Kentucky Irish American. (Louisville, Ky.) 1898-1968, 1898-11-19
ENGLISH BLUSTER.

the present by the French retiring,
without, however, yielding the
point of contention, after forcing
England to assert claim fraught
with tronble for the future. That
the claims Of England are not we'll
founded and that the war talk and
preparations" are campaign blus-
ter" to bolster up the Salisbury
party is evident from the tone of
the opposition press. We quote the
following from the Dublin indie
pendent:
"The Yellow Book issued by the
French Government on the Fa-
shoda question presents the first
authentic version of the French
side of the controversy which has
been the talk of Europe for the past
month. In many respects the pub
lication, of which but brief cpl
tome is telegraphed, comes in the
nature of disappointment, lacking
as it does the all-important dispatch
from Marchand himself, without
which complete review of the sit
uation has been practically impossi-
be. With this exception, however,
there is no reason to find fault with
the Yellow Book as a complete
answer to the Blue Book recently
issued by the English Foreign Office.
That there are two sides to the Fa-
shoda question is made so plain that
the wonder is how the lingo speak
ers who have lately been electrify-
ing English audiences, should not
have thought of such possibility.
And that the French side has quite
as much sound argument in its
favor as the English must also be
apparent, while over and above all,
the conclusion that Lord Salisbury
is painfully overmatched in the
matter of diplomatic fencing is evil
dent, even from the cursory report
of the Yellow Book telegraphed.
The strong point of the English
position may be briefly stated as
follows: AS long ago as 1895, Sir
Edward Grey, in Parliament, made
the statement that an advance by
France on the upper Nile would be
considered by the British Govern
ment as an 'unfriendly act Three
years later, when Sir H. Kitchener,
at the head of an army of English
and Egyptian troops, rescued this
territory from the sway of Khalifa,
he discovered band of Frenchmen
with handful of African troops in
possession of small town, Fashoda,
a few hundred miles beyond Om-
durham. Ignoring the fact that
the Frenchmen had already taken
formal possession of the place to
the extent of planting the tri-color,
the Sirdar proceeded to claim SOW
ereign rights there for England, or
Egypt, which is practically the
same thing. And thereupon the
contest for ownership of Fashoda
was transferred from the banks of
the Nile to London and Paris.
Lord Salisbury's dispatches go
into more detail as to the rights of
England in the premises, but one
of his points, intended as strong
argument, turns out to be the very
weakest, and practically gives the
case away to the French. That is,
that by right of conquest all the
territory subject to the Khalifa
prior to the battle of Omdurman
should become subject to England
after that battle. To all these ar
guments the French Foreign Min
lister has given complete and salts
factory answer. Thus in regard to
Sir Edward Grey's declaration re-
garding an unfriendly act, the
then French Foreign Minister, M.
Hanotaux, lost no time in repudiat-
ing this version of international
law, and, furthermore, instructed