The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-10-05

Against tho Conservatives by the Liberal
Leader in EngIand-irouble Brewing
With France In tho Soudan-Postponing
an Answer to the American Monetary
Commission.
Copyright by the Associated Press.)
London, October 1.-The question,
ironically asked by the conservative
press relatively to the whereabouts of
the liberals leaders, has been answered
in trip-hammer style during the past
week by the speeches of Mr.. John Nor
ley, the former chief secretary for Ire
land; Mr.. H. H. Asquith, the former
home secretary, and Mr.. George w. E.
Russell, former under secretary Of
state for India. Disgrace abroad"
and disaster at home" were the tenor
Of all the speeches. as was to be ex-
pected; but it must be admitted that
h arraignment is approved by the
consciences of many conservatives,
when they recall the record OF the last
few years. Mr.. Russell, in dealing with
the subject, recalled Prince Bismark's
verdict of Lord Salisbury as being "a
lath painted to look like iron," n
Lord Randolph Churchills later esti-
mate OF the premier as being 1.-The
greatest funk in Europe" Mr.. Russell
added his own opinion Of Lord Sails
bury, namely, "Frailty, thy name is
Cecil"
The recent ~by-election in East Den
bighshire, resulting in a greatly in
creased liberal majority, seems to be a
warning that the people are wearying
Of the laundering which has marked
Lord S~alisbury's policy.
Mr.. Russell recalled recent instances
in which he said h premier always
started with a fine display of vigOr
which "oOzes away so soon as his OPP
ponents shows fight" Continuing Mr..
Russell said Lord Salisbury backed
down before Secretary Olney and is now
backing down before Secretary Sher-
man and that during the course of the
peace negotiations between Greece n
Turkey the car and Emperor William
handled Lord Salisbury so effectually
that he was made to eat his own pro-
nOuncementS
Unless the signs are deceiving, trou-
BILE is brewing in west Africa between
the British and the French who, since
1889, have trouble their prOctOrate in
western Soudan, and the great bulk of
the accession to French territory has
ptcu CdINcQ ouL VI CoullIy SCICl ally
regarded as being within the British
sphere OF influence.
There are mysterious stories afloat of
disturbances at Lagos, on the west
a. of Africa, and the movements of
British troops to h a part of the world
from adjoining colonies, coupled with
the news that the French colonial min
lister is going to Senegal coast, and
other signs lead to the belief that the
situation is dangerous n that the con-
f1ict of interests is becoming acute. A
high colonial office official said to a re-
preventative of The Associated Press:
1.-THE native ferment amounts to moth
ing; but, the act is h French are
pushing us into the sea and unless we
are rehabifitated by a commission to
delimitate the Anglo-French frontier,
more successfully than formerly there
is bound to be trouble"
The chancellor Of the exchequer, Sir
Michael Hicks-Beach, returns to Lon
don next week, where his arrivsal is
eagerly waited by the United States
monetary commissioners. While the
chancellor Of the e%xchequer may COM
municate a message Immediately to
the commissioners, it is not unlikely
that it will be a notification that the
government is still unable to give
them a definite reply to their proposals,
but hopes to be able to its
conclusions at some specific future
time. Public men who are in the best
position to judge, think that recent de-
velopments foreshadow a negative an
swer.
Major Moses p. Handy, the special
United States commissioner to the Paris
exposition of 1900, has a a cordial
interview with the French minister for
foreign affairs, M. H~anotaux, in re-
gard to the objects of his visit to Eu-
rope; but he and his associates are dis
satisfied with the small amour of
space allotted to the United States and
threaten to withdraw. 1t is practically
impossible for h authorities to ex-
tend the space. Apart from the fact that
the ground has been definitely chosen,
the horse car and railroad lines ap-
proved and the concessions granted,
there is no valuable space whatever in
proximity to the buildings.
1Eo~1, ~ =, ~oo~1o ho~o 80 o,,FPariro