Great Britain for the management of the Egyptian finances. To pay the interest due to the Rothschilds and their clients, the French Republic and the British Monarchy co-operated to enforce the payment of taxes in advance. But French diplomacy was outwitted in Egypt. Leaving England to break up the rising movement for Egyptian self-government, France seized the opportunity presented by British preoccupations in Egypt and the Soudan. The French annexed Tunis and claimed the Sahara; occupied Madagascar; from the West they struck into the Niger region and organised expeditions for the appropriation of British trade with the interior. Agreements were made with native chiefs, and taxes imposed. Wherever the French troops marched the territory was claimed as in the sphere of French influence. The fiscal system adopted fo1lowed the lines of French Colonial policy, by erecting a prohibitive tariff against imports not of French origin. For ten years France and ourselves were on the verge of war, and only the heavy engagements of Britain in other parts of the world kept the peace between the rival trading nations.
THE PACIFIC REPUBLIC?
The history of the growth of the French African Empire shows that republicanism can be as bellicose as the most strident monarchy. Entering late in the day into the scramble for colonies, Germany became mistress 0£ the least desirable parts of Africa. Saddled with territories in which white men could not live, her goods excluded from French possessions, Germany turned to Morocco as a possible field for German capital and enterprise. The mountains of Morocco contain an abundance of iron ore that caught the longing eyes of the Frankfort financiers. When Europe was divided on the question whether German controlled capital should employ men and machines to dig for iron in Morocco, we were engaged in a discussion of the fundamental issues in present-day politics. Whether Greece shall be ruled by a monarch or a President is of no importance to the mass of men. However she is ruled, being a small nation, she will dance to the tune called by the Government that gives its capitalists authority to lend money to Greece. Whether Germany or France shall own the potash fields of Alsace, is an issue of such magnitude, that a million lives can be lost in war before the question is decided. Yet it makes no difference to the
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