SPAIN AND MOROCCO.

Waikato Times, Volume XVIII, Issue 1482, 3 January 1882, Page 2

SPAIN AND MOROCCO.

4 tt is as well to recall the possible fighting strength of Morocco just now. thai • , French march on Figuig appears lnevt-^ table, and that a paper so sensible M the * i Tenm is complaining bitterly of the^ anti-Frenjh influences and intrigues^, of - | which it believes Tangiers to be the centre^ "In cast of y??p,"M&yfi:& weU< *>, informed writer* in • the ■• Bbjfati&ffl&iteffl&r porariea, "Morocco couldCbnly Elacefrap the field a corps dJarmee-of-:abont'i7o,oop'^*^d J armee-of-:abont'i70,00p'^*^ men, of which ( some 20,000 wouM be troops which might be; with ( mo^ wless l reason," called regulars.-* TBe foraf under the Scherifs has never amovmted.tftnxßC.h:^^,, more, and in 1859 ,the numbers in the field baxely came up to '60,000." Of „ these the vast' majority belong to the majazen, or tribal contingent, s a body of horsemen as daring ana as enduring as Arab horsemen commonly.' are, but of course unversed in modern; warfare, and armed with the long "clumsy" espingarda and the "gumia,- a sort of broad-bladed} y P ' knife curved and tapering at the point. ? The field artillery, of Morocco consists , of fifty-five misceuaneous pieces of all dates and sizes, and presents mostly '• from prance or Spain, , some of^them . fitter for a museum than a campaign, and all equally ill kept and' ill served. r ' The artillerymen are untaught and un,- , - disciplined, and in case of practical ; warfare would probably 'do pore harm'to ' their own side than to their adversaries. Of engineers or- ambulance corps MqrpCjCO , , is almost equally destitute. " However, %f course the real strength of 'the~coutr-" try lies in those Arab horsemen whose j. .; brethren under Bou Amema are now . giving the French so. much trouble^. JMifTj the whole fighting force of the tribes nominally subject to the Scherifi could be got together the number would-be a ,long way beyond 70,000. But such a contingency is practically impossible. The tribes beyond the Atlas hate the Fez Government cordially, while many of the * Riff tribes along the coast who have been tamed by commerce would see a European invasion with indifference. So at , least the Spaniards persuade themselves, to whom a European invasion of Morocco means a very different 'thing from what it does to France.— Pall Mall Gazette.