The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo. MONDAY, APRIL 1, 1895.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVI, Issue 78, 1 April 1895, Page 2

The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo.

MONDAY, APRIL 1, 1895.

for the canßi that laoks aßsistancs, For tht wrong that needs resiitance. for : |^f future in thi-iisfa&S*.. And tha coed that we «nn at

The presence of two French expeditions in the Niger Company's territory in Africa is arousing a considerable deal of uneasiness in England, and although the Paris "Temps"asserts that the imentioiis of its 'countrymen in the Dark Continent are entirely peaceful, and their mission merely one of exploration in the country .to .the back of their own territory of Dahomey, this press assurance has' not been considered sufficient by the "Foreign | Office authorities. Sir' E. Grey lias asked the French Government for a clear explanation pi the objects of. the '' expedition, and the whole tone of his remarks in connection with the affair indicates a determination on thepartof England to be very firm in resenting any encroachment,on he> rights. ;, , It is improbable that the action of j the French explorers "will result in any serious disturbance of the present relations between France and England. , These relation^ are^certainly not of the most friendly description at present, but Jt,is ; not to the advantage of either country to come to an open quarrel; and we shall doubtless hear very; soon" that :jhe^slight misunderstanding '' jias (fr^en./• rsrooved.^ h would seem impossible, it is true, to avby serious trouble with France some

day over the partition of Africaj but the time is not yet ripe for it. ; , Such incidents as the present^ thouginv they may noi; : ;lead to open war, "show very plafhly the increasing I spirit of jealousy arid suspicion jjih which ; France and England regard each other. Each country looks on every advance of i the 3 other towards the- acquisition> of new territory 4s | a new cause for alarm, and is ready to take offence if its neighbour should, to< the smallest extent, ignore what it may consider its rights. To judge -by the; comments of the Parisian,press and the attitude of French diplomatists, the F|ench are infinitely more envious ot us than we are of them, and altogether in a much more irritable frame of mind. We laugh at their extreme touchiness, and the persistent manner in which they attribute to Us intentions we never entertained. But are we British so'wonderfully free from all envy and suspicion ? Are hot we very sensitive sometimes ? The statements which have been made in the^House of Commons during the last few days show pretty clearly the state of feeling in the old country. There vexists. a profound distrust of the intentions of France in Africa and Inda-China,-and'a, Jear that in her desire to exlend; her influence in these countries she may be betrayed into the commission of acts that would inevitably lead to a serious collision between her and England. ;.

! Whether there is ground for all the uneasiness that has been manifested is very, questionable. Granting that France is in the exasperated mood that she is believed to be in that she frets under a continftal sense of occupying an inferior position in the European family circle! and burns with a desire to extend her influence Abroad—granting all this she still is sufficiently alive to the terrible risks she would run in the case of war to keep herself somewhat in - check, France does not want .war with /us, but she wants territorial expansion, and she considers that "England is constantly thwarting .her wherever she seeks to add to her empire in the unappropriated parts of the globe. It is not without reason that she thinks so. England certainly looks with a jealous eye on the colonising efforts of other, nations, and she has spread herself over the world in such a way tbat it is difficult for them to acquire any new territory without .seeming to threaten her enormous interests. But when one considers the immense extent of country under our flag, it does seem a petty jealousy to begrudge France a slice of territory here and there. Nay, it may be asked, might it not be to our advantage that the French colonial empire should be more extended? Every new colony she gels weakens her power for threatening us.