MOROCCO.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXI, Issue 24, 13 September 1911, Page 6

MOROCCO.

Discussing the situation just before tlie last mail left, the Paris correspondent of tlie •‘London Daily Telegraph,” who is one of the best informed writers in Europe, wrote: — Whatever proposals may be made by Germany, one thing, at any rate, can .<e regaiclod as certain. 'J iie French Government, although animated by

111 extremely conciliatory spirit, is not prepared to make any substantial eoncossions. It is ready to give a •crtaili. amount of satisfaction to Germany amour propro, but beyond this it is not likely to go. People are barking back to the strained situation which existed six years ago, md are saying that history is repeating itself. No greater error could be committed than ; the adoption of . this point of view,. The two situations ire totally dissimilar. In the' 'former rase, the then Prime Minister, who lad no diplomatic experience, was taken by surprise, and suffered himself to be alarmed by the warnings uttered by persons who were not accredited to his Government. The sapid showed that this alarm was utterly mi justified, and it also demonstrated that important concessions to Germany iiavo only led on to further action, and to more unreasonable daicuids. The tactics employed in 1905 .core successful, but, for obvious reasons, tlioh cannot succeed again. The Germans calmly talk of compensation as if they were entitled, years after the Algociras Conference and their agreement with Franco, to a slice ofthat Power’s possessions. Compensation for what 7 Patriotic Frenchmen exclaim, and no plausible answer to this question can oe found.

Yet the explanation of all this illhumour is . very simple. When Bismarck encouraged Jules Ferry to em- ; bark on his policy* of colonial enterprise ho had two objects in view. Such activity would keep the French well employed outside Europe, and would be ..productive of periodical friction, perhaps of worse, between them and the English. Now the Germans not only see the French in possession of vast domains in different quarters of tno globe, but they also and them bound by solid friendship to their former rivals and possible foes. What have the Germans to show jon their side in the , matter, of colonial territory? Very little in comparison. All the calculations of Bismarck have been controverted by tiro results' and this sufficiently accounts for tiie outbursts of ill-humour which are displayed in Germany from time to time and also for tnese temptations to feel the pulse, as it wore, of the Entente Cordiale. All this is well known to practical French politiciansso’ that tiiis fresh attempt to obtain more so-called compensation is falling flat. Yet tile French Government, willing as it is to make allowances for all this disappointment, is ready to grant certain concessions, though, as i have said, they cannot be expected to be of a substantial nature. If it is really true that Herr von KiuorleniVaechter made such a preposterous proposal to M. Jules Gambon two Saturdays ago, the French Government would have been more than justified in breaking off the conveisaHons then and there. One cart easily imagine what the German Goveni- . would nave done if tiie positions had been reversed. As a matter of c.. hs i fiat jtms recently happened has not been favourable to German prestige. It has once more aroused general suspicion of German methods and aims, and the value of whatever concessions France may make will ba small 'gain: when the loss thus sustained is bonje in mind. " This is " the view which prevails hero at the present date, and it is only right tnat it shordd be 1 clearly set forth. The total absence of all anxiety is in marked contrast with the scare of 1905, and of this every German in a responsible position must b'v this time be tullv aware.