Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1905-06-20


out a war. His conduct all along and
his declarations have indicated that the
one great ambition Of his life is to
conquer some Of his neighbors. and he
would have lndulged himself before
now; but In spite Of his over
weaving desire he has sense enough to
realize that If things should happen
to go wrong he might lose great deal
more than there Is a reasonable hope
of gaining.
Just now Emperor William Is using
the Moroccan question as pretext by
which he would stir up trouble.
France has a predominating influence
in Morocco She has allowed Great
Britain and Spain to do business In
the empire on the same terms as her
self. Germany has very little interest
In Morocco. She declines, however, to
recognize that France Is entitled to
any predominance, and has demanded
conference with the powers most in
terested in order that she may compel
them to concede equal rights to her.
It Is not thought that she really cares
for Morocco; but she Is merely maxi
ing use of what seems to be a just
principle in order to test the mettle Of
those who have not heretofore seen
proper to take her into consideration.
The diplomatic quarrel over the mat
ter has been in progress for some
weeks. M. Delcasse, the French min
lister of foreign affairs, had charge Of
French interests at first. He was dis
posed to think that Germany was bluff
ing and handled the French side Of
the controversy on that theory. His
colleagues were dissatisfied with his
management and he resigned. After
his resignation Germany grew more
aggressive and last Saturday 1t look
ed as If matters had come to a crisis.
Germany had given France to under
stand that the Moroccan question must
be settled by an international confer
ence or there would be trouble. The
crisis, however, was averted for the
time being by further effort on the
part Of France to have Germany say
just what she expected the proposed
conference to settle.
Great Britain Is firmly backing
France in the matter She takes the
position that Germany will be granted
all the real rights she has; but she
must make 1t very plain that her griev-
ance Is a real one and not q mere pre-
text If it is war that Germany wants
Great Britain will see that she gets as
much as she wants.
Germany, 1t Is understood, recog-
nizes that Great Britain can wipe her
off the sea; but at the same time she
assumes that she can lick France with
comparative ease. In the event Of war
she calculates that although she may
lose everything on the sea, she will be
and she can make France pay what
ever she likes, including more than
enough to fully compensate her for
the loss of her navy. These sugges-
tions come from German papers, but
1t does not seem to have occurred to
these papers that while Germany Is
bleeding France Great Britain can stip-
ulate that Germany must build no
more warships, and must cut out her
foreign commerce, except by means Of
the ships of other nations.
The outcome of the war between
Russia and Japan Is considered as the
prime cause of German aggression at
this time. Russia and France are al
lies. While Russia had the power to
menace the frontier Of Germany, Ger
many was willing to keep quiet; but
since Russia has her hands full Of her
own affairs, Germany Is disposed to
be more bold.
1t is suggested and the suggestion
seems quite plausible, that 1t Is be-
cause Of the European situation prin-
cipally that Russia Is willing to con-
slider the idea Of peace with Japan.
France has all along been disposed to
help Russia all she could, and now
France wants Russia to put herself
In position to make good her side Of
the compact. Great Britain, also 1t Is
said, Is using her influence with Japan
not to make her peace terms with Rus
sia too severe, and so the matter goes.
The real bone Of contention between
France and Germany is that old AL
sace- Lorraine quarrel. This Is not be-
ing talked about by either side; but
Germany understands that France has
never been reconciled to the loss Of
these provinces, and she knows full
we'll that If France ever gets able she
will have the provinces back. Because
of this Germany is always Jealous of
the growing power Of France and she
would rather humble the ambition Of
her rival now than take chances on
her ability to do so later.