THE FRENCH CRISIS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXX, Issue 211, 6 September 1899, Page 5

THE FRENCH CRISIS.

THE TREASON TRIAL,

EXPEDITION TO TRIPOLI.

EXCITEMENT IN ITALY

PARIS, September 5. President Loubet has signed a decree constituting- the French Senate a High Court to try Deroulede and others recently arrested for conspiracy. The trial will begin on the 18th.

PiOME, September 5. Apprehension prevails here that France is preparing to send an expedition to Tripoli in order to divert attention from the Dreyfus trial, in connection with which excitement is increasing as the court martial proceedings are drawing to a close, and the verdict it is feared may have the result of causing serious disturbances within the. country.

[Tripoli, a villayet of Turkey, is situated on the south shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It is immediately to the south of Italy. On the west are Tunis, a French Protectorate, and the French colony of Algeria; on the east Egypt, *nd on the south the Sahara. The estimated area of Tripoli, including Bengazi, is about 400,000 square miles, and the population about 1,300,000. Tripoli is the chief town, with a popu-

lation of 30,000. The trade of the pro'ince practically all passes through Tripoli and Bengazi. Tripoli, the chief totfli, stands on a rocky promontory, ttciosed on the land side by a lofty wall flanked with bastions, and defended on the sea front by a formidable line of batteries, terminating »t the south-east angle in astrong Wstle, in which the Pasha resides.]