The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-12-02
FRENCH TO ABANDON INDIA.
Her Small Possessions There of Great
Value to England.

At a time when European nations
are busy marking out new colonial
empires there is a certain measure of
public interest in the report that
France is about to resign the last YES
tiges of a colonial empire once the
most promising of all European pos
sessions beyond the sea, her establish
ments in India.
In the 18th century the battle for
India was not less closely contested
between England and France nor
with more varied fortunes than that
in America. The duel between Mont
calm and Wolfe in Quebec had its
counterpart. more or less striking, in
the battle between Give and Duplex
in Hindustan, save only that Duplex
was not. like Montcalm, a soldier.
In the great remaking of maps
which followed the final triumph over
France by England in Asia and
America alike France kept of her
western empire two little islands, of
her Indian possessions five small, wide
" separated enclaves, Chandernagore
on the Ganges, Yanaon at the mouth
of Godivari Maize on the western
coast, and Pondicherry and Karikal,
south of Madras. on the Bay of Bengal.
All told, these French colonies have
an area of 200 square miles and a pop
ulation of 10000. They are without
military value because they are indie
feasible. They have no value as out
posts of French expansion, for British
supremacy in India is no longer de-
bated by the French. The total com
mercial activity of all five territories
is less than $1O,0O0,0o0, and France
is compelled to contribute to their
budget.
InconsiderabIe as French India is,
it has a real value to the British. AS
refuges for political exiles from British
territory. as admirably placed centers
for the dissemination of seditious lit
erature and the fomenting or disorder
in adjacent British districts, the sup
preston of these tiny French colonies
would be Of very great usefulness to
England. AS a result there has been
a renewal of semio fficial reports that
Anglo-French negotiations over French
Indian colonies was on foot
The opportunity for a good bargain
on both sides is unmistakable. In
West Africa there are at least three
British colonies which resemble the
French establishment in India, in that
they are merely enclaves in foreign
territory These are Gambia, Sierra
Leone and the Gold Coast.
Gambia is only thin strip of coun-
try hardly 0 miles wide on both banks
OF the Gambia river The Gold coast
is another colony which marks the
unsuccessful effort of the British TO
reach the interior of Africa from the
coast and unite all the coast establish
ments If France should acquire these
colonies, with Sierra Leone, the only
interruption to an unbroken French
coast line from Tripoli to the Gulf OF
Guinea would be two Spanish colonies,
one in Morocco and one on the ATTAIN
tic coast, the Portuguese enclave near
Gambia and Liberia.
That the British would trade all
these African colonies against French
India is not to be expected. But in
other quarters. notably the New He
brides, opportunities for a bargain
exist In any event modification of
boundaries, including the cession Of
Gambia, and rectification of the from
tier Of the Gold Coast are far from
unlfkeIy-New York Sun.