Evening star., 1925-02-01
MEDITERRANEAN ISSUE
MAY REUNITE 3 ALLIES
C1ashing of Interests of Great Britain,
b France and Italy May Bring Agree
ment by Necessity.
By FRANK III. SIMONDs.
WEEK ago l discussed at
length the situation created
by postponement Of the allied

rler-that Is, of the Cologne
sector-and pointed out that the ques-
uohs involved made the issue thus
raised the most important single cir
oumstance in the international dis
cussions OF the coming year. There
1s however, a second question only
less important, and that IS the prob
lem of the Mediterranean, raised alike
by recent Egyptian events and by the
evacuation by Spain of most of the
Spanish sphere of Morocco.
Three great powers are intimately
concerned with this Mediterranean
question, namely, Britain, France and
Italy, while Spain, Greece. Jugoslavia
ana Turkey are also vitally inter
e6ted. For Britain 1t IS the problem
or communications which connect her
with her vast and all-important In
dian empire. well as her Aus
tralisn and East African possessions
For France It is the problem of COM
munications with her African empire,
which extends from Algiers to the
Congo. For Italy 1t is the question
or existence itself. for she alone has
her entire metropolitan territory
within the Mediterranean basin.
Caused by Unrest.
But aside from the questions raised
by obvious and often conflicting am
the great powers and the small Euro
pean states. there is also the vast
Issue raised by the unmstak kable agi-
tation of the various native peoples
on the Asiatic and African seaboards
Tor Independence, which affects Brit
ain in Egypt, Italy in Tripoli and
France in Tunis, Algeria and Morocco
And all this phase OF the problem
Ia raised alike by the Egyptian unrest
and by the Spanish withdrawal from
the Riff. And as the Egyptian crisis
raises the question of British COM
munications through Suez so the
Spanish withdrawal imperils the
single line of land communication be-
tween Algeria and Morocco, the line
borrowed by the railway and road
connecting Oran with Rabat and pass
ing through Tlemcen, Taxa and Fez.
The frontier between the Spanish
and French zones in Morocco fol-
lows the crests of the maritime atlas
and Rifian Mountains. From the
Boundary to the floor OF the valley
followed by the route from Algeria
the distance is inconsiderable, hardly
20 miles, near Taxa. Thus. the de-
feat of the Spanish has left the Riff
fan victors within sight of the rail-
way and highway. which are the sole
means of communication between the
North Africa. II sudden raid by
the mountaineers cut this route then
the French would be thrown back
upon the long and tedious sea route
between Oran and Ca sa blanca and
French troops in Morocco could not
in emergency be reinforced speedily
from the garrisons of eastern AL
geria.
Gibraltar Involved.
pn
is gravely complicated by the larger
problem of the Straits OF Gibraltar.
A French advance to occupy the
region occupied by the Spanish, while
doubtlessly sure to be bitterly op-
posed by the Spanish, would never
theless be inevitable were it not for
the fact that such an advance, by
bringing France to the south shore
of the straits, eastward of Ceuta,
would instantly concern the British.
Indeed the Spanish district was origi-
nally drawn with an eye to keeping
the French away from the straits
when France and Britain. with Spain,
settled the Moroccan dispute before
the World War
Again, west of Ceuta is the neutral
zone of Tangier, which has been the
cause OF endless Franco British bick-
erings and still remains an unsettled
problem, although compromise fa-
vorable in part to the French was
made fairly recently. Thus, France,
to secure her own landward communi-
cations in Morocco, seems condemned
10 take steps which the British may
regars, -e a menace to their seaward
route via Gibraltar to Malta and
Suez.
Despite this obvious difficulty. how
ever, dispatches alike from London and
Paris have indicated that the Egyptian
affair has imposed an unexpected meas
ure of agreement upon the British and
the French Thus It is reported that at
the conference in Paris between Austen
Chamberlain and HerrIot Britain con-
sented to a French advance into the
Spanish zone, only insisting that Spain
should retain Ceuta, which is the for
tresS facing Gibraltar, the fortress
which, in French hands. would largely
nautralize tho value of the rock to the
British.
French Action Seen
That the French will have presently
TO proceed against the Rifflans Is hardly
to be doubted. Nominally the Sheriff of
Morocco rules over both the Spanish
and the French zones. and the Riffs are
rebels against his authority, but prac-
tically unchallenged success by the ma
tIves of the Riff over one European state
would make the position Of another in
secure, and to maintain It's hold south
Of the Riff France will have to crush
the rebels of the north. Moreover. the
need is urgent, because not only are the
French communications menaced about
Taxa but TO the south OF the whole
Fez-TaZa corridor in the vast mountain
region live the powerful tribes which
have only recently and partially been
submitted to French rule after serious
campaigns.
As consequence Of the Spanish de-
feat in the Riff, then. France finds her
self faced with the necessity of an ex-
pensive and difficult ,campa ign. Con-
quest of the region will doubtless add
upward OF 5000 square miles to the
French Moroccan protectorate and mark
another step in the completion of French
mastery in Africa Minor but it will i'm
pose material expense both to conquer
and to holi. and it promises Franco
Spanish complications, even If there be
no ultimate Anglo-French disagree
ments.
But for the French there is another
echo of the Egyptian affair which
may be even more serious. Morocco
Is native state still in the process
of organization; the reduction of the
native tribes and the creation of
regime of civilized order is by no
means completed, although the French
have done wonderfully well SO far
and Lyautey has proved himself the
greatest OF French proconsuls. AL
Keria, on the other hand, has been
occupied for nearly a century, con-
tains upward of 10000 European in
habitants and politically is treated
as part of France. After the war
France bestowed certain rights of
citizensh>a upon natives, largely
those who fought in the war. Thus
both Algeria and Morocco present