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Updated: June 9, 2025
"To gain time, M. Delcassé," writes our Ambassador, "wished that I should request your lordship to consent to a telegram being sent by the French agent at Cairo to Khartoum, to be forwarded from thence up the Nile to Fashoda.
Political papers in pacific England and France raved and ranted over the crisis, responsible journals howled with jingoism; but through it all, until the moment when the French agreed to retire, the two most placable and even sociable figures were the two grim tropical travellers and soldiers who faced each other on the burning sands of Fashoda.
During the rainy season, which lasts from the end of June until the end of October, the surrounding country is one vast swamp, and Fashoda itself becomes an island. It is not, however, without its importance; for it is the only spot on the west shore for very many miles where landing from the river is possible.
At three o'clock on the same afternoon the Sirdar and the gunboats resumed their journey to the south, and the next day reached the mouth of the Sobat, sixty-two miles from Fashoda. Here other flags were hoisted and another post formed with a garrison of half the XIIIth Soudanese battalion and the remaining two guns of Peake's battery.
I avail myself again of the excellent synopsis of the official despatches dealing with the Fashoda incident, which appeared in the Daily Telegraph. The Parliamentary papers in question were issued on the 9th of October last. The official papers opened with a despatch from Sir Edmund Monson to the Foreign Secretary, bearing date December 10, 1897. Therein the British Ambassador says:
At length in a fortunate hour Marchand returned, reproved his subordinate, and expressed his regrets to Colonel Jackson. Then it became known that the French Government had ordered the evacuation of Fashoda. Some weeks were spent in making preparations for the journey, but at length the day of departure arrived.
Even if the conversation has ceased, the pipe may be calmly smoked, while the facts of the case are arranged in the owner's mind before he commits himself to an answer. In the present instance nobody spoke, but the Koordi governor of Fashoda smoked steadily.
Again, the political difficulties between the two countries of recent years have often placed the Paris correspondents in a very invidious position. This brings me to the Fashoda trouble, which arose last autumn while M. Zola was still in his country retreat.
Major Marchand furthermore declared that by treaty the territory belonged to France and he had communicated the fact to his Government, sending his despatches through Abyssinia. Precise details of what had been done were included. It was 10 a.m. of the 19th September when the expedition reached Fashoda and saw the French flag flying over the fort.
France after Fashoda would have declared war against England, and after Tangier would have declared war against Germany, if France had been prepared. Of all the Great Powers, Germany alone for nearly half a century has been determined to keep the peace of the world. The reply to this objection is very simple.
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