exclaimed the Major, “as the French flag is there.”  A reference by the Sirdar to his superiority of force produced no effect, the French commander stating that if it were used he and his men would die at their posts.  He, however, requested the Sirdar to let the matter be referred to the Government at Paris, to which Sir Herbert assented.  After exchanging courteous gifts they parted, the Sirdar leaving an Egyptian force in the village, and lodging a written protest against the presence of the French force[423].  He then proceeded up stream to the Sobat tributary, on the banks of which at Nassar he left half of a Sudanese battalion to bar the road on that side to geographical explorers provided with flags.  He then returned to Khartum.

[Footnote 423:  Parl.  Papers, Egypt, No. 2 (1898), p. 9; No. 3 (1898), pp. 3-4.]

The sequel is well known.  Lord Salisbury’s Government behaved with unexpected firmness, asserting that the overthrow of the Mahdi brought again under the Egyptian flag all the lands which that leader had for a time occupied.  The claim was not wholly convincing in the sphere of logic; but the victory of Omdurman gave it force.  Clearly, then, whether Major Marchand was an emissary of civilisation or a pioneer of French rule, he had no locus standi on the Nile.  The French Government before long gave way and recalled Major Marchand, who returned to France by way of Cairo.  This tame end to what was a heroic struggle to extend French influence greatly incensed the major; and at Cairo he made a speech, declaring that for the present France was worsted in the valley of the Nile, but the day might come when she would be supreme.

It is generally believed that France gave way at this juncture partly because her navy was known to be unequal to a conflict with that of Great Britain, but also because Franco-German relations were none of the best.  Or, in the language of the Parisian boulevards:  “How do we know that while we are fighting the British for the Nile valley, Germany will not invade Lorraine?” As to the influences emanating from St. Petersburg contradictory statements have been made.  Rumour asserted that the Czar sought to moderate the irritation in France and to bring about a peaceful settlement of the dispute; and this story won general acceptance.  The astonishment was therefore great when, in the early part of the Russo-Japanese war, the Paris Figaro published documents which seemed to prove that he had assured the French Government of his determination to fulfil the terms of the alliance if matters came to the sword.

There we must leave the affair, merely noting that the Anglo-French agreement of March 1899 peaceably ended the dispute and placed the whole of the Egyptian Sudan, together with the Bahr-el-Ghazal district and the greater part of the Libyan Desert, west of Egypt, under the Anglo-Egyptian sphere of influence. (See map at the end of this volume.)