ENGLAND AND MOROCCO.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 1039, 5 September 1911, Page 4

ENGLAND AND MOROCCO.

(From the London Times.)

The statement which will be made within the next few days on behalf of the Government in the House of Commons will, we are confident, give a very plain and downright answer to the extraordinary questions which certain German organs in Berlin and in Vienna have been asking about the attitude of Great Britain in regard to the step Germany has taken in Morocco. These newspapers and those behind them profess to be curious as to how we shall behave, and some of them have been indulging in speculations upon the subject which illustrate their complete ignorance at once of the British character and of the British Constitution. They suggest that because our relations with Germany have Improved within the last five or six years we may prove to be less ready to support our French friends now than we have been, and they inquire whether the foreign policy oi England will be the same under King George as it was under King Edward. There is but one attitude possible for us. The “purely preventive and temporary” step which Germany has thought proper to take creates, indeed, an entirely new situation in Morocco, but a situation in which we must continue to be guided by the principles and the considerations on which our action has been hitherto based. We must, of course, act up to the letter and to the spirit of our treaty obligations with France in the full sense which our honour and our friendship with that country require. We must, at the same time, take care to protect our interests ot ours in “conversations” economical and political, which immensely outweigh any that Germany possesses there. That much is certain and to Englishmen elementary. It is not our habit to draw back from our pledged word, or to suffer other Powers to settle important interest! in ours in “conversations” held behind out backs. It Germany has any definite proposals for “conversations” to make, there is, of course, no reason why we or our French friends should refuse to entertain them. But we shall assuredly assert our right to take part in any “conversations,” whoever may desire to hold them, which may purport to adjust the Morocco question. No “claims” can be admitted, and noncompensations” allowed in an international matter which concerns us nearly and deeply, without our participation and assent. There is nothing like plain dealing in these matters, and we are glad to share our Berlin correspondent’s belief that the Government have already intimated to Germany that these are the unaltered foundations of our Moroccan policy. Some Germans appear inclined to advance the extraordinary doctrine that by our disagreements with France we have disinterested ourselves in Morocco as against third parties. That is both bad law and bad sense. We have made certain compacts with France in regard to that country, but we made them for valuable consideration. They concern us and her alone, and no other Power can derive rights under them. Our rights as against any and every other Power are unaffected by them, and remain as they were before our engagement with her.