FUTURE OF TANGIER

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 137, 7 December 1926, Page 4

FUTURE OF TANGIER

WHY THE NAVY IS INTEREST*!*

A VITAL QUESTION. :...

Tho circumstances in which the que»V tion of the future of Tangier has been! raised by the Spanish Government aacf still so indefinite, and the implication^ flowing from any controversy on tMj matter might turn out to be so varied that the Admiralty is not at present very much concerned, writes Archibald Hurd in tho "Daily Telegraph." But it must be apparent to anyone who wiH | glance at tho map that not only Brit* am, but tho whole Empire, are gravely, interested in the future of this Moroccan port, situated only fourteen miles] •across the water from Gibraltar. The! control of. Tangier has been something of .an international problem ever sine* Charles 11. married Catherine of Bra* ganza, and thus became its master fo^ a time.

Tangier is a port which interests th* British people from a strategical poinij of view; and wo also have important) economic interests there. About two* fifths of its imports come either direct from this country or from Gibraltar* Our concern in all that occurs at Tangier dates back, indeed, to a period long before wo had established-ourselves at Gibraltar. After Charles ll.'s maiy riage it was stoutly defended by omj troops against tho warlike tribes on' that part of the Moroccan coast. Tlnj oxpense of the defence was considerable, and ' Charles 11. begrudged thai money. Thus it came about that Samuel Pepys was dispatched, in company, with other trusted advisers, to inspect Tangier and to report. He was regarded as tho expert member of the mission and he was much embarrassed by the honour which had been thrust upon him. What line should he take 'which' would not ruin his prospects? That problem preoccupied his mind for some time, but by what was to him a happyj chance he learnt on the voyage out thatj tho King wished to abandon the poi^j to save expense. He thus came to kn<yvf | the character of tho report that hiu Sovereign expected him to produce, and( on his Teturn, being a very human cr«»» ture, he produced it. And it thus camtj about that, having passed into English! hands in '.1662, Tangier was abandoned to the Moors in 1684. ' WhW in 170$ Boko captured Gibraltar,-the fonj( which Pepys had committed.; in recoup mending the abandonment of Tangkqi., became apparent, though its full effeett were not generally recognised until tin development of modern artillery revefflj ed it as a possible danger to tho «$? curity of "The Bock." ,; * . '{ Since tho opening of the Suez Canal the naval importance of Gibraltar hajsf been increased, for»thc safe passage Oj^ the Mediterranean is now vital to tVq whole Empire. No Englishman is erej likely to forget Eliott's heroic defenei of Gibraltar, which is one of the mo« glorious pages in our history. It use^J to be said that Gibraltar was "the kejj to the Mediterranean," and it wag that consideration which led. this couD|f try to struggle so doggedly"to retain if and to develop it as a cijtadel and *4 a dockyard. The evolution of naval power- and the grqw.th^f- the Britiaq Empire has added enormously to ths importance of Gibraltar, situated 1300, miles from this country. Whereas Nelson's ships, dependent upon the wind! of heaven fortheir motive power, conls remain at sea for months on end, sines; they carried ample stores of all kinds,' tho modern man-of-war must rely upon' bases for docking and supplies. Manjj millions of pounds—probably not leesf than £5,000,000 since the opening of the present century—have been sunk at Gibraltar in -converting! it into a firsteiass naval base, with -fme docks and everything which a large fleet may re« quire. The Admiralty are just completing, at a coat of ££29/000, storage' accommodation for oil fuel, end are spending i'^o'^OO on providing a storehouse for gun mountings : and torpedo! fittings. This expenditure; is referred to merely us an illustration of the importance which the naval authorities] still attach to Gibraltar, . and shows, moreover, the attitude -.which thejj would adopt if its future were menaced by any change in the status of Tangier. ; This is a matter which touches not only tho interests of Great Britain, hut of "all the British peoples, throughout the world, since Gibraltar command^ the narrow strait which opens into t)ie Mediterranean. That i 3 the. highway of. the British Empire. Its inviolability is} not merely a matter of naval strategy,; but of commercial strategy, and of th« economic integrity of the nations constituting the British Commonwealth. If is inconceivable that the peoples of Australia and New Zealand, or the Government of India, for that matter^ would remain unmoved by any development which could in any event affect tho freedom of movement of British? ships, whether of war or of commerce,in the Mediterranean. Gibraltar is thai half-way house to Malta, which is now the base of the principal squadrons ot the British I'lcet, as a result of the redistribution of naval power which has taken place since the end of the Great War. As events in the.past have shows, the presence of a strong British Fleet in tho Mediterranean constitutes s> powerful 'influence for peace, and contributes to tho -Maintenance of those friendly relations with, tho Mediterranean Powers which have proved no mean factor in the progress of liberal civilisation. -. '