Evening star., 1898-09-17
CONQUEST OF AFRICA
By Rail From the Cape to Cairo No
Visionary Dream.
WHAT FRANCE And ENGLAND OWN
John Bull Has Less Territory, but
Wants More.
FRANCE THERE TO STAY
What FRANCE And ENGLAND OWN
FRANCE THERE TO STAY
Written for The Evening Star.

Written for The Evening Star
Prom the Cape to Cairo sounds like a
far cry. which the English are setting up
nowadays. since the magnificent victory Of
the sirdar over the khalifa. But if we will
scan closely map of Africa of today and
compare it with the SAM map of fifty
years ago we shall see that it is not i'm
possible-thts glorious scheme of raiI-and-
steam from Cairo in Egypt to Cape Town
at the southern tip of the dark continent
Explorer Stanley says it is not only pOssi-
BE, but probable; that lit will b. an ae-
complishet fact before 1925. There is moth
ing very difficult about it, for even today
%Ht"ooon would build rail the entire di,-
tance from Buluwayo to Lado on the White
Nile and with steam navigation on Lakes
Nyassa, Tanganyika, Albert Edward and
ALBERT on the White Nile. communication
would be established between Cape Town
and Alexandria"
Huiuwayo is already connected by rail
WIN the cape, and LadO on the White Nile
though thousand miles distant from
hhaEtoum. as the river runs had steam
navigation With that city by shallow-draff
steamers, in the time of Gordon
Inc gap trst to be filled lies between Lado
ana ganda, on Lake Victoria, six degrees
p1 latitude apart, and between the latter
hEd the sea For a railroad is projected
hcrCSs East Africa, for which $40 coo 0OO
nave heen appropriated and 15O miles com
p.eted. connecting Uganda and the coast
al Momb2sa- Between British East and
central Africa lies German East Africa:
ana II permission cannot be obtained for
the connecting of Lakes Victoria and Tan
ganyika. on the direct line south then the
Iganda-Mombasa road will be built as an
outlet of the Nile headwaters to the sea
Perhaps in the future and not far away,
there may be another shuttle of the Afri-
can cards and Germany ba frIa fp
trade her far-distant possessions on the
east coast for something more desirable on
the west-French Congo. for instance,
which lies just south of and borders on
her colony of the Kamerun. Then Britain
nay go on and complete her line all the
way from Cairo to the Cape, and all the
way on British territory, or, what is the
same. British from latitude 50 south. to the
equator, and under British suzerainty from
the equator to about 80 north.
Fashoda Will See Trouble
And will France have voice in the mat
ter? Most assuredly; she is the power
most likely to provoke the strife that will
precipitate the trouble; if, indeed, she has
not done so already. She has gone a long
way looking for quarrel, but will surely
find it if she persists in the course she
has mapped out in Africa And this is how
1t will come about: British East Africa ex-
tends from about latitude degrees south
to latitude 10 north; Uganda lies right on
the equator; LadO about 6 degrees north,
and still farther north little more than
midway between LadO and khartOum. is
FashOda, the line of 10 degrees north
latitude
Here is where the trouble will start: and,
since the last news from Gen. Kitchener is
TO the effect that he had sent back all war
correspondents, and girded up his lons for
another dash southwark. there is little
doubt that Fashoda is his objective Bat
the latest dispatches from Omdurman tell
us that FashOda had been occupied by
Europeans presumably the French eXpedi-
tiOnary force under MarChand. which for
several years has been groDing its way
from the west coast TO the Nile. 1t has
been race between the French and En-
@lish To which should first reach this
important fortified town on the Nile, $40
miles only to the southwark of Khartoum.
II the British reach it first they Will there
by complete their connection with East
Africa: if they find the French in posses
sion. why. all they can do is TO Oust them.
And they Will. too, for England has pledged
herself to do it, In fact, such a contin-
gency was long ago foresean. and those arr,
no idle words OF the British press: mat
France may fight IT out at Fashoda or in
the channel For If there IS any one post
ia Africa clearly and Enthusiastically within
the british sphere of influence il is this Of
Fashoda. right On the direct line of COM
municatiOn between the latest British
Egyptian COnqueStS and her southern col
CHieS-
English style of Conquest
1t has not been for nothing that England
has put her shoulders to the Hcrculean
task of capturing for Egypt the onc4-Iost
SOudan provinces. 1t has not been for nothing
that the sirdar has SO long groped his way
southwark along the Nile building rail
ways. capturing cites and towns, risking
British lives and spending freely british
gold. in hunting down the khdlifa and his
barbarous Baggaras. This vast work has
been done for the benefit of civilization; in
c.dentally, of course. Britain will be bene-
fitted. but more than Britain, the whole
world Will share in the incalculable benz
fits resulting from the opening of this vast
region 50 long closed 10 commerce.
Now. why does France seek to intrude
herself at this pOint-at least $50 miles to
the eastward of her Congo province? That
IS a question hard TO answer; but her action
Is night in line with all her moves respect
ing the British suZerainty in Egypt. She
has pursued dog-in-the-manger policy
from the first; she would not join with
England in the government of Egypt, when
invited TO do 50. and now that British pluck
and perseverance are about to be rewarded
she feels acutely the qualms of jealousy
She has 50 long regarded Africa,-particu-
larly north and northeast Africa-as her
peculiar territory, as an outlet for her sur
plus population and a continent in which
10 try colonial experiments that she bitter
ly res-nts the dominant British influence,
the almost Nlimitable expansion of British
territOry-in fact. the Inevitable triumph of
d virile, vigorous ration, guided by states
men having the gift of prescience and
back d by armies accustomed to victory
There is no personal feeling in this state
nent: il is the calm deduction of one who
views the African movement from an i'm
personal standpoint, and wholly as II NAV
affect the general welfare of he world
rot excluding far-distant America For |
have enjoyed the French hospita! !itias Of
Algiers. | have admired the French SyS-
tenn of colonial government, have Travelled
along its thOusand-miIe chain of railways
the north African coast. and have rolled
over roads as smooth as bOulevards almost
within nnCn-shot Of the Great Desert.
There is ,IOthing at fault in the colonial
system of France, AlEiers. Senegal Turis
The French colonies of Martinique and
Guade delOupe, which have several times Vis-
fted, l regard models of colonial GOV