Show THE ViSB E MEN OF 1 LONDON They Believe France is Figuratively Figur-atively Burning Her Fingers READY TO CLIMB DOWN Nile Expedition Will Not Prove to be a Picnic Bold Front Put on By England nut i is Well Known the Mahdis Troops Are Well Armed Are Fierce Fighters und the Soudan Will Sot Be Captured Without the Expenditure of a Great Deal of Blood and Treasure OutlooJc is Most Serious LONDON March 21 Copyrighted 1896 by the Associated PressFrance it is generally believed here is burning burn-ing her fingers with the Egyptian question The French government i is asserted expected the cooperation of Germany but found she had been anticipated by Great Britain as the Marquis of Salisbury assured himself that he had the support of Emperor William in the matter and the latter is said to have informed the British premier that Great Britain could rely upon the support of Germany and Austria ifshe aided Italy The Marquis Mar-quis of Salisbury it appears had not consulted with the Congo Free state authorities before announcing the governments gov-ernments decision France consequently conse-quently found herself confronted with a plan fully prearranged and it is stated sta-ted she now shows a disposition to CLIMB DOWN from the attitude she assumed < when the government issued its note on Wednesday I Wed-nesday last saying that the proposed advance up the Nile was a great surprise sur-prise to the government of France and would serve to embitter the antiEn gUsh feeling in that country at a time when a better understanding was promised and adding that Great Brit ains explanation that the advance is I necessary to the interest of Egypt is I viewed with sarcasm in France The wording of this note is now saddled on the premier M Bourgoise who it is asserted Issued it without consulting the rest of the ministers The opposition in France to the use of the Egyptian reserve fund to defray the expenses of the expedition to Don gola does not avail for a the British under secretary of state for foreign affairs Mr Curzon expressed in the house of commons yesterday there are two funds controlled by the EGYPTIAN DEBT COMMITTEE One of these the larger fund is derived de-rived from a conversion of the Egyptian Egyp-tian debt and it requires the unanimous unan-imous consent of the powers to authorize author-ize the expenditure of the whole or any part of i But the second and smaller to about reserve fund amounting 12500000 can be used with the consent con-sent of a majority of the committee and Great Britain ha a majority of the committee on her side even if France and Russia refuse their consent con-sent for the approval of Germany Austria and Italy to the use of the reserve re-serve fund Iras already been obtained Then again French newspapers argue ar-gue that Egypt ha no right to repel the Dervishes taking the ground that if she does so they will be driven south and may disturb the French Belgian and German possessions in Central Africa Af-rica Such an argument naturally does not carry much weight here and the British newspapers retort that everybody must PROTECT HIMSELF In spite of the bold front put upon the matter here there is no denying that there is a feeling in Great Britain Brit-ain that the Nile expedition is likely to turn out to be something in the nature of disturbing a hornets nest and the support of Italy in case matters assume as-sume a serious aspeot is problematical problemat-ical A Russian traveler Eliziff who is thoroughly familiar with the situation estimates that the forces at the disposal dis-posal of the Mahdi number about 300 000 men of which 40000 are beggars all trained and disciplined The Mahdi is baieved to have 100000 rifles but it is said they are as a rule of obsolete character and that only 20000 Reming tons which form part of his store of arms are serviceable So far as the artillery is concerned it is not behaved that he has more than the guns captured cap-tured upon the occasion of the defeat of Hicks Pasha but it is intimated that like King Menelik of Abyssinia the Mahdi has been secretly purchasing purchas-ing arms and ammunition for sometime some-time past and it may be found that his troops are quite as well armed as those of the Negus and that the CAPTURE OF THE SOUDAN will not be accomplished without the expenditure of much blood and treasure treas-ure and that the end will not be attained at-tained without drawing largely upon the British troops now in England In fact the more the matter Is looked into in-to the more serious the outlook appears ap-pears and anything in the shape of a picnic or walkover need not be anticipated an-ticipated The Mahdis as is well known can fight with terrible determination deter-mination skill and ferocity and they can endure hardships beneath which the best European troops would speedily speed-ily succumb The Mahdis chief lieutenants lieu-tenants are Cheruf and Vahldieshow The Khalifs flag is black Cherufs is green Indicating that ne is a direct descendant of the Prophet Mahomet and Vahldiesnows is red aJl VahldleSows re Much interest is manifested in legal and other circles in the bill introduced at the instance of the lord chancellor Lord Salisbury for the suppression of INCIDENT EVIDENCE This measure was read for the second sec-ond time in the house of lords yesterday yester-day By its provisions a judge is empowered em-powered to order evidence which he thinks would be prejudicial to public morals not to be published The lord chief justice Baron Russell of Killo wen is known to be opposed to the bill and it is quoted that the master of the rolls Baron Esher president of the divorce court is of the opinion m l that the law is already strong enough and that if the proposed measure becomes be-comes a law it willpractically establish estab-lish a censorship of the press Lord Glenesk proprietor of the Morning Morn-ing Post contended that the tendency of the press was quite against the publication pub-lication of such details and asserted that he had read more offensive things in recent novels than had ever been found in the newspapers Although the bill had been readfor the second time in the house of lords it is doubtful if it will be adopted by the house of commons The Field continues its opposition to the presence of a Yale crew at the Henley regatta and prints a letter urging the most stringent inquiry into the amateur standing of the members of that crew who intend to take part in the races at Henley without being desired to do so as the writer says and suggesting the passage of a rule excluding all foreign crews from participating par-ticipating in the annual regatta at Henley Another letter to the Field contends that raising money by public subscrip tion as has been done in the United Unied States prejudices the status of the members of the Yale crew and amateurs ama-teurs Mr William K Vanderbilt has been in town for several days Mr Richard Crokers horses I ave been in town doing well 1 training and they have been scratched for the events in whioh they were entered for the Lincoln meeting |