The Egyptian Question.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXIII, Issue 7367, 15 November 1898, Page 3

The Egyptian Question.

The appearance of a French force in the Soadan is not altogether a matter for surprise, for reports have been current for some time that the French were pushing forward reinforcements for Major Marchand's expedition. Kordofan forms part of what is known as the est Soudan, whicn includes Kordofan and Durfar, Bahr-el-Ghazal (south of Kordofan), and Dongola. In a recent issue of the Daily Chronicle, a correspondent gave an account of a conversation with a gentleman who had just returned from the Congo. if he conld throw any light on the report that Belgian help was being given to French designs in the Upper Ni'e, that gentleman said : A3 far as the French troop 3 going np the railway are concerned, no secrecy whatever is mide of the fact, -v fresh lot arrive in the Congo every month, in French steamers ; are landed at Matadi ; pitch their tents on the open ground and wait until a train can take them np to the Pool, or rather to Dolo, the railway station, about five miles before Stanley Pool is reached. They the train at Dolo, march to the Pool and emhark on Belgian boats for Brazz tville, on the French bank of the Congo. Brazzaville lies almost opposite the Pool, and is the starting point for all the French expeditions to the interior. Notwithstanding its importance politically, it is a wretched and compares unfavorably with Kinch ssa, Leopoldville, and other Belgian townß on the left bmk. That is the modus operandi. By using the Belgian railway, instead of the overland route from Loango in French territory, the French gain from two to three months, prevent their soldiers from arriving weary and exhausted at Brazzaville, and save themselves considerable expense. Although the railway company makes them pay a good round price—L2o for every French so'dier, I believe, and L4O for every French officer who travels up from Matadi to Dolo. Ic is an expensive business." The force reported to be in Kordofan may possibly be the military expedition, designed to reinforce Marchand in the Bahr-e'-Ghazal, which left Pauillac, the seaport of Bordeaux, recently in the Chaageura Beunis Company's steamer Ville de Maranhao. The expedition is under the command of Captain Delafond, of the Maritime Artillery. It cumbers 16 individuals all told, including one naval doctor, M. Ascornet, one first-class administering officer, H. Fourneau, and three engineers. The other members of thß expedition are officers and non-commissioned officers, among the former being Lieutenants Durandantier, Galland, Perrot, and De Sassel. The expe ution was to land at Matadi, Congo Free State, from whence it would travel in the Congo railway to Leopoldville, where it would cross the Congo to Brazzaville, on the French bank, and there re-em-bark in Belgian ani Dutch - owned steamers specially chartered by the French Government for the Bahr-el-Ghazal, via the Congo and Upper Übanghi, following the usual route by Tambura taken by the French reinforcements, which have already passed through the Congo Free State to join Marchand. The Ville de Maranhao was to call at Dakar, Senegal, en route there to take on board a strong force of Senegalese tirailleurs, this completing the personnel of the expedition.. The exact number of the force of Senegalese to be embarked was not ascertained. The Ville de Maranhao had several hundred tons of stores and provisions on board for the march and expedition. It was understood, but not vouched for, owing to the strict secrecy maintained, that the Ville de Maranhao a'so carried a sectional light draught gunboat of the same type as the two which Marchand had with bun. The departure of this expedition was attended with an extraordinary amount of secrecy, and the greatest efforts were marie to prevent the particulars from leaking out. The local press was forbidden to comment, pnrl was only allowed to publish a restricted and purpoeely-erroneoua passenger list.