Show The French Side in the Madagascar Mada-gascar Affair I Reference has been made in the BulMin to the alleged insult by I Admiral Pierre of the French I Navy to the British consul at Tarn ativeon the west coast of Madagascar Madagas-car the subsequent death of the consul through natural causes for which the French could in no wise be held responsible and the demand de-mand of Eugland upon France for an explanation M Challemel Lacour in the chamber of deputies has made a public explanation of the affair but not at latest dates the desired one in full to the British government He contended that a man gifted with such prudent firmness as Admiral Pierre was known to possess could have done nothing contrary to public law still he would give such information informa-tion as he had in order to reassure public opinion in England and to prevent it from being led into error Admiral Pierre he said had i structions to do away with the posts unlawfully established by the Ho vas on the west coast of Madagascar and also to make a eon i e-on the east coast then if the proposals i propos-als were rejected to seize Tamatave and collect there the customhouse custom-house dues After executing the first part of thes instructions he was to proceed to the occupation of Tamatave and declare there a state of fiege He arrested the English consuls secretary a Hova by birth and recommended the consul himself him-self to depart on or before a certain date but before the day arrived the consul was taken sick and died M Challemel Lacour did not doubt that Admiral Pierre had acted in strict conformity with his governments instructions and that the measures he had adopted were justified by circumstances His apparent silence concerning the matter was probably due to his inability in-ability to detach a vessel from his small fleet for the purpose of conveying con-veying dispatches But concluded M Challemel Lacour facts which are neither fully known or explained cannot in any way change our relations with England The explanations given in the British Parliament are I replete with a spirit of moderation i and courtesy which is most gratifying grati-fying to me And if any serious I error or misunderstanding has occurred oc-curred in which paESion has played a part the government will not hesitate hes-itate to fulfill the obligations imposed im-posed upon it by justice and by the interests of this country While the French press appears to be divided on the subject the English papers are by no means united on it the general opinion among the latter being that Admiral Ad-miral Pierre has behaved in a most unusual and unwarrantable manner man-ner But M Challemel Lacour asserts as-serts that the Admiral acted in conformity with instructions from his government in which case he is not to be held personally responsible I for his late energetic and apparently harsh action San Francisco Bulletin I Bul-letin |