The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1896-03-20
FRENCHNEN PROTEST.
Against the Use Of the Egyptian
Fund for Bngland's Advance,
BUT WILL NOT GO TO EXTREMES

L.
"AHH NOi w " LA i'i'4'i ''''
In Endeavoring to Obstruct the Nile Expe-
dition-They Deny the Necessity of the
,,..,.tt,i,.,. . . ,,...... r. ,...,,.... -
AsSptiah interests Against the DerVishes
pARrs March oo -I,o.,,nt ,,tir,7os II, bo
tbe obief tonic of discnssior in tbe loIbies
/ of tbe chamber of dcnnties and the state
mont made In, tho r,inistor Of foroion of.
fairs M RorfboIot o1ds obnndont frosb
material for discussion Tho General foel.
inc is that NJ RertboIot,s 1o1ou,ce ,vns
moderate and cautious and if has served
/ to dispel the anxiety of tbe moderate noli-
| ticinns who were consumed with the feor
that France was rusbin, TO an omen run.
ture with Great Britain and the dreibund
ns a result of the semi-oficinl announce
ment of the remonstrance which had been
conveyed bv NJ Berthelot to the british
ambassador.
AS the situation adjusts itself and the
intentions of the different parties to the
European balance begin to emerge. it be-
comes more and more evident that France
is not prepared to take any extreme meas
,res to avert the Nile campaign. Not that
she likes it any better than when it was
first broached 1t would be hard to find a
Frenchman who sees in the proposed cam
paign ANYTHING but plan of aggression
on the mart of Great Britain. They all
DENY utterly that there is any need for it
ms a measure of. protection of Egyptian
interests AGAINST the dervishes.
They protest that Frances interest in
the welfare of Egypt is equal to or greater
than Great Britain's or the other powers.
IT is pointedAy argued that a large ma
iority of all the Egyptian fund holders are
French citizens, and that if Egyptian in
terests were really threatened by the der
wishes France would have as much inter
est in protectinp them as Great Britain
She also. it is argued, has greater inter
est in the nrevention of the destination of
the Egvntian surnlus in needless expense
than has Great Britain.
Tho only purnoses which anyone in
France will consent to see in the British
plan are. first. an excuse for prolonging
ipdeAnitelv the hated occupation of Epvpt
NV the british troops. and second, a reoc-
cnnation of the Soudan with the intention
of barring o. the future designs of France for
a nrosnerous colonial expansion on the
unner Nile
M Rertbelot referred Yesterday to the
dangers which would result from arous-
ing religions fanaticism. not only to Egypt
bnt which in the language of the minis
ter of foreign affairs tmioht even extend
to tbe possessions of France and other
Euronean nationsu the precipitation of a
holy war of the fanatical Moslem hordes
of the Khalifa Abudalla would be viewed
with CONSERVATION in France. The growth
of France's sphere of influence east of
Lake Tchad in central Africa has ex-
tended over pretty much all the Mahom-
etan states of Baghuiri, Wadai and Darfur
Tbere is the keenest disappointment
felt Mt Germany's assenting to Great Brit
aims proposal to expend the Egyptian sur
plus on the Nile campaign. The German
and French colonial projects in central
Africa have been conducted on the most
friendly terms, and have submitted in
common to the grumbling disapproval of
Great Britain. The Franco German agree
ment accords France the unrestricted right
to acquire territory to the eastward of her
present possessions, even to the point of
intervening between British Uganda and
the southern Egyptian possessions. Rea-
soning from past accord with Germany in
central Africa, French statesmen seem to
have entertained a hope that Germany
would decline to acuuiesce in a British
nroiect TO thwart French plans on the up.
per Nile. But the promise of aid to Italy,
Germany's hard pressed ally, that would
extricate her from her unpleasant predic-
: ament in Abyssinia. seems to have been
an inducement that Germany could not
bring herself TO decline
Neyertbeless France is not prepared to
90 IN extreme measures in obstructing the
TiIo ovnodition Francb statesmen arc
-.
4 EngIishmen themselves, Thev are well