Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1878-08-03
GAmBETTA ON THE TREATY

great french hepuDllCdu leduSr Oh
the Berlin treaty; from which it
would appear that the hostility to
that compact so much spoken of by
its enemies is not shared by the
dominant party in French politics.
Itisthe Imperialist faction in France
which tries to make mischief in the
matter, just as it would seize upon
any other with which it could hope
to wound the Republican admins
tratiOn, even though it might cut
its own throat in doing so.
'Gambetta, who has rapidly de-
veloped from a wild, theOretic
enthusiast into a wise, practical
statesman, cannot fail to see that is
of vital importance to France to
cherish the British alliance and a
cordial understanding with the
Western powers of Europe as cOun-
terbalance to the reinstated triple
alliance of the Emperors of Ger
many, Austria and Russia. Now
that the Eastern question is tempo
rarily laid on the shelf, that alliance
is probably re-established in full
force, and France, since 1871, has
looked upon such a union of the
three Eastern powers as a standing
menace to herself.
Only two considerations act
against this weighty one, and they
are both trivial. One of these is the
feeling, which chafes many French
men still, that things go on in .Eu-
rope without tie consent of France
being asked, whereas in former
days they knew, or at least thought,
that neither war nor peace could be
undertaken in Europe without the
consent of Ia grGnde nation. But
the disaster of Sedan has cured some
of these illusions.
The other feeling relied upon by
the Imperialists in cultivating dis
content with the present admins
! tratiOn is the idea that French in
terests in the East are imperiiled /;
but the best sedative for this feeling
is to enquire what are French inter
ests in the East. Let this question
be put seriously and the answer
studied dispassionately, and the in
evitable conclusion will be that
practically France has no interest Ia
the East. Look for them and what
do you find? In Egypt? 1t is a
| sort of habit in the French mind
to think that France ought some
time or another to be doing some
thing in Egypt. The idea seems to
have originated in the time of the
first Napoleon, and it is an indis-
tinct impression that that great man
did something very brilliant in
Egypt, and something ought to have
come of it. That Napoleon did in
wade Egypt in the early period OF
his career is quite certain, and that
Kleber did some very splendid cav
airy fighting there, and that the
ScaUdns who accompanied the expe-
ditiOn brought out very splendid
book about Egypt when they sue
ceeded in getting home; but the
triumph which the practical mind
of the first Napoleon most appreci-
ated himself was his getting out OF
it, Struggled in a merchant brig
which ran the Blockade of the Brit
ish fleet, while Kleber and the army
Of invasion had to wait there till
peace was established. Egypt was
never anything practically to Ma
poleOn 1. but a prison he was glad
to get out Of-thOugh, of course, he
had to blow a little when he got
home.
But the French have interests in
Syria. These are even more shad'
owy than those in Egypt ; they con
sist solely in the right stipulated tC
France by a treaty with the Otto,
man Porte that the French Roman
Catholic priests at Jerusalem are tC
have certain privileges of priority in
the ceremonies of the Holy Shrine
there, these privileges being sym
bolised by the possession of a certain
golden key, giving them priority o.
access over certain Greek priests
who are backed by the Russian
Government. When the Jewish
BeacOnsfield assured the free-think-
ing WaddingtOn at Berlin thai
these privileges should be regarded
with the most punctual reverence
sardonic grin must have over
spread the cOuntenances of the dip
lomatic chiefs, something like thai
which Cicero tells us passed between
the augurs when they met one an
other in the streets of Rome.
The idea of France having inn
pOrtant interests in the East is 6
tradition from those days a hundred
and fifty years ago, when, before
the days of the great Lord Give, il
seemed more likely that France
than England would acquire The
Empire of India. The practical
mind of Gambetta perceives clearly
enough that there is nothing in al
this to counterbalance the vita
necessity of cordial understanding
between England and France; an6
France as well as Gambetta is grow
ing practical.
Italy, it is true, has been talking
loud, but Italy has much to do be
fore she can speak as if she were the
Roman Empire re-established.
A GROAN FOR THE KHEDIVE.
In a paper from the correspond