Ever since Lord Beaconsfield, in 1877, had given to
the world that clever exhibition of haute finance worthy
of the best traditions of his race, by purchasing on his
own authority, for four million pounds, the hundred
and seventy-seven thousand shares of the Suez Canal
held by the Khedive, Great Britain had found herself
unable to withdraw from Egypt. In the early eighties
France, who had gone in as an equal partner, allowed
herself to be forced out by the pusillanimity of a
foreign minister. Great Britain gave notice on several
occasions of her intention to withdraw, and in 1885,
after the fall of Khartoum, did withdraw from the
Egyptian Soudan. But from 1891 to 1894 she gave
new impetus to her expansion both on the Upper Nile
and in the territory between Lakes Albert Nyanza and
Victoria. France countered with a treaty with the
Congo Free State, August 14, 1894, opening to her influ-
ence territory north of the Bornu to the Nile. ². To-
wards the close of 1895 the French government was
apprised of the fact that Great Britain intended to
crush the Mahdi and retake the Soudan. ³. The dream
of Cecil Rhodes for a Cape to Cairo Railroad was ap-
proaching the possibility of fulfillment. This scheme
conflicted with a plan that the French had long cherished
of extending their territory across the continent, and
instructions to this effect had been given as far back
as 1893 to M. Liotard by M. Delcassé, who was at that
time Colonial Secretary. M. Liotard had been ordered

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