The case of the Manouba ' was more serious. The
French Government stated that the twenty-nine Turks were members of the Red Crescent Society, who had received the express authority of the French Foreign Office to proceed to Tunis in order to carry out their hospital work in Tripoli. The master of the ' Manouba,' at first refused to surrender his Turkish passengers, but afterwards he did so on the instruct- tion of the French Vice-Consul at Cagliari in Sardinia, who had received an order to that effect from the French Chargé d'Affaires in Rome. It seems that the French Charge d'Affaires acted without consulting the French Foreign Office. The Italian contention was that the twenty- nine Turks were combatant officers in disguise. M. Poineare's firm but considerate explanation of events in the Chamber on Monday was extraordinarily well received. The French Government requires that the Turks shall be given up by Italy us a preliminary to arbitration or some other solution of the dispute. Though as we -write on Friday no agreement has been reached we cannot believe that it will be long post- poned. It is too obviously against the best interests of both Powers to quarrel over what is after all but a punctilio.
Previous page
