The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-06-02

The qualities and achievements Of Major
MARYLAND are very exceptional. 1t is not
strange that France 10 ringing with his
praises, for his character and his deeds are
OF just the sort to inspire the homage and
enthusiasm Of his countrymen. The effect
upon this young man OF the promotions,
! prizes, honors and ovations now showerng
upon him remains to be seen. In the limo
| Of duty he has been as level-headed and
clear-sighted as ever was conquerng
leader on a great battlefield. Patriotism
and devotion to the republic seem to in
| spire the speeches he is now making to the
| officials and the crowds that welcome him.
| The further fact that his way Of doing
things has been to think out quietly and
alone plan Of action In many trying situa-
tons and then to act upon his own unaided
| Judgment increases the probability that the
| French politicians who are endeavoring to
turn his popularity to partisan account
and to the prejudice Of the republic will fail
in their attempt. At any rate the young
officer has record Of great things done.
and he could hardly be foisted into a po-
eition like that Of BoU1ANoER. whose per-
sonal inconsequence made him the more
| ridiculous the more the crowd applauded
| him.
MARcHAND is only thirty-three years old,
| and his own countrymen scarcely knew
his name till his arrival at Fashoda on the
| Nile was heralded In October last. He had
been engaged for two and half years on a
mission whose real purpose, to confront the
Dervishes on the Upper Nile and to appro-
pirate for France the lost provinces Of
Egypt, was concealed as long as possible.
The French Government, naturally, did
nothing to draw public attention to the
work or its leader But the Colonial ONCE
had long known the man, II France did not
| know him well. AS q humble Lieutenant
in the French Soudan he had shown ex-
traordinary resource and facility in the
discovery OF ways and means for carrying
out desirable projects. One OF the most
delicate dangerous and arduous missions
hands on the strength Of the reputation he
had made in the French Soudan before he
was thirty years old.
His preliminary task was to transport
two steel gunboats, barges, cannon, guns
and ammunition, camp equipment and sup
plies, the whole weighing some hundreds
OF thousands OF pounds. across a vast ter
ritory in the upper part OF the Congo and
Nile basins, which he had to explore in or
der to ascertain the most feasible line Of
advance. GEssI Pasha, LuPToN Bey and
DR.. JUNKER had told the world practically
all that was known Of this region, but the
sum total Of information was wholly in
adequate for the guidance OF MARCHAND's
expedition. Every step Of the way he was
first explorer and then military chief No
| one had ever heard before OF the Boku
branch Of the Mbomu River, on which he
doated to within forty-fve miles OF the Nile
basin. No one had ever heard OF the Such
River. which carried him over 200 miles
to the Bahr ell Ghazal affluent OF the
Nile. No one knew till he discovered the
fact that the Upper Mbomu would offer
him long stretch Of good navigation and
when his officers told him that he could not
possibly reach the Upper Mbomu past tho
distractions In the lower river, he thought
the matter over for day and declared that
the feat could and would be accomplished.
Then he set about building the corduroy
roads, thirty feet wide, on which his boats,
with 1000 men at the tow lines, were
hauled around the thirty-hve stretches OF
falls and rapids in the lower river And
when he came to the region OF the Congo
and Nile water parting, where no streams
were large enough to help him on his way,
he personally sought for and found the
nearest navigable point In the Nile system,
then pulled his boats to pieces and packed
the whole equipment on the backs OF men
through the scrub, hundred miles to the
new-found river.
We have not heard whether the French
flag has yet been lowered on the four forts
that MARCHAND and LIoTARD built in
the Bahr ell Ghazal province, which the
leader used as bases for his operations on
the Nile, They all stand on waters trlbu-
tary to the Nile. and, by the agreement
with England, France has relinquished her
claim to this territory. Soon after MAR
CHAND entered FashOda on July 10 last he
placed himself in communication with these
fortified posts by means Of his gunboats,
and was moving supplies and detachments
OF men from one station to another on their
way to Fashoda.
The Anti-Republicans in France are now
shouting that the Government betrayed
MARcHAND, and brought his brilliant
achievements to naught by surrendering
the Nile territory over which he unfurled
the French flag. This cry may serve as a
party shibboleth, but the fact remains that
though France is to have no Nile territories
she has secured most valuable commercial
facilities there and the extension OF her
sphere OF influence throughout the popu-
lous Central Soudan from Bornu to Darfur.
These are the substantial results achieved
for his country by MARcHASD's great tour
de force. But even II French diplomacy
had weakly sacrificed every advantage that
MARCHAND gained for France the merit
] and lustre. Of his great work would not