Washington sentinel., 1898-11-19

CASTOR Donnet, in the "4Pevue BLsne.'
| am afraid that there is at this time q
sort of chronic fever-colonizatior
mania. A Hercules with five hundre.
Kilograms on his back cannot raise him
self; a prodigy Of activity to whom one
gives the labor Of two years TO be done
in two weeks will succumb 10 the task
England setms to be in this state o.
surcharge. She has now come to the
critical point where she has not the
power with her soldiers and navy to
assure order in all the parts OF her
gigantic empire, England will he
w.rsted ia the first colonial war at all
serious, and she does n OF see this peril
ous situation the madness is increasing
ceaselessly. We could not but rejoice
at heart for this, since she is a rival to
be feared, If we were not in our turn
falling into the same mistake. We have
already Algeria and TunIs; we have
Senegal and the Soudan as far as the
Niger; beyond the Niger we have
Guinea, the Ivory Coast Dahomey and
the Congo A wise people would be
content, fancy, with this share. What
more do they want2
What more do they want2 Why, East
Africa, "the tricolored flag waving from
St. Louis ana BrazzaviIle on the Nile
and beyond Abyssinia rs far as Djibouti
on the Gulf OF Alden" Call it a clean
half OF the great continent. Certainly
it is a beautiful dream. And if it we're
realized what would we do7 We may
well ask such a question Our process
of commercial development has not
been so brilliant that we can reproach
those who criticise US. Nobody is un-
aw re of the fact that we have done
nothing, or so little that It is not worth
the trouble Of talking about. Our oldest
colonies have not yet reached the point
OF self support, Martinique, Guada.
loupe, and Reunion, although they are
of "adult age" and long since should
have had no need Of subsidies, still
receive several millions year. Algeria
suffers from a deficit Of nearly thirty
millions. There is also a deficit in Sen
egal; there is also a deficit in the Soudan.
As to the Congo, it is today in such a
state of financial decrepitude that it may
be doubted If it will ever recover from
it To sum up, the chief expense
amounts TO 100, ,ooo, 600 francs in round
numbers. without counting extraordin-
AIRY ex oenditure resulting from expedi-
tIons or cOnquests, tor the honor ofbeiug
after England the first colonial power in
the world.
But, we are to d, we must not despair;
an empire cannot be created in few
years. Admitted, but pray do not let
us try to find advantage in the increase
of domain already 100 large by half.
Let us look over French Africa We
shall see immense territories entirely
neglected. A hundred kilometres 62
miles in the interior 1t is impossible to
disc over one acre OF cultivated land.
Dahomey waits its first mercantile
house. Senegal has for several centuries
six business houses living alone by the
trade in gum and peanuts Eliminate
these two products OF the soil and at the
same time St. Louis, Rufsque ard
Dakar are ruined. The colonIsts from
the first have in vain repeated that new
kinds of cultivation should be intro
duced; the routine business alone keeps
on, Our western Sahara is laughed at;
its complete usele sSness has Just been
proclaimed That's because people do
not know that this Sahara possesses on |
a stretch of coast one hundred and fifty
miles long a bank, ArGuin Portendk,
which could rival that Of Newfoundland,
and an oasis like that Of Adrar capable
Of yielding at the lowest price hundreds
OF pounds OF rubber
Why these great efforts at exploration,
why these posts, these frontiers, when
We kEow with what indifference they
are abandoned2 A stranger says: 81
will trouble you to step outside" And
we do step outside, with all polIteness,
apologizing for having taken the very
great liberty, &c. II l dared | should
say that n colonial methods we are but
amateurs, or. what would be more exact,
incorrigible UtopIans. Buying and
selling ought to be, at bottom, the only
formula OF modern colonization. Africa |
should be considered as a mere merchant |
house, a great field for colonization and |
nothing more A minimum of officials, |
the natives governing themselves with |
the laws and customs and prejudIces Of |
their low intellects, a strong police force |
4 = Ill
of that what is our method? We have |
applied to Oualo the immortal principles |
OF 17S3--a man IS born free. In conse. |
quence we have abolished slavery, the |
cornerstone Of the Mussulman's social
edifce, and we have declared voters |
men who spend a whole existence
learning to distinguish their right hand |
from their LETT. The blacks who practise |
the principles of Islam cannot help |
obeyIng a strict precept of their religion
in having slaves, The Koran has looked
after everything. In reality the slave is
in all respects like a servant with US;
often his condition IS preferable to that
fthe latter. Is this saying that we ought
to sustain slavery No But to pretend |
that the time has by no means come
10 make such a change in the religious
habits Of people so hercelY fanatical-
who dares call this a bad reasOnp And
Islam, which we ioTgeI in our projects Of
conquests2 Islam is growing rich on our
men in this chess game, is Strengthening |
itselfby our gullibility. To-day it defends |
itself merely; tomorrow il we do not |