230 THE COLONIAL EXPANSION OF FRANCE 



The Third Republic marks a signal advance. To some, colonies 

 seemed poor compensations, but nevertheless compensations for 

 Alsace. The brightening of the situation in Algeria was an incentive 

 for wider experiments. The consciousness of the growing inferiority 

 of France in territorial extent as compared with the great powers of 

 the world also encouraged the expansion idea. The ol)jection that 

 the stationary population of France is fatal to expansion is rather an 

 argument for it. The birth-rate of Frenchmen has always been higher 

 in the temperate colonies than at home. In Algeria it is 15 per thou- 

 sand higher than in Vermont and 11 higher than in France. In 

 Tunis it is double that of Vermont and 1-4 per thousand higher than 

 in France. This, however, is not of much moment, inasmuch as 

 most of the French territories cannot become the permanent home 

 of Europeans. 



COLONIES ESSENTIAL TO A GREAT POWER 



Colonies, to many, have appeared necessary to progress, and their 

 lack or their subordinate importance as leading to retrogression. 

 " Colonization," says M. Paul Leroy-Beaulieu, " is for France a ques- 

 tion of life and death." It means self-propagation and self-protec- 

 tion. In order not to be behind the great powers, she must share in 

 that great movement of territorial enlargement which is a common 

 trait of great nations. 



Without the shedding of much blood, France established a pro- 

 tectorate over Tunis. Senegal became the starting point of a march 

 eastward, continued until the French flag waved over Timbuktu, the 

 mysterious city of Tennyson, "shadowing forth tlie unattainable." 

 French Guinea, the Ivory Coast, Dahomev, and the French Koniio 

 were extended eastward and northward until they met, and with the 

 Sahara, Tunis, and Algeria formed a continuous whole from the Kongo 

 River and the Ubangi to Algiers, practicallv the whole of northwestern 

 Africa, with the exception of important territorial indentations on the 

 coast held by different European powers and Morocco. 



On the east side of Africa, France endeavored to regain Madagascar, 

 wlience she had been so cleverly expelled by Lord Faripihar. She 

 succeeded in establishing a protectorate, and as the Hovas eluded its 

 consequences in 1895, General Duchesne led a brave little army to 

 the heights of Emyrnaand seized the capital, Antananarivo. Dij)lo- 

 matic considerations led France to annex the island, though her 

 intention was only to secure a real protectorate. 



