The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED THE Evening News, Morning News, and Echo. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27,1898. BRITISH OCCUPATION OF FASHODA.

Auckland Star, Volume XXIX, Issue 228, 27 September 1898, Page 4

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

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27,1898. BRITISH OCCUPATION OF FASHODA.

For tie cause that lacks assistance, For the wrens that necd3 resistance, For the future in tlio distance, And ths seed that vs can do.

General Kitchener has hoisted the British and Egyptian flags over Fashoda, on the Upper Nile, without opposition, and has garrisoned the town with a mixed force. The French expedition under Captain Marchand was found in occupation of the place but does not appear to have attempted any resistance. In reply to an intimation from the Sirdar to Captain -Marchand that the territory was. British and he and his followers must leave, the French leader replied that tho question was one for settlement by diplomacy. This is the line already taken by the French newspapers, and we havo no doubt that another difficulty quite as troublesome as that in Nigeria, which brought France and England to the brink of war, has been created by this deliberate invasion by France of a region which is generally recognised as well within the Anglo - Egyptian sphere. It is perhaps not to be wondered at that France regards tho extension of English influence in Egypt with intense hostility and chagrin. Up to the time when the French fleet received orders to withdraw from active participation in the bombardment of Alexandria, in ISSIi, the influence of France was predominant in Egypt. Since then it has rapidly waned, despite the ceaseless efforts of the. French and Russian' representatives on tho mixed Commission which supervises the Egyptian debt to embarrass the policy of the Khedive's British advisers. Indeed, the action of the mixed tribunal in refusing permission to apply the Egyptian surplus to the reconquest of the Soudan resulted in strengthening the British position in the land of the Pharaoh.-;, because Parliament at once voted the money necessary for the expedition, and the railways constructed by the troops have since become the properly of the British Government. It may be safely predicted that England will resist to the last extremity the intrusion of France in the Nile Valley. Since 1832 a wonderful movement has had its birth in Africa —no less than a scheme for the formation of an allBritish railway from Cairo to Cape Colony. It is no idle dream, for already at both ends considerable stages in the long-journey have been covered, and we believe, with Mr Chamberlain, that despite all opposition the present generation will see this magnificent project carried through.