"A MAN OF GENIUS."

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9214, 18 April 1908, Page 2

" A MAN OF GENIUS."

If. Delcasss's Revenge. (By H. N. BEAILSFORD, in the " Daily Mail/) There is no topic in all the current affairs of Europe quite so dismal as the Moroccan affair. It lacks interest because no party to it has had the courage to pursue a clear idea. France N has hesitated and changed her policy. We hav6 no thought but to second France. Even Germany has not been consistent in her course of obstruction. As for the Moors, until they deposed their Sultan the other day, and chose in his place a Pretender with a policy, it is impossible to say that they have ever acted.

The trench people have shown an astonishing patience in the face of so much incoherence — the last fault that a logical race is usually disposed to tolerate. They watched the simple police operation at Casablanca prolonging itself month by month. When the legitimate Sultan came down at length to the coast at Rabat, and entered into negotiations with the French authorities they seemed for a moment bo *';e a future before them. A loan <if fix millions of French money was about to be made to Abdul Aziz. That would have been the beginning of the end. With 6uch a stake in the country, France 'would have bought Morocco, and would have been compelled to control it.

Suddenly, on January 3, the whole aspect of affairs was changed. . The Pretender, Mulai Hand, as the rtsnlt of a sudden awakening of patriotism at Fez, was proclaimed Sultan, and rapidly received the allegiance of the greater part of the country. It T as a providential escape for France. But still the troops are there, and the problem is unsolved.

KE-BNTEK DELCASSB. Twice the Moroccan question has been interesting, because a personality has appeared upon the scene. The first time was when the Kaiser startled the world by going to Tangier, to bid the Moors be true to the conservative elements in their religion. The se«ond time was when M. Delcasse, the contriver of the whole complication, fallen and well-nigh forgotten, suddenly reappeared in the French Chamber, answered a passionate but admirably-reasoned speech by M. Jaures, and revenged himself for his disgrace by extorting the applause of the very deputies who, two years ago. had dismissed him at the bidding of Prince Bulow.

One can understand the relief with which the Chamber turned from the incoherences of the past two years to this virile little man, who had at least a policy. Even M. Jaures called him "a man of genius." He had two merits. He knew his own mind and

he flinched from nothing. The Kaiser made Herr von Bulow a Prince of the Empire on the day that 'he brought about the dismissal of M. Delcasse. It was a tribute to the value of the faUsm Minister.

HIS FOLXOT. M. Delcasse had two guiding idea!* He proposed to civilise Morocco by "peaceful penetration," which meant if practice lay medical missionaries, schools, trades, loans, and a general policy of teaching the Sultan to rely on the friendship and guidance of France. Even 91. Jauree has on occasion blessed this policy. Bat it needed patience. ■ v

Above all, it needed a • free nand« The Sultan could be taught to taut on France, only if France were tht only Power capable of helping him. And thus the Moroccan question became a European question. Great Britain was eliminated from the competition by the entente cordiale. It remained to deal with Germany. Here the method pursued by M. Delcasse was. as M. Berard has put it, that which the iconoclasts of the Reformation followed when they wished to destroy a Gothic cathedral. > They did not simply batter down the walls. They simply cut the flying buttresses the external supports on which the whole complicated -strnoi ture rested. M. Delcasse realised thai the hegemony of Germany depended upon her friendships and alliances. Ht undermined the Triple Alliance, by "debauching" Italy. He even tapped the complete loyalty of Austria. JEfo made the understanding with Great Britain, secured Spain, linked aj/' friendly ties with Norway and Den* mark, and converted the Dual Alliance, with Russia into w\at is almost a tripla league, with Great Britain as the thud partner. It was a superb dipfomatMf achievement. '•

Suddenly, at the close of 1905, Gw many, realising that she hud been "isolated," determined to break through the ring, demanded a conference to discuss Morocco, and threaten* ed France with war. M. Delcasse told the Chamber that this threat could not have been executed, and the Chamber, brave after the event, covefw - ed his assurances with applause. It if an intelligible reaction of sentiment. M. Delcasse probably makes the mis* take which Napoleon made in 187O> and Mr Chamberlain in 1899. War, in all likelihood, a real danger. But certainly the price of peace hat been heavy. M. Rouvier, the banker, who succeeded M. Delcasse, though* that the friendship of Germany, like the alliance of Russia, could be bough* with French investments. He failed. M. Clemenceau has tried to combine correct it ude with enterprise, and peace with a slow crescendo of intervention. He also has failed. The problem Uof open, and one can understand that the French public regret the audacious grandeur of M. Delcasse's solution.

BEsux/rs — and ram fotcxb. There are moments in which the Jeasfl Jingo among us is tempted to toy with the idea of en anti-German coalition. The Prussian spirit, crushing the Poles, forcing the pace of armaments, refusing the franchise at home, abetting reao* tion abroad, is a curse and a menace to the whole common life of Europe. If by linking all the Liberal Power* against it we could assure peace and disarmament, such a coalition might b« a beneficent policy. - But these were not the aims of M. Delcasse's diplomacy, and these Jove not been its results. France wanted Morocco;. we wanted security in Egypt. Casablanca and Oenshawai ore the commentary, so far as Africa is conoeraed. And where has the Liberal apirit profited P Our associates - are Russia, Japan and Spain. Is one of them a Liberal Power? Poor Spain has been encouraged to rebuild her navy. Russia, on the point of becoming a democracy, was thrown back into reaction because the Anglo-French coalition pro, vided her with the loan of May 1905 which alone enabled the Caar t» defY the First Duma. Persian independent hangs by a thread Worst of all, the process of isolation has bad the most disastrous of all possible results in Germany itself. It alone strengthened Prince Bulow's hands in the patriotic ™ val , durins c Goaera! Election of 1906, brought the Radicals into the Imperialist "bloc," and so led & the defeat of the Socialists.

Germany in consequence is more militant and defiant than ever, and he* naval programme is her answer tq Europe. And now » nwr dange* threatens. The Mohammedan world in [Turkey, Persia, Russia and Egypt k turning in ite sleep, and seeking ne« life in the ideas of democracy and toje £ an £\ * Bnt A a war ? f wa^«A should be forced by events on France in Morocco, might not the effect be tit stimulate all the latent reaction in la. km, and to turn it onoe more against Europe and against enlightenment* The Napoleonic thought of this " ma* of genius " has certainly not served th| ends of Liberalism. There are^ aftel all, ways of transforming Gothic cathedrals other ,than th« cutting of their buttresses. \ One day the congregation inside will storm the pulpit.