NEWS OF THE WEEK.
THE French are greatly annoyed bythe Muscat incident, and M. Dekasse thinks it necessary to claim a moral victory. In a speech to the Chamber on Monday he affirmed that the British and French had equal rights in Muscat, which was true in 1862. but is not true now, the Sultan having become a subsidised Sovereign, and that the French Consul had asked only for a coal depot, whereas he asked also for permission to fortify it. Complaint of the Rrsident's action had been made to Lord Salisbury, and the British Foreign Secretary bad replied, profoundly regretting the action of an "unauthorised" Agent, and acceded to the French wish for a coaling depot without cession of territory. M. Dekasse's statement made for a moment some sensa- tion in London, and created a stupor in Calcutta; but on Tuesday Mr. Brodrick, the new Under-Secretary to the Foreign Office, flatly denied its accuracy. The "action of our Agent was taken under our instructions," and although Lord Salisbury would "have preferred a less public method than a threat of bombardment," "it is clear that no blame attaches to our Agent on the spot, who was not in a position to dis- tinguish between the responsibility of the French Agent and the Sultan of Muscat on the one side, and that of the French Government on the other, and we hold his action in substance to have been absolutely right." The journals of Paris treat this correction as a mere question of words, which, in one way, no doubt it is ; but questions of words of that sort do not render pacificatory negotiations easy. Bargainers who mean business like to trust one another. Diplomatists, we may add, do not love Foreign Ministers who accept apologies which were never proffered.
