 

 up in respect to territory in Europe. In answer to 

 Sali-l>ury's claim of the right of conquest, he said 

 that the Hah r el Ghazal had been occupied for sev- 

 eral years l>y the French, and that it was not a 

 Matidi-t territory when they entered it. for they 

 MMOantend no dervishes there. Lord Salisbury 

 objected U>the French forces on the Bahr el Ghazal 

 as being too feeble for an effective occupation and 

 unable to defend the territory against the claims of 

 :>t. M. de Courcel replied that they were 

 small bodies of Well-trained native troops" under 

 French officers, capable of being re-enforced by 

 Jowl levies from friendly tribes, such forces as suf- 

 fice. I to uphold European rule in all parts of Africa 



in all normal exigencies, but certainly not sufficient 

 to cope with an army equipped and organized in 

 the European manner. If Lord Salisbury meant 

 that the sirdar's forces could compel Capt. Mar- 

 chand to withdraw as far as they liked, it would be 

 necessary to quit the ground of diplomacy. Lord 

 Salisbury reasserted the British claim to the whole 

 basin of the Nile, and even this extreme boundary, 

 M. de Courcel said, could not be fixed in the Bahr el 

 Ghazal region without a compromise, for at differ- 

 ent seasons the streams run in different directions. 

 Lord Salisbury then asked the French ambassador 

 to make proposals, and the latter claimed for the 

 French territories of the Congo basin the possession 

 of their natural outlet on the Nile, namely, the 

 valley of the Bahr el Ghazal, urging that it was the 

 common interest of both countries not to intercept 

 this natural Central African trade route, the use of 

 which might be guaranteed to trade by special 

 stipulations analogous to those concluded for the 

 Niger territories. The question of Fashoda would 

 disappear if England would agree to a delimitation 

 of the territories between Lake Chad and the Nile, 

 the only task remaining in Africa. 



Lord Salisbury would not answer until he had 

 seen his colleagues. The Cabinet council decided 

 to demand the evacuation of Fashoda before enter- 

 ing upon any discussions. The naval preparations 

 of England and the warlike temper of her people 

 convinced the French Government that negotia- 

 tions had better be postponed until the English 

 were in a calmer mood. When Lord Salisbury 

 demanded, on Nov. 1, the unconditional withdrawal 

 of the French post at Fashoda the new French 

 Cabinet decided to endure the humiliation rather 

 than precipitate a war over such an incident, the 



Ssition at Fashoda being in any case untenable. 

 ,pt. Marchand, who had gone to Cairo, was or- 

 dered to return and to withdraw his force through 

 Abyssinian territory to Jiboutil. 



Colonies. The colonies of France are repre- 

 sented in the Senate and Chamber. Algeria has an 

 administration and laws independent of the col- 

 onies, and is regarded as an outlying portion of 

 France. The other possessions are governed in 

 accordance with laws passed by the Chambers by 

 officials who are responsible to the Cabinet. 



The area and population of the French colonies 

 and protectorates, according to the most recent 

 estimates and returns, are given as follow : 



