Kentucky Irish American. (Louisville, Ky.) 1898-1968, 1898-11-19
SATURDAY, NOV. 70, 1893.

| W DS ldkSu SeIlOuSlyi the TIME lot
such action was upon receipt of the
French protest, but failing to do so,
the only natural conclusion was
that the words of Sir Edward Grey
were not to be taken literally by the
French Ministry. Again, as to the
right of conquest to Fashoda as
part of the territory under the sway
of the Khalifa before the battle of
Omdurman, the Yellow Book points
out that this plea was Immediately
answered by the Quai d'Orsay to
the effect that Fashoda itself was
not under the sway of the Khalifa,
and that therefore the right of con-
quest really established the French
claim to the disputed point. A stub
sequent claim put forward by Eng
land, namely, that Fashoda was in
reality subject to the Khedive all
the time, and that the Khalifa was
merely a rebel whom the Sirdar
suppressed for the benefit of the
Egyptian Government, is complete
ly answered by the French Minis
ter. AS far back as 1898, he says,
that is to say two years before Sir
Edward Grey made his famous
declaration, it was pointed out to
the English Government that the
Soudan had been practically lost to
Egypt. This view of the situation
was even then adopted by the Eng
lish Government itself, who pro-
ceeded to conquer for England an
important part of the equatorial
provinces. In view of this the
question asked by the French Min
lister i'll the Yellow Book is exceed
ingly pertinent; How could the
freedom of action which Great Brit
ain thus took to herself be denied to
us?' And in support of this conten-
ton he points out that there have
since been other interventions on
the Nile without invoking any pro-
test on the part of the English Gov
eminent. Having thus successfully
disputed every point raised by the
British Blue Book, M. Delcasse, in
his official message, goes step fur
Their, and practically explains the
origin of all the lingo talk which is
now setting England ablaze. In
conversation with Sir +. Monson,
the English Ambassador at Paris,
the only reply that the latter could
make to the plain statement of facts
adduced by the French Minister
was that the English Cabinet con-
sidered itself too far pledged on its
previous public declarations to be
able to give up possession of Fa-
shoda. Or, in other words, no
matter that France may have right
on its side, and the English conten-
ton has been proven to be as full of
holes as a sieve; yet, in order to
make good the lingo pronounce
ments of Hicks-Beach, Chamberlain
and Devonshire, the British Cabinet
is prepared to go to war for the pos
session of a place which never be-
longed to them. Such an exposi-
ton of arrant bluff was, perhaps,
never recorded in a diplomatic doc
ument. In this light the alleged
tremendous preparations for war
being made at the English naval
dockyards become in reality little
better than so much waste of
money. Lord Rosebery's declara-
ton that England should claim the
Nile from end to end appears even
more ridiculous after the publica-
ton of the Yellow Book. And the
probabilities of war become, if pos
sible, remoter than ever. The old
adage about barking dogs never
bite will apply to the present sit
uation. There has been altogether
too much vociferation about the
English dogs of war to warrant any
serious expectation that they will
slip their leashes.