The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-08-23

gravity Of the situation in Morocco and
TO disregard the opinion OF military au-
thorities that under the circumstances
vigorous aggressive operations cOnsti-
tute the sole effective means OF defence.
II il not difficult to recognize the source
Of the restraining influence 10 which the
Premier has thus far yielded. He is
determined not TO share the fate OF M.
DELCAssE, who found that his country
men would not sustain him in n firm and
dignified attitude and who consequently
finds himself not only out of Office but
permanently discrcdited. NJ. CLEMEN-
CEAU knows that at this time. owing
TO the hiatus in CONSUMPTION caused by
|. the substitution Of n short for n materi-
ally longer term Of service, the French
standing army in weaker and less fitted
TO engage in a European wal than IL has
been at any previous date since 1875.
He has therefore resolved not to give
Germany the slightest pretext for an
invasion Of his country, and for that
reason he has adhered scrupulously to
the provisions Of the Algecirss conven-
ton. He has ordered the small body of
French troops despatched for the relief
Of C~asablanca to act in conjunction with
the S~paniards, who on their side have
remained behind walls and taken no part
in fighting the Moors. For like reasons
he has hitherto declined to give General
DRUDE a force sufficient for a redoubt-
able forward movement. Meanwhile the
food of Moslem hatred for the Christian
has one On swelling till il has swept
over the whole Of Morocco and may
cause at any hour a wholesale and ap-
palling massacre of Europeans. Neither
is it at all incredible that when the fero-
cious horsemen of the south under their
new Sultan reach Casablanca they may
in conjunction with the neighboring
Kabyles succeed in crushing the small
detachment under General DRUDE as
the large Anglo-Egyptian force under
HICKS Pasha was crushed by the fol-
lowers of the Mahdi. Should such a
catastrophe occur nothing but the fact
that for the moment the French Parlia-
ment is not in session could save Gle
MENCEkU from the fate which a disgrace
full defeat in Tonqnin brought upon
JULES FERRY.
We have received by cable reports
that are plausible enough, to the effect
that the Moroccan programme OF the
French Ministry may now undergo a
signal change in consequence of the
Premier's interview Of August 81 with
King EDWARD VII. at Marienbad. Fresh
as the British sovereign is from private
conferences with Emperor WILLIAM and
the Hapsburg Kaiser he is in a position
to give NJ. CLEMENCEAU absolutely u
thentic information as TO the extent to
which he may safely transcend in his
endeavor TO safeguard the lives and
property Of Europeans in Morocco, the
limitations which were prescribed at
Algeciras. II WILLIAM III. has given his
uncle his imperial word that he appreci-
ates the seriousness and urgency of the
problem with which France has TO deal
and is willing to concede to her wide
liberty Of action as the mandatory of
Europe, the sole excuse for failing to
quell with the utmost pronnptitude and
vigor the outbreak Of fanatical rancor
in Morocco will have disappeared, and
for any future remissDess in that direc-
ton NJ. CLEMENCEAU will be justly held
to strict responsibility.
Already the outcome Of dilatory and
tentative measures has been the trans
formation OF n raid into a revolution.
Instead of 5000 or 10000 men hat a fort
night ago might have put down the up
rising Of Moorish tribesmen, four or five
times as many soldiers may now be
needed for the purpose.