The Sun.
London, England, 1844-08-17 00:00:00

FRANCE AND MOROCCO.

FROM THE MORNING PAPERS OF THIS DIY.
TIMES.—The news of the bombardment of Tan-
gier by the Prince de Joinville will cause some ex-
citement in this country, especially under the present
somewhat ticklish relations in which we stand to

France. There is not, however, on examination, mucll
to create apprehensions in this fact. It appears that
the Emperor of Morocco has for some time past beera
constantly allowing his territories to become the re-
ceptacle of Abd-el-Kader and his bands. Ahd-el-
Kader makes irruptions into Algeria, burns, pillages,
and devastates; and then, when the French forces
come up to him, retreats into the territory of Mo-
rocco. The French retire ; the chieftain remains
upon the borders, watches their departure ; and whea
it suits him, out he sallies again, and commits his
depredationa. The Emperor of Morocco is a quiet
man, and indisposed enough to hostilities in his own
person. Any warlike chieftain, however, who will
take the trouble off his hands, and give the French
intruders a dressing, he is ready to patronise. And
Abd-el-Kader only does what the Emperor himself,
if he had the spirit, would like to do, and so meets
with this tacit encouragement. This conduct on the
part of the Emperor has been remonstrated against by
the French ; and the demand made of him from that

quarter, either not to admit Abd-el-Kader into his do-
minions at all, or, if he did, to keep him away from the
border, and prevent him from being in a situation tor
make these hostile sallies, seems reasonable enough. It
was considered a fair one by the British Government,
and Mr. Drummond Hay was dispatched to act as
mediator, and if possible bring about an accommoda-
tion. It was thought at one time that this had been
effected, but the negotiations appear to have broken
off. In this state of things the Prince de Joinville
gave out his intentions of bombarding some town on
the Moorish coast, and forcing the Emperor to come
to terms ? and Tangier has been bombarded accord-
ingly. In all this there is not much that we see to
alarm our national jealousies. France and Morocco
are two independent Powers, and may fight if they
please without being subject to our interference.
'The Prince de Joinville delayed his bombardment a
fortnight, in order to give time to the British and
European residents in the town to withdraw them-
selves and their property into a place of safety. And
although the actual time when the bombardment
commenced was not communicated to Sir Edward
Owen, it was known that the Prince was only wait-
ing for a decisive answer from the Court of Morocco,
and that when that answer came he would com-

mence hostilities. The only cause of complaint
perhaps worth noticing is the fact that the Journal
des Debats, the organ of the French Government,
gave a sort of promise some time ago that Tangier,
as being a semi-European town, would not be se-
lected for the bomhardment. The selection of this

place has doubtless caused great inconvenience to
the foreign residents there, the majority, of whom
are British, but the attack was purposely deferred
until all these were out of danger, and even then the
quarter they inhabited was spared. John Bull is apt
to be horrified at hearing any other shot fired in the
Mediterranean but his own. Still there is not much

to alarm him here, so far as present signs go. It is
the duty, however, unquestionably of this country to
be on the alert on these occasions, to see that no un-
fair advantage is taken, and that France does not con-

vert a piece of fair retaliation into a means of aggres-.
,ion and conquest. Attacks like the present have be-
fore now ended in the complete occupation of a coun-
try by a foreign Power ; and the French are probably
not so entirely satisfied with the advantages they have
derived from their possession of Algeria, but that they
would be well content to have a slice of MOrocco in
addition. This cannot be submitted to. The French
navy has been on the increase now for some time, and
the activity and spirit of the nation has perhaps at-
tached itself to that department now more than it has
ever yet done. We should not, we have all along said,
be sorry to see a little more activity shown in the same
direction among ourselves, and a considerable rein-
forcement equipped at sea. The fleet is at present
hardly worthy of our maritime supremacy, and cer-
tainly insufficient to maintain it.
HERALD.—The vigilant activity of our Paris
Correspondent enabled us to communicate yesterday,
in a very early second edition, the fact of the bom-
bardment of Tangier by the Prince de Joinville's
squadron. At present we have nothing before us
upon which to reason except this naked fact. That
fact is, however, an important one, because it proves
that France has, in good earnest, commenced a war,
from which she cannot now honourably retire without
obtaining concessions, which as yet the obstinate Go-
vernment of Morocco has shown no disposition to
yield; but a war which, if prosecuted to its probable
results, can scarcely be regarded with indifference'by
any of the Great Powers of Europe, least of all by
this country. Meanwhile it is no more than justice
claims, to acknowledge that the act of aggression has
been forced upon the Government of France by the
infatuated stubbornness of the Moors.
CHRONICLE.—The first blow has been struck in

1 new contest. France and Morocco are already at
Nar, and the news of a bombardment at Tangiers
will arouse the attention of many to the state of our
'oreign relations, who, so long as peace remained un-
broken, might have been content to leave the subject
to Lord Aberdeen and the Cabinet. At such a time,

the sentiments recently expressed by a man of
Lord John Russell's sagacity acquire a new title
to consideration. The views contained in his

last speech, of our relations with France, were those
of a pacific but intrepid statesman. They stand in
marked contrast to the feeble course pursued by the
Foreign-office, and indicate the true mode, and, in
our judgment, the only mode, by which peace between
England and France can be maintained. Nothing
could be less embarrassing to an honest Government,
which wielded with firm hands the destinies of Eng-
land, than the speech of the Noble Lord. There-was
not a particle of faction. What effect this speech
may havQ produced on the public mind in France we
cannot yet say; but when a statesman so averse from
war, so temperate and fair in all his views of the re -
lations of one country with another, has spoken out,
as Lord John Russell did the other evening, Lord Aber-
deen should take from it an assurance of the cordial
support of all parties here in his demands of adequate
reparation for the injury which- has been inflicted on
Mr. Pritchard, and adequate security that, in their pro-
ceedings against Morocco, the French will not convert
due chastisement for injuries into undue aggrandise-
ment ; or, under the guise of vindicating their terri-
tories from outrage, place themselves in a position to
exercise an influence, in which other maritime States
Nelilst n that at
use t_llis in_determination.
ambiguities...
*h
can never acquiesce, on the southern coasts of the
apparent. is
Thereas vto ud
Mediterranean.
bepp
The Mediterranean was not made for Marseilles
and France alone. It is a noble sea, the e shores of
which Europe and America must
h
_preserve in far
more hands than one. We '
still hope that the ques-
tion between the two nations on the coast of Africa
will be brought to a satisfactory solution. It is for
the interest of both i
countres that such should be the
case. No persons can_ wish less for war, or wish more
for peace, than we do ; but there is one thing worse
than war, and one
thing
for which no peace can com-
pensate a people; and that is, loss of honour. France
is strong and powerful: not stronger or more
powerful than ourselves ; but strong enough
to know how strong we are, and powerful enough
to feel that British power is not inferior to hers.
The cardinal error of Sir R. Peel is to consider M.
Guizot the only possible French Minister. The
latter is his own double at the Tuileries. It has be-
come a sort of habit with our Premier to consider
himself indispensable, but not much more so than M.
Guizot. Whether M. Guizot returns the compli-
ment we cannot say, but nothing can lead to worse
results than these international flirtations. It
makes an unpopular Minister do harm abroad as
well as at home. It gives a Minister in a free country
two troubles—one to support himself in the
House of Commons, another to support his
friend in the Chamber of Deputies. Gibraltar
is as dear to us as Guizot. We are quite
• willing to prop the latter, but we cannot afford
to lose such props as Tunis and Tangiers to the former.
So, also, in regard to the antipodes. It is a very easy
matter to stroke down Mr. Pritchard, and to mitigate
our wrath at M. d'Aubigny ; but the worst of these
things is, that some other foolish agent will do some
other foolish thing, under the belief that some other
foolish Minister will let him off as easily. No, it
must come to this, that they who violate • •
proprieties
must not do so with impunity.