All French accounts agree in stating that the Republican Government
intends to pursue a policy of aggression in Mada- gascar. The claim of France to the territory occupied by the Sakalaves is to be supported by force, and the dominant race, the Haves, are told that, unless they give way, their own right to independence will be held to have been dependent on an old treaty, and to have expired. This amounts to a pretension to a superiority in the whole island of Madagascar, and, if rightly re- ported, will be regarded there as equivalent to a declaration of war. As the Hovas are as brave as the Maoris, more numerous, and in possession of a more defensible country, the conflict will be a very serious one, and require twenty thousand men for some years. France does not succeed in such confliots, her soldiers detesting the exile, the heavy sick list, and the work ; but it may be commenced, for all that. The French Government has evidently decided, while hampered in Europe, to enlarge its foreign possessions, but it distributes its efforts too widely. It could effect more by confining its expansion to Indo-China, than by threatening Morocco, the Congo Valley, Madagascar, Ton- gain, and Corea, all at the same time. We should like io see a $ clear account of the outlay on Colonies made in actual cash by France since 1870. It would astonish financiers.
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