El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1897-10-20
INTRIGUE ON THE NILE.
Deep Laid Schemes by France, Russia
aud England in the Suudan.


Deep Laid Schpmrs by France, Russia
AID England in the Soudan.
The remark of LIE Temps, the official
organ of the French government, that
the future of the Soudah cannot be
left to the caprice ofBritish diplomacy,
coupled with the rumor that the two
expeditions from the French Congo
have Joined hands near the headwaters
of the Nj e, are items of current news
that bark back to the origin of that
sudden shift of British policy which
sent Sir Herbert Kitchener's expedi-
ton against the Khalifa in asyear of
profound peace.
At the time it was difficult to guage
England's motive. Egypt was not in
crying need of more territory. The
Khalifa's tribes had committed no de-
predations and trade WAS thriving
much as it had before 1888. Gordon
had gone unavenged SO long that his
name had ceased to be one TO copjure
with. Considering that Egyptian fin
ances were not wholly in English con-
troll, it was deemed extraordinary
that Lord Salisbury should enter upon q
course which would threaten 10 de-
plete them and thus arouse the spirit
of resistance among the powers of CO.
responsibility. 1t was felt that the
paign must be veryserlOus indeed to
warrant all the risks the English had
taken.
And it was serious. Great Britain's
capable men in Africa had fathomed a
French designl which, if carried out,
| would not only have given France con-
| troll Of the sources OF the Nile, but OF
| the greater part of the Soudan as we'll.
Already grave encrOachments had
i 10 nf no Prit oh
tueuese and German gold coast set
dement's and the republic of Liberia
| the French had acquired desert ter
| ritory twice as large as France itself
/ and this had been connected by q
broad strip of annexed land with AL
geria on the north and the French
Congo-anOther imperial possession
on the southeast, presenting frontier
to the desert of about 1900 miles.
This frontier the French Were steadily
pushing eastward, their pioneer ex-
peoit:Ons coming nearer and nearer the
| tt rritory, betimes, that Great Britain
claims for Egypt.
| This, of itself, was source of alarm
to the Britich when Meneiek, negus OF
Ably ssioia, appointed the friend of
Prince Henry of Orleans, Count Leon.
provinces verging on the Nile lying
between SEMINAR and the British
sphere of infiuencesin East Africa.
Here was danger from the other side
as Leontieff's influence would be
thrown, as became an allied Russian,
20 the French. Plainly the enemies OF
England we're going to close in upon
the Khalifa's country and control 1t:
England had abandoned the ground q
dozen years before aud what was more
natural, France argued, than that some
other civilized power should step in
and complete her work. Not that any
such announcement was made, for
France went her way as secretly a.
possible, but the plot continually
thickened and finally took the form of
a comprehensive scheme to ruin Egypt
as well as to acquire the Soudan.
The first outsider to feel the full
Significance of the French move was
Slatin Pasha, a prisoner in the camp OF
the Dervish chief. He found out tina,
if the French should obtain the upper
Nile, their first scheme would be, BY
extensive works of irrigation, to turn
its flow into the desert. This would so
diminish the vo. ume of water in the
main channel that in summer, the
lower Nile wouli be no humiliation
such as the planting season in Egypt
requires. Should this happen, Slatiu