IN MOROCCO.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 8, 10 January 1912, Page 7

IN MOROCCO.

NEGOTIATIONS BETWEEN FRANCE AND SPAIN. SPEEDY RATIFICATION URGED. FEARS FOR NEW CLAIMS BY GERMANY. By Telegraph.— Preu Ai«ocl»tion.— CopyrlgHt. (Received January 10, 8.5 a.m.) PARIS, 9th January. • Negotiations between France and Spain over Morocco are still beclouded. Franc© requires that the Sultan should retain general sovereignty, including the Spanish zone. Spain appeals to France- under the Spanish Treaty of 1904 for freedom within her sphere of influence. Meanwhile many newspapers, fearing Germany might. otherwise advance fresh claims in Africa, urge a speedy 'ratification of the Moroccan Treaty, and also the effective occupation of the territory wherein France is entitled to exercise a protectorate. : SPANISH SPHERE AGREED TO BY FRANCE. The text of a Franco-Spanish Treaty concerning Spain's sphere of influence' in Morocco, concluded as far back as October, 1904,, was recently published by the Paris Matin. Article 2 of the treaty delimits the Spanish sphere of , influence, specifying that Spain must only eiereite her action there in conformity with an agreement with France for a period 6f fifteen jears. France on her pail engages to inform Spain of her actions towards the Sultan. Tho coaet , lin6 allotted ,to Spain stretches from 'a point close to the Algerian frontier, along the northern or Mediterranean shore of Morocco, past tho Straits of Gibraltar, and down the Atlantic coast as far as Larache, where Spanish troops have recently been operating, a distance of about 300 miles. The Spanish sphere extends inland a distance of 50 or 60 miles, arid embraces the Riff cifruntrj'. The district is very mountainous. At a .sitting of France's Foreign. Affairs CommittQet on 21st November, M. Caillaux, the Prime Minister, in, reply to questions, stated that, without anticipating the contents of the proposed French Yellow-book, they .were free to declare that Franco had never assented to the Spanish action in Morocco la6t June. M. Caillaux is further said to ' have congratulated himself upon having •secured the ' recognition of an ultimate French Protectorate over the whole of Morocco as geographically defined in the Treaty. This was a guarantee that no Power other than Spain would be able to establish itself in Morocco. In view of the negotiations he was bound to maintain reserve with regard to the future position, of tho Spanish zone. In the Prime Minister's opinion it was imperative to ratify the Franco-German Agreement without delay. The railways between Fez. and Tangier and Fez and Algeria would constitute the'firct lines to be constructed. The foreign posts and the jurisdiction of the foreign Consuls would disappear when an effective French Protectorate had been" established. As regards the ' Belgian Congo, both M. Caillaux and M. de •Selves appear to have declared that Article 16 of the Congo part of tha Fi'anoo-Germau. Agreement was a guarantee of peace, anil in nowise impaired tho French right of pre-emption, which tvas personal to France and could not be transferred. , The Prime" Minister (Wrote the Paris correspondent of The Times) does not seem to have succeeded in completely reassuring public opinion regarding tho policy of the Franco-German Treaty, A largo section of the pres3 is silent j but the Journal dcs Oebats resumes its impressions by pronouncing tho Treaty to be unsatisfactory, while admitting that it must be ratified by Parliament. The Treaty, in this view, • has not really liberated Morocco fi'om the trammels of Gorman or other interference. It ie with regard to the ' impending question of Spanish rights that the committee seems to have been left in the greatest darkness. This point is very dearly put in an able article* signed by M. Gaston Caltnette, the editor of the Figaro. •M. Calmette traces with the utmost clearheea the history of the secret Franco-Spanish Treaty of 1904, and allows that it was concluded by the express desire of Great Britain, not only in the interest of immemorial Spanish rights — which indeed it diminished -ad compared with the secret Franco-Spanish Treaty of 1902 — but also for the purpose of acknowledging and assuring vital British interests in the Mediterranean and the Straits of Gibraltar, and on tho Atlantic coaet of Morocco. 51. Calmetto quotes the memorable declarations of the late Lord Percy in the House' of Commons on Ist June, 1904, when the then Undei'-Secretary for Foreign Affaire etated on behalf of the Government that they would never agree to any convention with' France regarding Morocco which did not take account of the incontestable righta of Spain in that country. This vital reserve wae embodied in Article 8 of the Anglo-French Convention, and in Article t the two 1 Governments agreed that there should bo no fortification of the coast of Morocco from Melilla right round to the mouth of the Sebu, , excepting at the points already occupied by Spavin. 51. Calmstte recalls the famous saying of Castelar, "Spain begins at the Pyrenees and ends at the Atlas." Spain, by a series of agreements with France concluded under British auspiceß, has abandoned a great portion of her traditional claims and ambitions, but the limit, in M. Calmette'a view, is reached when Spanish interest*! coincide with those of Great Britain. He concludes as follows: — "We can obtain a strip of territory (couloir) for the railway from Tangier. Wo may, perhaps, get' at Alcazar a rectification of frontier ; these are concessions which Ambassadors and Ministera determined to maintain, in all circumstances the beut of relations between the two countries will discuss with' out the exercise of any pressure. But we shall never obtain Larachc, the only Atlantic port (flic) ; we Shall never get Tangier ; and we are compelled to acquiesce because these Treaties were signed in our name without our knowledge. . . ." » BRITAIN'S AGREEMENT WITH FRANCE. The Anglo-French Treaty in regard to Morocco which was signed on Bth April, 1904, binds France to agree to a British Protectorate in Egypt it Britain desires to establish such a form of control, and binds Britain to agree to a French Protectorate in Morocco in the like circumstances. In the latter "case, however, Spain is awarded a zone near Melilla. France promised not to demand the evacuation of Egypt by British troops and Great Britain undertook to lend France "her assistance for all adminis* trative, economic, financial, and military retortm" necessary to maintain the tranquillity of Morocco. Then Germany stepped in, and the Algeciras Conference followed in 1906. FRANCO-GERMAN SETTLEMENT. • One of -the most important points in the Franco-German settlement over Morocco is that the two Powers agree to

vefer any disputes arising out of the compact to arbitration. Germany recognises France's full protectorate in Morocco, and her right to occupy, in agreement with the Shereefian Government, Moroccan territory by military forces. The French Government will safeguard the economic equality and commercial liberty provided for by treaties. Germany receives a large portion of the French Congo, giving her access to the Congo River and the sea. France receives "from Germany a small slice of territory in the Cameroon, giving her direct access to Lake Chad.