The Washington times., 1911-07-26
TREMENDOUS POSSIBILITIES
IN MOROCCAN SITUATION.

war an imminent possibility, simply be-
cause this is one occasion when Britain
would be willing to fight. The future
of Africa and of the Low Countries as
well is involved.
England can never again stand by
and permit Germany to crush France
England must always stand for the
autonomy of Holland and Belgium
She has been the chief guarantor of
Belgian independence since the Napo-
leonic era. Germany wants Holland and
Belgium; wants to get squarely face
to face with Britain across the North
Sea; wants to dominate the great ports
of Antwerp and Rotterdam, as a means
to ultimate victory in the struggle to
wrest maritime supremacy, both mer-
camille and naval, from the tight little
island. England and France must stand
together to maintain the present status
in the Low Coutnries-and they will
do it.
Again, the future of Africa is directly
involved. England hopes at last to
make Africa a British continent Ger
many is fighting hard for that same
prize. Today, Berlin indicates that she
will withdraw from Morocco and leave
France free hand, provided France
cedes to her a great slice of territory
in equatorial Africa. Instantly comes
from Belgium report that that little
country is deeply stirred; it knows
that the Congo Free State would be the
next prize Germany would demand, if
once strongly intrenched in a region
from which aggression would be easy.
This, again, would bring Germany
into more imminent danger of a clash
with British pretensions in Africa,
and Britain therefore must back France
in opposing any such deal. The Angli-
cizing of temperate Africa is going
ahead at a highly satisfactory rate.
The South African commonwealth is a
sort of new United States of South
Africa-rich, potentially powerful, and
apparently destined to be as loyal to
the empire as is Canada or Australia.
Controlling both the Cape and the
Canal, England needs only time to
make herself the dominant force in
the whole continent. Her diplomacy
has been uniformed at maintaining the
neutrality of the Congo State under
Belgium suzerainty, just as in Europe
her policy has been to sustain Belgium
herself as a buffer on the German
ocean.
A contest with France alone, at this
time, would probably end in a great
victory for Germany. With France
Frustrated and The Netherlands at her
mercy, Germany would have but to
wait another reasonable period for re-
cuperation and growth, till she would
at last be prepared for the struggle in
Africa, or perhaps even for the great
clash on the seas that might give the
world a new ruler of the wave.
The tremendous issues which appear,
in this analysis, make clear that Lloyd
George was not idly talking when he
served notice in a speech Saturday that
England would stand with France to
the last extreme. The British Liberals
and Lloyd is their real leader
know that vigorous foreign
policy is the most popular asset of any
party in the United Kingdom. The
Liberals have traditionally been charged
with weakness in foreign affairs. They
cannot afford today, when they are
just about consummating- their parlia-
mentary revolution, to weaken their
hand by appearing Indifferent to a
grave foreign situation. 1t is the
greatest possible politics for the Lib
erals to show the mailed fist. England
would be Liberal for a generation if
the Asquith-George government should
conduct a successful war at this juno
ture.
All these things Germany under
stands perfectly; and they constitute
the reasons why Germany will at last
yield, is as graceful fashion as pos
sible, in the Morocco affair. She will
doubtless get some moderate compen-
sation from France; but it will be a
compensation that France can give
with selfcrespect, and with justification
for the claim that she has received a
fair equivalent for what she has given
The clash with Germany, if it must
come, would better come soon for Brit.
ain; come before German naval devel,
opment proceeds to the point of closing
up the gap between the sea strength o!
the two powers. A war now would
end with Germany as completely strip
ped of her navy as Russia was after
the struggle with Japan. 1t would bt
the end for two generations to hope Of
German naval domination.
True, Germany's wonderful army
might overrun France, and at last
exact an indemnity. But that woult
have to be paid by Frapce-unIess tn,