The Sun.
London, England, 1860-02-27 00:00:00

SPAIN AND MOROCCO.

(From the Correspondent of the Thnes.)
TETUAN, FEE. 12.
Now that fighting is for the time suspended, that
no Moorish camp is in sight, or restless enemy
harassing the outposts and provoking repulse, the
great question of interest here is, and for some days
has been, that of peace or war. Is the campaign at
an end or not ? Will Tetuan prove the limit of
advance, or Tangier be shortly assailed ? The
majority of opinions, the unanimity of wishes,
were for the first alternative; but it is only since
yesterday that scarcely any one doubts of its reali-
sation. For, yesterday forenoon, four tall and
dignified Moors, well attired, well mounted, and
..•• voar.h.a Inc,adc-juarterfa,
whither they had been forwarded by General Prim,
who commands the corps in advance, and were
ushered into the tent of the Commander.in-Chief.
The details of what passed beneath the shade of
that sacred canvas are of course envirotsed with the
customary mystery, but the substance has oozed
out and is understood to be to the following effect :
—The chief of the four envoys was the Kaid of
Tangier, and he came from Muley Abbas. Recent
events, he said, had convinced the Prince that Allah
was not on the side of the Moors, and that therefore
they could not conquer. He sent, therefore, to know
what the Christians wanted. To this O'Donnell
replied that he came to Africa to make war, and
not to make peace, and that he had not authority
to conclude the latter, nor could he say what terms
his Government might think fit to demand, but he
would send immediately to the Queen of Spain,
and would be prepared with a reply on Thursday
next. To this end General Uztariz, of the General's
staff, left yesterday afternoon, on board the Volcano
man-of-war steamer, for Alicant, whence he will
hasten to Madrid and return hither by Thursday, on
which day the Moorish deputies will revisit the camp
to receive a reply. It is said to be probable that
Muley Abbas himself will come to the camp, as he
has expressed a wish to make the acquaintance of
the Spanish Commander-in-Chief. The Moors say
they had been deceived as to Spanish power and
resources, which they had believed to be much less
than they have lately been shown to be, and they
recognise their inability to continue the struggle.
The Spaniards who, witli an obstinate prejudice that
troubles itself little about proofs, see the agency
of the British Consul-General everywhere and in
everything, of course believe that it is he who has
misrepresented them to the Moors, forgetting the
fact that their long endurance of repeated insults
to and aggressions upon their African possessions
fully accounts for the low estimate formed of their
force and energy.
The question now is what terms will Spain de-
mand, and will they be such as the Moorish Em-
peror can and ought to accept ? The point on
which a difficulty is most likely to arise is that
of the indemnity which will be claimed from
the Moors for the expenses of the war. There are
no means of knowing what those expenses have
been ; probably General O'Donnell himself does not
exactly know them. I hear them, however, roughly
estimated at five millions sterling, and although
the sum is large considering the numbers of troops
employed and the proximity of the scene of war to
the Spanish ports, yet, from what I have seen of the
lavish manner in which everything has been done,
of the haste, waste, improvidence, and, there can be
no doubt, exorbitant charges and extensive pecula-
tion that have attended the supplying of this army,
it would not surprise me to learn that even a
greater amount had been paid by, or was due from,
the Spanish exchequer. In asserting that there have
been mismanagement, mal-administration, and mal-
practices, I may very possibly meet with contra-
diction from some of the Madrid papers, which
will admit nothing short of perfection in every-
thing relating to the army of Africa and to all
connected with it, and whose exaggerated and
fulsome laudation of their army, their generals,
their Government, their countrymen, and them-
selves, as well as their calumnies and unfounded
statements respecting England, can but injure
their cause and excite the laughter of im-
partial observers. But from persons on the spot,
although as Spaniards they may not choose loudly
to proclaim their concurrence with what I state, no
contradiction is to be anticipated. This army has
been well supplied, but this has been done at an ex-
orbitant cost. The expedition was undertaken, as
you know, on a sudden, and with scarcely any pre-
vious preparation. The consequence was the long
delay within the lines of Ceuta, where cholera and
profitless ccsnb.its cost so many lives. That the de-
lay and loss might not be greater it was necessary
to lavish money and to east economical considera-
tions to the winds. Things were done, said an
acute Spanish officer to me the other day, a la
t—that is to say, regardless of expense.
A most defective Administration aggravated
the evil. This was to be expected at the
commencement of a war begun in haste by a
nation unaccustomed for nearly half a century to
other than civil contests. A largo demand for
speedy supplies naturally entailed high prices and
heavy charges. Rations and forage of the best
quality had to besought in foreign countries because
there was no time to prepare them at home. Beef,
biscuit, and compressed hay have come in large quan-
tities from England,—some compensation for the
injury which the Gibraltar merchants assert to hare
been done to the trade of that place by the present
war. A large number pf stegmera, foreign as well as
Spanish;
weep talon up, generally at prices ex-
tremelv 4134unerative to the owners. Nothing law
'le •

spared in short, and, if the war was to be carried
through successfully in spite of the disadvantage of
its premature commencement, it was necessary that
nothlng should be spared. But when the question
of indemnity, to be paid by the humbled foe, is
brought forward, it may be questioned whether that
enemy can fairly be made to bear expenses which
were enormously increased by the uncalled for
hurry in which the struggle was commenced.
instead of opening the campaign on the Queen's
birthday, its commencement had been postponed,
as it perfectly well might have been, to a later date
and a fitter season, the Spaniards might have done
their fighting, if not for half price, at least for a
vast deal less than it has cost them. And it will be
only just that the Spanish Government should take
this into consideration when drawing its bill on the
Emperor of Morocco. We have heard great things
of the resources of the Moorish treasury, of accumu-
lated treasures, reminding one of the " Arabian
Nights ;" of heaps of gold and jewels, the guards of
which once posted, are relieved only by death, lest
they should reveal the tempting amount of the wealth
they watch over. One is apt to suspect exaggera-
tion in such tales, and, moreover, the cost of this
war, whatever it may prove when all is added up,
will unquestionably have been such as might well
stagger even a wealthier potentate than the Sove-
reign of Morocco can reasonably be supposed to be.
I am not inclined to think, however, that the
Spanish Government will show itself grasping on
this occasion, or will insist on the very last ounce
of its pound of flesh. Various reasons render a
contrary course politic and probable. Spain has no
wish to continue a war the main objects of which
have already been fully attained. She has raised
herself in her own esteem by showing that, when
the necessity arises or when she chooses to believe
that it has arisen, she is able to put in the field a
well equipped and efficient army. She has shown
that slue possesses soldiers who will fight, officers to
lead them, and generals who can command—well
enough, at any rate, to baffle the slender strategy
of the Moors. My conviction is that the Spaniards,
had they to bear the whole cost of the war, would
think it a cheap price to pay for the amount of self-
satisfaction they have obtained, and which I am per-
suaded was its chief object.