The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1899-01-08
F ensiOn Between France
-.
=: and England.
*lT@.IS DECIDEDLY INCREASED
= MADAGASCAR BLUE BOOK FOL-
FLOWED BY DEVELOPMENTS.
/. That Great Britain Is Determined to
+. Declare a Protectorate Over
==*>.' ! Egypt There Can Be
No Doubt.
;. souyrishted. 1899, by the. Associated Press

:: Copyrighted. 1899, by the. Associated Press.
= LONDON. Jan. AL events seem to
work together in European politics to
increase the tension between Great
Britain and France. The past week
has brought Madagascar and Egypt
forward as irritants, just when the mu-
tual irritability was subsiding. Even
she. most conservative observers begin
TO. take a pessimistic view of the rela-
. IiQns between the two powers. This in
Guides those who up to the present
have considered the belligerency to be
1trere' talk, due TO a supersensitiveness
upon The part of France and 10 the un-
NECESSARY gruffness upon the part of
Great Britain in insisting on what she
considers to be her rights.
The past twenty-four hours brought
the publication Of the Madagascar blue
book, which was followed by a leading
editorial in the Times denouncing
France in language so fiery for that
conservative. newspaper that French
.lren are reading the Two together and
are constituting them as parts of a de-
Frberate policy inspired by one mind.
JEhat mind in the theory Of the man-in-
+ the-street, is Joseph Chamberlain. the
Secretary of State for the Colonies.
Other papers may storm and scold
and not be noticed, but when the Times
becomes abusive foreigners interpret 1t
as being the voice of the Government.
In the present instance some English
men viii place the same construction
upon its utterances. recalling how the
Times led the NO surrender cry over
the FashOda incident under evident in
~eaFv = Ito
aopinion in Great Britain Will not sane
ttOn the Government TO sWerVe an inch
10 avoid war with France, thinking that
ii 1t must come this is the best time TO
have il cut.
e. Many people give Importance to the
issue of the Madagascar Blue Book al
most simultaneously with the quiet but
.unmistakable procurement at Khar-
.Joqal. by which the British agent there.
\iScOunt CrOmer, in his remarks TO the
sheikS, announced that Great Britain
: has set her seal upon Egypt. If there
was a doubt in the minds of her Eu-
:Lgpean rivals that Great Britain in
tended to foreclose the mortgage upon
Which she has expended so much labor
and blood to secure, it must have been
set at rest by the utterances Of Lord
CFOmer, in which the word protector
ate was written in large letters.
though the Governments mouthpiece
carefully abstained from using that in
Cerdiary word. A more definite notice
that Great Britain's tenure Of Egypt is
permanent could not be asked. The
British agent told the assembled sheiks
that henCefOrth they viii live under the
joint. British and Egyptian flags, know
ing no sovereignty but that of the
Queen and the Khediye, which. of
course, means that the latter will be a
harmless fgUrehead. This formal as
sumption Of sovereignty over the Sou
dan is more distastefUl to France than
to any other nation, and renewed pro-
tests may be expected. In the mean
time, another enterprise of the utmost
.moment in the furtherance of Great
Britain domination in Africa is about
to be contaminated.
J.. Mr.. Cecil Rhodes, the former Premier,
and alleged ipstigator of the Jameson
raid, and so-called Napoleon of South
.+Africa, is going to England to arrange
for pushing forward the Cape to Cairo
p. Railroad, so long the dearest dream of
Tmperialists. A definite proposition will
be presented by Mr.. Rhodes to London
capitalists for an extension of the rail-
.TQad from BulawayO to Lake Tangan-
yika. He does not pretend it will be a
pay'fng investment from the start. It's
importance for some years Will be po-
ETHICAL instead Of commercial, and he
hopes to persuade the British Govern
Hent to smooth the way by guarantee
>ipg. three and d half per cent interest on
the bonds 10 cover the cost of construc-
tIon. Mr. Rhodes counts upon influence
ing moneyed men to back their patriot
ism with their cash, even if he is unable
to- enlist the government on his side.
if any man can succeed in this project
Mr. Rhodes is the man. But one bar
rier stands in the way, in the form OF
the Congo convention, guaranteeing the
neutrality on the part OF the Continent
about Lake Tanganyika, which even
+$he autocrat of Rhodesia will find hard
to>force. Here Germany has the veto on
Great Britain's advance, which she
cannot be expected to waive without an
indemnity.
.: The glamGr of receptions and oratory
with which Lord CurZOn of Kedleston
sweeps into the throne of Niceroy of
: india quite obscures the merits of the
:: modest peer, the Earl of Elgin, who
takes his leave. Yet already the news
paper grumblers are contrasting the re-
firing Viceroys silent, businesslike adj
ministratiCn with the speech making
entry of his younger successor. The lat
ter has already achieved one of those
tactless blunders which the critics
feared his self-sufficiency would rush
81 him into. He has snubbed a committee
. Of the most respectable residents desir-
ling to present him with a scheme for
= the education Of the Indians on the
lines Of the Johns Hopkins University.
%Nkch a native, Jamsettiji Tati pro-
poses to do with $3.50, 000 and the ma
:ti%es. naturally are offended.
: 1.-TWO young Americans, w. NrOoman