New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-10-12
TIE NILE SETTLEMENT.

The publication OF the Brtisn iblue BOOK OH
the Upper Nile operations and negotiations IS
Of interest chiefly MS confirming what was al
ready regarded rs morally certain. Great Brit
ain has taken actual possession OF and means
ia retain the entire Nile Valley That. as we
ponted ont two years ago has been one OF the
fixed policies of the British Government ever
since the ill-conceived Gladstonian policy OF
"scutte' was abandoned. and was one, PROD
0blv the chief object Of the SirdarS expedition.
II has been accomplished with resolution. d.
RICHNESS and success seldom paraeled In his
tory and rejecting the highest credit ut once
unon British statecraft and British arms. Lord
Salisbury and Lord Kitchener divide the hon
ors between them. The British flag is planted
not ONLY at Dongola and Berber and Omdur-
man. bur nj Fashoda, and 1t is guarded by an
efficient force It Is not conceivable that any
other Power will seriously attempt TO lower
that flag or to expol that force. And while that
flag and that force are there there will DO room
for no others.
We have held from the outset that this set
tlemcnt of the case will he accepted by France,
and in that opinion we are confirmed by cur
rent news. The French Government realizes.
rs leading and probably inspired French
papcr puts it. that 1t can retain honor without
retaining Fasho1a. Indeed we cannot believe
the French Government ever had serious de-
signs of holding or of selling Fashoda. If 1t
had. Il would certainly have sent thither n
stronger force than that OF Major Marchand.
A dozen Frenchmen and n few score Senegalese
were not n force 10 conquer an empire. nor 10
make French highway from Brazzavllle to
Obock. II was perfectly patent to the French
Government two years ago that General Kitch-
encr was beginning the reoccupation OF the
whole Nile Valley. Yet 1t made no counter
move And now. nj the end Major Marchand's
little party. stranded and helpless Is saved
from humiliation only by the British advance.
In such circumstances TO demand that the Sir
dar's army should retire before the superior
sovereignty Of Major Marchand would be too
absurd for even the most fantastic 1aneur Of
the boulevards.
The fact Is. French statesmen realize that
the game is by their own choice. to he played,
If at all. Mt Cairo and not in the equatorial will
dernesses They themselves have put their
own expedition out Of court. few years ago
Great Britain leased to the King Of the Belgians
n bit Of the old equatorial province of Egypt,
lying on the west side OF the Nile beyond Fa-
shoda. The validity Of that lease was not dis
Duted save by France, ana snP oDJecieu 10 IL
only on the ground that the territory in ques-
ton belonged TO Egypt. and that Egypt alone
had right to dispose Of 1t. Very well. If the
Nile Valley away up there, south Of the Bahr-
el-Ghazel. belongs to Egypt, assuredly the Nile
Valley below nj Fashoda. belongs to Egypt.
Thus the TERRITORY into which Major Marchand
has made his way belongs. by Frances own
showing TO Egypt. and is not nm open region
to be appropriated by the first conner. And the
force which has just gone thlther 10 take re-
newcd possession OF it Is chiefly an Egyptian
force with the Sirdar Of the Egyptian Army
nj IT'S head
That is the logic Of the case. made by France
and. we doubt not, convincing to France. There
Is only one possible conclusion. France must
retire and let Egypt have what France herself
has declared belongs to her. As for Frances
complaint that Great Britain Is Illegally occu
plying and controlling Egypt, that Is another
story II is to find It's conclusion at the hands
of diplomats at Cairo and Downing Street and
the Quai dOrsav, and not at those OF soldiers
on the Upper Nilc.