Show FRANCE IN AFRICA Tites Young Republic lias a Biz Undertaking on Hand New York 22 Worlds London It is difficult to obtain any information of the position of affairs in Tunis and I Algeria The rule compelling the correspondents corre-spondents of French papers to submit their letters to military censorship is still in force and the correspondence from the seat of the insurrection which is printed in the Paris papers is for that reason exceedingly meagre and one Eided It is positively known however that the French troops who captured Sfax are unable to advance further inland in-land The vast stretch of country extending ex-tending from Sfax inland to the boundary of the Algerian provinces of Constab and northward to the Medgerda Valley is in the hands or < vt the mercy of the rebels lOiariEon the holy city inland from Susse on the Gulf of Hammonia is the rendezvous of the Arab tribes and there are not less than 30 000 men well armed chiefly cavalry within call of the Mus I sulman authorities There the Arabs openly declare that the Bey has betrayed the regency and that it is for them to fight for Mueselman supremacy supre-macy The agitation in Tunis is increased in-creased by the arrival of Tripolitan tribes whose head men assert that France has decreed the conquest of all the states and Egypt and the Sultan has called i upon the followers of the prophet against this threatening spoliation At this season sea-son of the year the summer is an unusually un-usually hot one it would be quite impossible im-possible for any force no mutter how strong to attempt to penetrate into the interior The French can do nothing therefore but hold Sfax until reinforcements rein-forcements arrive in the autumn France must either subjugate the Mussel man tribes or evacuate the country The generals in Tunis have a ked Governor Grevy for Algerian troops but the state of affairs there is so critical that men cannot be spared Later details of the capture of Sfax say that all the French were killed or wounded A portion of the town is held by the Arabs who are hooting from the houses and prefer death to yielding The expedition to proceed pro-ceed against the rebel Chief Bon Amena in the autumn will consist of three columns col-umns each composed of 1200 men One column will start from Laiida another from Sabdon and the third from Gery ville joining in the Khoira region and marching thence to Figury These columns col-umns will be composed of troops inured to the Algerian climate and will be replaced re-placed in the garrison by fresh soldiers from France |