Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-01-31
SPANS PLAN TO
REGAIN GIBRALTAR
An English Tic,c Of Her Proposal
to Swup Ceuta for the
Far.Faped Rock

II Of nc African and Spanish coasts al
the mouth Of the Mediterranean, Sir
Charles Cdll,rcH. Il. e. B.. is especially ,ceH
qualified 10 discuss the rather startling
proposal OF Spain to exchange Ceutd for
Gibraltar and 10 retire altogether from
Morocco bV selling the rest Of her present
possessions there 10 France. count
RomonoHcS is said 10 hare presented this
plan TO President Wilson in Paris. when
the follotcing article appeared in the
Nineteenth Century and Aiicr, the Writcr
dcScyibcd the proposition as ono "rogHcly
moOtcd from time 10 iimc," aud noW mat
II is actudlly' reported TO hare been made
his analysts requires additional pcriincUCC
10 the Spaniards OF today, as Spanards
undoubtedly did in he past, bitterly resent
British presence on the Rock Of Gibraltar
or do they acquiesce in an arrangement OF
somewhat long standing with merely mild
protest as they have for all practical pur-
poses been acauiescing for the last year or
two IN the sinking of their vessels and the
murder of their seamen by the crews of sub
marines belonging 10 an ostensibly friendly
State?
Of the people of this country at all events.
proposal TO give up Gibraltar would come as
a tremendous shock There is glamour
about that ra2or-edged, limestone mountain
jutting out from Spanish territory such ~
invests no other portion OF the Kings do
minons beyond the seas. In the part that
it has played in building up the empire It
has rvaed Quebec. The sight Of the Rock
standing sentinel over the straits @lpresses
the traveller from the United Kingdom as
even the first glimpse OF the 1at-toppcd
heights ovcrshadowing Table Bay will not
affect him. We have been brought Up to
believe the stronghold TO be impregnabe and
TO call it the key Of the Mediterranean We
have all of us heard of its hidden galleries,
hewn in the prccipiccs of the northern face.
We revel in the story of the two years siege,
of the successive reliefs OF the stricken gar
rison Of the great bombsrdmcnt and of the
red hot shot. Deliver it up" That would he
much TO ask
Little had been done previous to 1895 TO
make the Rock of real value TO our naval
forces, although such harbor works and
establishments as existed were useful enough
gram Of developments conceived on ambitious
lines, vas taken in hand, it having been
decided 20 create the incoscd port and the
dockyard very much these are to be seen
today, and with a. singular lack Of fore
sight the western and not the eastern side
Of Gibraltar was chosen as the site.
\ very few years before the new harbor
works we're started the writer had occasion
TO make tour Of the ports and coast line
of Morocco which was in those days
sovereign empire of somewhat old-fashioncd
ways and one with which there was always
an off-chance Of coming to blows; and on
his way home he paid a first visit to Gibrai-
tar EvC;l then he was Impressed with the
crampcd character Of tho position In which
the famous place Of arms was planted down,
and With the extent to which its business
side was dominated by rising ground in allen
keeping There WAS already tall; Of develop
ing tho existing harbor works for naval pur-
poses. and il occurred TO him rorcibly that,
rather than commit the country to 50 doubt
ful az. undertaking, il might be desirable
TO abandon the place altogether if Spain
would hand over Ccuta in exchange. He
iarity with the boundless agricultural and
commercial resources Of Maurctania and a
remembrance Of the mass OF scawccd- grown
bouldcrs marking the site Of the moc we
built when held the gates of this land Of
promise, perhaps lhade him not impartial
Judge.
The pcdr-shaped prnnsula with harrow
neck known as Ceuta projects eastward in
c%teusion Of the southern shore Of the Cut
Of Gibraltar. on its land side II is only
commanded within an arc of 90 degrees,
AID that only from ,'s immediate vicinity.
The frontier between spanish and Moorish
territory ran At distance OF between 1900
and 5000 Yards from the harbor (Which is
on the northern side and within the blight
created by tho isthmus joining In" peninsula
70 the mainland in the early nuetios; but
since those days all this part OF Morocco has
become Il Spanish protcctorate. We're an
cNchauge 20 be effected under existing con-
ditons We should naturally insist upon the
,eSSioU Of an adequate sector OF hin''rand
one with a radius, say Of "A dozen miles,
srrucl, from the isthmus and tho harbor
This would secure for us that elbow room
which ie so lacking At Gibraltar, would
provide MS with sites in healthy upland for
barracks and habitations, would place ample
training areas at the disposal OF the gdrri-
son aud would add Ia the Kings dominjons
beyond the seas health resort to which
| the loieured classes from the old country
would HoCl In crowds In winter time.
The truth is that were We starting airo-h
with Gibraltar and Ceuta TO choose from
lust as nature made them, nobody I'm this
! country would dream of selecting the former
IS an outpost OF the empire--the object ons
! TO il are manifest and manifold. Restricted
! area, lack Of training ground, water prob
! lens overcome only by much ingenuity and
| labor. q congested township incapable Of
| expansion and climate apt to be oppressive
! in the autumn months combine to make the
! Rock an unsatisfactory military station quite
| apart from its Typographical disabilities a
| fortress Furthermore, it is part and parcel
! Of Spain even if the British flag floats from