Show BRITISH CO dVEST IX AFRICA Colonel Colville the British commissioner commis-sioner in Uganda who has just arrived in England has made an interesting I statement concerning the probabilities i and possibilities of a British advance to the north and the occupation of the Nile valley He said Wadelai is still in our sphere but the king of the Belgians Bel-gians has the right to occupy it temporarily tem-porarily There is nothing to stop a British advance on the Nile valey It is purely a question of the orders of the government If we wish for the Nile valley we must go and take it It is certain that no amount of treaties would have any effect We heard a good deal of the rush for the Nile but know very little about it A French expedition left the Congo for the east but we have no knowledge knowl-edge that it was making fbr the Nile We in Uganda are entirely cut off from the region of BahrelGazel by a number of small independent tribes who would offer no resistance to a small force but they prevent independent messengers from getting through and so the British know very little of what is happening about 300 miles to the north Until rather more is known of what nations are doing I do not imagine that any steps will be taken toward an actual occupation of the Nile Valley I fancy the chief reason why Egypt does not advance is want of money With regard re-gard to the KMjtlifas position I am or opinion that attack from foreigners would cause the dissension among the Dervishes to disappear and that they would nock round the Maihdis standard stand-ard There would undoubtedly be a big fight at Khartoum and I should not care to attack the place with less than 10000 men but beyond this I do not think the khalifa would make a stand Before the TransAfrican telegraph tele-graph can be laid it will be found albso lutely necessary to subjugate the dervishes der-vishes as it is out of the question to bribe or pay the khallfa to look after the lines Possibly in this matter an advance will be made from Egypt If I could succeed in making terms with Kabarega I could detach a force of coo men from Uganda to proceed to the north Of course it would be impossible im-possible with such a force to reach Khartoum but such a movement If the government desired the protectorate protector-ate forces to cooperate with Egypt would serve as a feint to draw off some og the khalifas people |