Birmingham age-herald., 1895-04-07
SHE DROPS TIE MASK. Belgium Will Side With La Belle
 France.
THE OUTLOOK IS oMIEeUs
The Strain Becomes lntenSi- fled, and England Is at
 a Disadvantage.

LONDON, April 6.-According to the lat est foreign advices Belgium, both dipio- matcally and practically, will support France in her claims in the upper Nile val ley. The Belgian Congo State exp. dition under Vankerchoven, which started in 1893, effected a march towards the Nile, penetrating to great distance inland- This is all that was generally known of the expedition until very recently, it's move- ments having been kept dark. Through & representative of Com mmandant Tranquil, who has left in charge of the advance Iost which VauKerchoven established, the fact has been disclosed that a number of Belgian forts have been erected on the upper Nile basis. This is the first authoritative Information that the expedition had penetrated to the upper Nile that has been made public. Cons mandant Frauqu has made report to the administration Inf the Congo State, inform- ing the auth critics that Dervisaes are mem acing his position and urgently requesting that endorsements be sent him before it shall be too late. On the strength of this it is said that King Leopold Is proj jscting another expedition with the ostensibls purpose of strengthening the outposts of the former one. F
 It is suspected in the foreign office, how ever, bUab unu6T au HRTeeHeub WIZ T TduCcg concluded in the autumn of 1894, King Leopold will cC-operate with France in tue establish ment of a Franco Belgian position on the left bank of the upper Nile before the English can secure similar position and accurately define their claims.
 H. Hanatoux, the French minister of foreign affairs, demands that England, as the first step in the pending negotiations, shall define what are supposed to be the boundaries of her sphere of influence. r. .s. I,s-. l., k-1 l. policy of the foreign office. The sultan of Turkey holds the suzerainty of the whole region in question, including the equato- rial province formerly governed by Emin Pasha. A section of the ca binet are reported to bs in favor of making a decisive declara- tion claiming the whole valley of the upper Nile to be within the British sphere and denying that the sultan has any rights in the Emin territory. It is believed that M. Hanotaux is willing to refer to arbitration or conference, but on the other hand it ,s expected that England is afraid to do either lest the question of her occupation of Egypt should becom involved. In this mood the British government rejects the considera- tion of either question in an impartial way. In the meantime the diplomatic ad- vantage rests with France, and the strain between the two governments, despite the pacific words of M. Hanotaux, becomes in tensitied.
 The political situation is decidedly tame.
  pectation that the house of lords will ab- solutely reject the Welsh church disestab. lishment bill, have been badly shaken up by well founded report that Lord Salis- bury is in communication with the bishops for the purpose of advising them that tho better way to treat the bill would be simply to alter it in the committee in the house of lords, so as to secure generous terms for the church. Meanwhile, however, the bishops refuse to be parties to a compro- r,ioo hut f ip Hal hat wi n ally be brought around to Lord Salisbury,s way, of thinking.
 The efforts of Archbishop Walsh and Croke to reunite the Irish parties have not been successful. The Parneilites demanded the cession of them of several seats, but the anti-Parnellites refused to accede to this demand. Subsequently both factions declined to entertain the suggestion of conference on the subject and the matter may therefore be regarded as having fallen through.
 Sir Henry James has introduced in the house of commons a bill imposing pen atty for the utterance of any false state- ment regarding the character or conduct of any candidate for election to parliament which may be circulated during contest for a seat, and providing that seat shall be loet if the opposing candidate or election agent shall be found to be responsible for such statement.
 Agents for the Spanish government are active in England in making contracts for immediate delivery of large supplies of military stores, ammunition, etc., the Spanish reserve supplies having fallen be- low the minimum. These contracts are fer delivery in Spain to replace the decline caused by the drafts from Cuba.
 The foreign office is in receipt of dis patch from Sir Hill Currie, British ann bassador at Constantinople, intimating that certain Armenian bishops are urging the creation of an Armenian council, com posed of clergymen and laymen, to admin ister the affairs of the provinces under chieftaip.
 TWO NOTABLE FEATURES.