The New Student's Reference Work/Delcassé, Théophile

Delcassé (dĕl-käs-sā), Théophile, French minister of foreign affairs, was born at Pamiers on Nov. 1, 1852,and began his career early. In 1889 he entered the French chamber, and in 1893 became under-secretary for the colonies, and in the following year colonial minister in the Dupuy cabinet. He was a consistent advocate of colonial expansion, and had charge of the Fashoda interests in the Méline cabinet in 1898 as minister of foreign affairs. He retained the latter post in the Waldeck-Rousseau ministry, under the presidency of Emile Loubet. In 1899 he negotiated the agreement with Great Britain as to the Nile valley and Central Africa.