south from Khartum and war seemed inevitable. Happily, France yielded and the incident was closed by an agreement between the two countries in 1899.
In the midst of her trouble with Great Britain, the French Government called to its foreign office in 1898 Theophile Delcasse, one of the ablest diplomats of the modern period. His great ambition, it is thought, was to recover for his country Alsace and Lorraine. Such an ambition could be realized only on condition that France could count on the aid or at least the neutrality of some country other than Russia. It may have been this aim that led him to cultivate friendly relations with Great Britain. His advances were kindly received by the British Government and King Edward VII used his influence in favor of an understanding between his country and France. The result of these efforts was a treaty of mutual understanding between the two countries, signed in 1904. By this treaty England was for the future to be unhampered in Egypt, France was given a free hand in Morocco, and other points at issue between them were settled. All causes of friction now being
removed, there gradually developed during the decade of 1904—1914 "particularly friendly relations between the peoples and governments of France and Great Britain." [notes 1] The mutual
- ↑ Hayes, II, 702.
