EUROPEAN CRISIS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1185, 21 July 1911, Page 5

EUROPEAN CRISIS.

MOROCCAN NEGOTIATIONS. GERMANY DEMANDS HUGE SLICE OF AFRICA. A DELICATE SITUATION. BRITISH INTERESTS AFFECTED By Teleerarh-l'ress ABSMi.ition-CoDyrlght (Rcc. July 20, 11.35 p.m.) London, .Inly 20. Owing to the Veto Bill crisi.?, and perhaps more especially to the sudden am delicate situation between France and Germany regarding Morocco, Mr. Asquith's intended visit to Edinburgh next Mondav has been postponed. The Cabinet will to-morrow consider the Veto Bill and the Moroccan situation. Half French Congo Wanted. The German demands amount to the complete cession by France of the coast and interior of French Congo as far as the Sanga River—a point about six hundred miles in from the sea-coast. Germany also asks to be given Prances contingent reversion of the Congo State. The arrangement would add another 209,000 square miles to the existing 200,000 square miles of the German Kamerun. While France would retain, the hinterland of the French Congo, all communication between this territory and the Atlantic would be exclusively through German or Belgian territory. Impossible Demands. The Paris correspondent of "The Times" states that although it is not alleged on the German side that Trance lias been guilty of any contravention of tho Act of Algeciras or tho agreement of February, 1909, Germany is demanding impossible compensation, which German statesmen are well aware- it is not conceivable that the French Government could for a moment entertain. A One-sided Bargain". The so-called "compensations" for the withdrawing of a German warship from Agadir are demanded without the relinquishment of any of the valuable economic rights secured by Germany in Morocco since 1909, nor is there a word as to the German guarantees for the better fulfilment of the promise of 1909 not to impedo France's acknowledged political interest in Morocco. The opinion is spreading that Germany desires France, as a last resort, to whittle ■ the settlement to Jlulai Hand's ceding an enclave at Agadir to Germany. Compromising British Interests. This would satisfy Pan-German ambitions, and, by directly compromising British interests, greatly strain, the AngloFiench entente. ' "Lo Temps" declares that if the negotiations lead to a deadlock France's only courso will bo to appeal t'o tho signatories of the Act of Algeciras. "AUDACIOUS BLUFF."

HAS GERMANYSHOWN HER HAND? COMMENT BY "THE TIMES." (Rec. July 21, 1.5 a.m.) London, July 20. "Tho Times" regards the German demands as an audacious bluff. .-..1t suggests that they are possibly not without their electioneering aspects, but it also believes that Germany has not yet shown her hand. Tho article adds that possibly tho dispatch of one or two British ships to Agttdir might hasten developments. THE POINTS IN DISPUTE. KAISER WILLIAM'S WORLD POLICY. Tho French Congo extends along the Atlantic Coast of Africa between the German Kamerun colony and the territories of the Congo State. French acquisition began on the Gabun River in 1841. Since then the territories havebeen increased by exploration and military occupation and their limits have been defined in a series of international conventions. Tho- area is about 669.0U0 square miles containing a population of from five to fifteen millions of negro and other races. In 1881 the "International Association of the Congo," a concern mainly Belgian in nationality, and with the late King Leopold as its_ head, gained recognition as the Congo Freo State, and began its career of exploitation. The president of the association on April 23' of that year addressed to tho French Minister of Foreign Affairs a Note in which it undertook to give Franco tho right of preferenco if, through unforeseen circumstances, it were compelled to sell its possessions. This right of pre-emption was declared in ISB7 to bo without prejudice to theright of Belgium to take over tho possessions of tho Congo Free State. On the taking over of tho Congo by Belgium in 1903 France retained her old right of pre-emption by an explicit understanding. In a recent article a "Daily Mail" writer says of the German Emperor and, German policy:— In ten years King Edward won universal recognition as a great King; but twonly-tivo years have not sufficed fo gain for William of Hohenzollern the Tank of a great Emperor, though tho sum of his varied talents approximates to genius and his brilliance glitters along tho lino that divides greatness from eccentricity. After a period of partial eclipse, he once more stands forth—not, indeed, as a leader of Europe, nor even as undisputed interpreter of German aspirations, but yet as a monarch maturer, stronger, and holding firmer, albeit more chastened, sway over the hearts both of the Germans of his empire and of tho Germans beyond its pale. Whither is he leading his people? Towards peace or towards war? Pcaco has been preserved during his reign, not alone through his merit, nor because- his acts and gestures have always tended to promote harmony among nations, but because, despite threatening words and deeds, he has invariably shrunk from putting to a practical test the "sharp sword and dry powder" principles so often ennnnciatcd in his speeches. Is he, therefore, entitled to some degree- of international confidence? Problems require study, not confidence; and tho German Emperor is not less a liviug problem to-day than at any moment of his reign of startled peace. His most recent manifestations increase knowledge of his personality without furnishing a sufficient clue to his ulterior designs. Tho Konigsberg speech, with its claim, scarcely attenuated by subsequent explanation, that its author is an "instrument, of the Lord." and therefore not necessarily accountable fo human beings; the Vienna speech, claiming Austrian gratitude, for his appearance as an ally "in shining armour" or. the hour of need; and his German reply to the French toast of the Belgian King at Brussels, reveal the German Emperor by turns as a crowned mystic, a shrewd stn(csi".i.i\ and a tactician often calculatingly ob'.iviI ous of tact.