The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-10-16
ALL HINGES
ON THE REPORT
Of MARCHAND
Great Britain, France
a2d Fashoda.
SITUATION VERY GRAVE
ENGLISHMEN WILL NEVER
ABANDON THEIR CLAIMS.
On the Other Hand the Paris Press Is
Shouting for an Alliance
With the Abys<
sinians.
SITUATION VERY GRAV
ENGLISHMEN WILL NEVER
ABANDON THEIR CLAIMS.
Copyrighted. 1895, by the Associated Press

|
LONDON, Oct 15.-The week opened
with an ominous rafting of sabers over
Fashoda and ended with the rumblings
/ of a revolutionary volcano in Paris.
/ The situation arising out of the ques-
tion between Great Britain and France
as TO the right of occupation of Fash
oda is extremely grave. Everything
hinges on the nature of the report Of
Major Marchand, the French COM
mander at Fashoda, which is on its
way from Khartoum TO Paris.
The evacuation of Fashoda by the
French must, however, take place if
war between Great Britain and France
is 10 be averted. as the Marquis of
Salisbury has nailed his colors to the
mast and cannot recede from the posi-
ton he has taken up, and in which he
received the unanimous support of the
country.
The Speaker, the organ of the Liberal
party, refers plainly this week 10 me
impossibility of relinQuishing the Brit
ish claims, and points out that if 1t
comes to war it will not be merely for
Fashoda, but for the maintenance of
Great Britain'S place in the world, plus
her undoubted rights. The Speaker
adds: If we abandoned our claims
Englishmen would not only lose the re-
spect of others, but would lose their
own self-respect, and English states
manship would be dragged in the mire.
These emphatic declarations of the
English press and public men have al
ready had certain influence across
the channel, and the inspired state
ments of the French press belittle the
Importance of Fashoda and shift the
ground to an underlined claim upon the
province of Bahr- Ell -GhaZal and port
on the Nile.
The mouthpiece of the French For
eign Office is preparing France for the
abandonment of FashedEc by asserting
that Major Marchand oyershot his goal
and that instead of going to Fashoda
he ought to have stopped at the con-
fuence Of the Bahr-E El-Ghazal Many
British publieists, however, scout the
idea that France will be permitted to
install herself on the Bahr- Ell -Ghazal,
which is described as the paying reef"
Of the Soudan. All the rest of the re-
conquered territory, as far as Fashoda,
is comparatively valueless, being
mostly desert ground, which cannot be
made to pay for many years TO come.
But the Bahr- El-Ghazal territory is
thickly populated and has magnificent
trade prospects. During the Governor
ship of the late General Gordon, Bahr-
El-Ghazal had immense exports of
ivory, grain, beeswax, skins. ETC., while
1t contained whole forests of arrow
root. Besides the cotton grown there
surpasses the Egyptian product.
The Chauvinist Paris papers are de-
nouncing Great Britain and doing their
utmost 10 excite French feeling in the
matter. Other French papers are
making bitter complaints against Rus
sia's inactivity.
The Gaulois declares the time has ar
rived for Russia to repay the service
which France lent her in the Far East
by helping France against Great Brit
ain, while the Patrie, after declaring
they had been betrayed by the
Brisson Cabinet, demands the 0aspatch
of an ambassador to King Menelik of
Abyssinia for the purpose of seeking
an alliance with his 100000 valiant.
faithful warriors, who will cooperate
with US in the event Of hostilities at
Fashoda."
The moderate thinking section of the
French press is earnestly urging
peaceful arrangement of the affair.
These papers candidly admit that
France is no match for. Great Britain
in the event of war
There has been a great deal of talk
about the possibility of war with
France and various preparations upon
the part Of the British are reported to
have been made. For instance, it is
announced that a leading small arms
firm at Birmingham was asked this
week whether ii was prepared TO turn
out thousand magazine rifles weekly.
The significance Of this will be appre-
ciated when 1t is pointed out that the
British Government works alone are
capable of turning out four thousand
rifles weekly.
1t is also rumored that war insur-
during the last few days, but they ap-
pear to have been more in the charac-
ter OF bets than trading.
Commenting on the Paris negotfa-
tions the Speaker says 1T is clear
there will be no abatement of the
American minimum demands. President
McKinley's speeches, indeed, indicate
that those demands are likely to be-
come more rather than less extensive.
and his depreciation of the charge of
militarism can only refer to the Philip
pine Islands, where alone responsible
ties of a new order await the American
nation. and the Presidents speeches in
dicate the intention of assuming them
fully"
Andrew Carnegie has written a letter
to the Spectator protesting against it's
statement that the late Thomas f. |
Bayard had the honorable distinction,
rare among American politicians" of |
dying a poor man. Mr.. Carnegie classes |
this remark as bitterly unjust, and he |
points out that Mr.. Bayard was we'll
to- do when compared with the major |
ity of the Presidents of the republic |
He adds: 1.-The reason why the most
ambitious public men do not seek |
wealth is that it is fatal before nomi- |
mating convention. No candidate for |
the Presidency would be thought of |
who had a large income. There is no |
record of honest poverty among the |
prominent politicians of any country |
comparable with that of the great re-
MI hlio -