New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-07-22
idea that candidate is helped by the open
favor of corporations.
THE MEDITERRANEAN COMPLICATIONS

THE MEDITERRANEAN COMPLICATIONS.
The holiday march of the French troops to
the gates of Tunis seems to have set the Arab
tribes of ancient Barbary in motion. The spirit
of Mussulman fanatcism has been stirred. In
Western Algeria dervish named Bou Amena
has come up from the deserts like second
Add ell Kader, with horde of irregular sOldiery,
and devastated Oran, massacri4g many hun
dreds of Spanish settlers The border tribes in
Morocco are sending him supplies and recruits,
and Offering him facilities for retreat in crit
cal emergency and the instruction is so for
midable that the best general in the Algerian
service has postponed decisive operations until
October. The Spanish refugees have appealed
to their own Government for aid, and heavy
claims for reparatiOn will be presented at Paris
The revolt has promoted restessness among
the tribes in Algeria, and created IA strong war
feeling in Morocco, where BOu Amena will
probably find refuge whenever he is hard
pressed. His followers are not illusOry KrOu
Mrs, but fanatical marauders with military in
stincts.
In the eastern quarter the danger is none the
less real. Sfax has been bombarded and cap
turcd and the tribes have been routed in sew
eral skirmishcs, but the insurrecton is spread
ing in Southern Tuns. The latest dispatches
represent the Bey's troops deserving their
standards by hundreds and the population of
the interior as rising in arms against him and
the French. Raids are reported within twenty
miles of the capital, and the migratory tribes
that swarm across the Iripolian frontier every
summer are plundering and massacring Chris
tan settlers. The army of occupation, which
had embarke ed too hastily, has been recalled and
active operations are to be resumed in the prin-
cpaity. In the east, as in the west, the Arab
horsemen have an open frontier behind them
imperfectly guarded by troops that are rejoc-
ing secretly over the cmbarrassments of the
French, who in the sight of Islam are attempt
ing to do in Northern Africa what the Russians
have done in Turkestan. Unity of action on
the part of the tuctuating masses of population
in the Barbary States there may not be, but
there seems to DE common impulse from
Iripoli to Morocco to offer resistance to the in
vaders. The foreign correspond dents Of the
Paris journals apparently haze some ground
for the declaration that direct appeals have
been made from Mecca to the Mussulmans of the
Northern coast.
The shrcwdcst observers in Europe are at n
loss to forecast the diplomatic contingencies
which may arise from these serious compica-
tons. The Spectator. which is always in hot
responsibility of governing Alright the be-
nighted regions of the world, sees reason for
suspecting that the French Government is will
ing to conciliatc both Italy and Spain-thc
former by allowing it To appropriate to its own
use the broad coast line of lrpoli, and the latter
by authorizing it to do what it anxious To do
twenty years ago-to put an end to anarchy in
Morocco by permanent occupation. This seems
to be one of those elastic hypothesis which The
Spectator itself has been wont to characterize
as VlcWy." 1t would be rash to conclude that
a nation that has been bcgulcd into policy Of
foreign adventure mainly from an immodcrate
desire to revive its prestige in Europe by doing
something that was ut once SNOWY, uncXpc cted
and dlslngcnuous is anxious to share with'its
neighbors whatever advantages of position it
may have gained. Even if Italy covcts Trpo,
1t does not care to have n province thrown
down to it, as to Il bcggar, 10y rich and prosper
Gus rival and as for Spain, the wisdom of TAX
ing an active interest in what is going on in
Europe has not been appreciated by any states
man i'll Madrid save CASTELAR,. In like manner,
it would be premature to assume that Bismarck
has been mapping out as compensation for
Alsace- Lorraine the whole coast line from the
, Suez Canal to the Canary Islands, or that there
| Is the remotest prospect Of n conflict between
France and the Porte. The Sultan has not
Withdrawn his troops from Trpoli-hc has even
sent over another contingent this wcek-and
the negotiations are conducted by the French
Foreign Office in a bullying spirit The buster
means little. The French are now in the mood
| for loud talking and the Sultan is striving TO
| remind Great Britain and Germany of their Eu-
| ropean Obligations to guarantee his dominions
against the isolated action of a single State