San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1896-04-02
RoOHEFORT ON GREAT BRITAIN.
England Will Fight and Will Not EvaC-
uate Egypt.

uate bgypt'
NEW YORK, April "A dispatch
to the Herald from Paris says:
The European edition OF the Her
aid prints the following signed
statesman from NJ. Henri Ronche-
fort: "There are two things to
which England will never consent,
construction of a bridge over the
channel and the evacuate OF
Egypt.
an. Cavendish Bentinck, a men,
Der of her Britannia majesty's
privy council, once said to me in
London:
awe are perfectly willing to al
low engineers to study the means
of linking Great Britain with the
continent Of Europe, but the strait
which we call our silver streak is
our defense and we shall never al
low it to be bridged,'
"Much the same holds good with
regard to Egypt. The English
will continue to let the powers pro-
test against the continual delays
in evacuation, but they are daily
growing more determined not to
quit. Her majesty's government
processes for the diplomacy of
Europe, particularly for the d.
plomacy Of Europe, particularly
for the diplomacy Of France, an in.
tense disdain. 1t believes, per-
haps, with good reason, that it is
equal to the task of playing of all
the Tallyrands and all the Meter
nichs of the old world, and it Is in
this thorough confidence in itself
that ii finds its chief strength.
This the British government
for that matter has just proved,
by inducing the commissioners Of
the Egypt debt, those Of France
and Russia excepted, to authorize
payment which is nothing but
loan in disguise out Of the 10000
600 francs of the reserve debt.
''During the last two years OF my
exile / was the witness of Excess
sive work, the object Of which was
the improvement Of the fleet Of
the united kingdom. The most
important contention served as a
pretext for the building OF war ves-
sells. In reality England was
aware that the insufficient reasons
alleged for the maintenance Of her
troops in Egypt would not long
pass muster, aud was making pre-
parations for possible war, to
which indeed in my opinion she
has quite made up her mind not
withstanding Prince Bisma-ck's
insulting prediction that England
will astoEish the world by her
cowardice.
"The expedition to Dongola, per-
chance to Suakim, was invented
only in order to justify a refusal to
withdraw from Egypt the army
which Lord Salisbury, on the con.
trary, has decided on reinforcing.
He is not a little pugnacious by
character. He will evoke the
spectre OF a Soudan invasion as a
blow comparable to that of 1884,
when OF the 10000 men under Gen.
Hicks none returned to tell the
story of the disaster. He will rack
his Imagination to invent grounds
acceptable or not for the everlast-
ing prolongation of the British &C.
cupation, but whatever happens,
whatever response he receives, or
whatever objections may be made
he will not evacuate Egypt.
"This is my firm conviction,
based upon numerous converse
tions l had on the subject with
several members OF the house of
commons, particularly with Irish
mem bers who, being opposed to
English police had no reason to
conceal its undercurrent from me.
"The English papers are pleased
to state that the death OF the
mahdi caused disruption among
the fanatics who made Of him a
new prophet. That Is, L believe, a
serious error in which eros channel
chauvinism will be wrong to take
stock. The question our diplomats
are vsinly endeavoring to solve,
will perhaps be settled by the
Soudanese, and il Egypt is ever to
be evacuated by the English, 1t
will be battle waged before the
walls of Dongola, as before Suakim,
that will determine the evacuation
question. HENRI RoCHEFoRT."
Russian Taught at Harvard.