Once again the eight Frenchmen, who had come so far and accomplished so much, set out upon their travels, to make a safe though tedious journey through Abyssinia to the coast, and thence home to the country they had served faithfully and well, and which was not unmindful of their services.

Let us settle the international aspect of the reconquest of the Soudan while we are in the way with it.  The disputes between France and England about the valley of the Upper Nile were terminated, as far as material cause was concerned, by an Agreement, signed in London on the 21st of March, 1899, by Lord Salisbury and M. Cambon.  The Declaration limiting the respective spheres of influence of the two Powers took the form of an addition to the IVth Article of the Niger Convention, concluded in the previous year.  Its practical effect is to reserve the whole drainage system of the Nile to England and Egypt, and to engage that France shall have a free hand, so far as those Powers are concerned, in the rest of Northern Africa west of the Nile Valley not yet occupied by Europeans.  This stupendous partition of half a continent by two European Powers could scarcely be expected to excite the enthusiasm of the rest.  Germany was, however, soothed by the promise of the observance of the ‘Open Door’ policy upon the Upper Nile.  Italy, protesting meekly, followed Germany.  Russia had no interests in this quarter.  France and England were agreed.  The rest were not consulted:  and the Declaration may thus be said to have been recognised by the world in general.

It is perhaps early to attempt to pronounce with which of the contracting Powers the advantage lies.  France has acquired at a single stroke, without any serious military operations, the recognition of rights which may enable her ultimately to annex a vast African territory.  At present what she has gained may be described as a recognised ‘sphere of aspiration.’  The future may convert this into a sphere of influence, and the distant future may witness the entire subjugation of the whole region.  There are many difficulties to be overcome.  The powerful influence of the Senussi has yet to be overthrown.  The independent kingdom of Wadai must be conquered.  Many smaller potentates will resist desperately.  Altogether France has enough to occupy her in Central Africa for some time to come:  and even when the long task is finished, the conquered regions are not likely to be of great value.  They include the desert of the Great Sahara and wide expanses of equally profitless scrub or marsh.  Only one important river, the Shari, flows through them, and never reaches the sea:  and even Lake Chad, into which the Shari flows, appears to be leaking through some subterranean exit, and is rapidly changing from a lake into an immense swamp.