SPAIN IN MOROCCO.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXII, Issue 18, 4 January 1912, Page 2

SPAIN IN MOROCCO.

WHAT SHE CLAIMS. . 1 ' Tlic' recent declaration of, a Paris toapfci 1 that' Fra'Ace cannot tolerate two protectorates mi ! Morocfcb, is, no doubt, intended tb be notice to Spain to moderate her demands or quit, but the spirit lately shown by the Madrid Government has been anything but a yielding one. The other day the llcpublique Francaise alleged that the French' Premier' (Mi Caillaux) semiofficially conveyed to King Alfonso of Spain an intimation that it would be dangerous to the Spanish dynasty if the Madrid .Cabinet did not display a conciliatory spirit 'towards ; France. To this message, the paper states, King Alfonso replied,'“'Spain is’hot Portugal.” “ . : Some weeks prior to .that the Spanish Premier (Senor Canalejas) deliyer- . ed a speech in which he spoke of the absolute necessity of not losing one hour or one minute in re-vindicating Spain’s historical right 'in Africa. Quoting examples, he recalled how Germany had not awaited the complete organisation of her domestic affairs before she sent her armies across the frontier; how Italy, although suffering from the open sore of emigration, had set out on a warlike enterprise. Spain, he said, could not be an exception, and must not consider herself obliged to wait the completion of her internal reorganisation before accomplishing her, manifest duties. He concluded with a grave warning to all those who inculcated pacificist theories in the schools. in the opinion of the Paris “Debats,” France ought to defer to the view the Spanish honour forbids the evacuations of Earache and Alcazar, though she may not be able to share that view. These northern regions [ought to be left to Spain, and she ought only to be asked to grant to France the necessary facilities for constructing and running’the future railway from Tangier to Fez. At the same time she ought to be asked to make in the south of Morocco those territorial concessions to France which her interests and her honour forbky her to grant in the north. Spain cannot refuse to recognise that France now occupies a different position in relation to Morocco than she did when in 1904 and 1905 she en- . tered into agreements with Spain. The Paris correspondent of the “Times” said several weeks ago: “Spain, it is thought, will not refuse to give up her prospective rights to some portion of her sphere where her interests are of secondary value. There could, of course, be no question of the Mediterranean coast of Morocco, which is of vital importance for Spain. It would only be on the Atlantic seaboard that a compromise could be suggested.”