A small German cruiser has been rolling her bilge-keels clear on the Atlantic swell in front of a mud-hole on the Moroccan coast, and the whole of Europe is agog! What does it all mean?

The English and the French Press have given us interpretations enough. The naval terrorists maintain that Germany is on the point of seizing a Moroccan port to create out of the ruined Portuguese Casbah at Agadir an antidote to Gibraltar. The rabid diplomatists of the Press would have us believe that Germany by her summary act has taken the Algeciras Treaty and torn it into shreds. The militarists would impress upon us that the wicked Prussian is trailing his coat because the moment is propitious to launch legions in pickel-haubes over the French border.

With the reservation that it will never be possible to convert Agadir into anything of the nature naval except a weakness, all these contentions may be the truth in its exaggerated form, or, shall it be said, in its ultimate address. A study, however, of recent events in Morocco will give an explanation to the German intervention, which, if not as sensational as we have been led to believe, is sufficiently serious to have warranted the guarded language of the Prime Minister when he referred to the creation of a new situation in the Moroccan question. Before entering upon a discussion of recent events in Barbary, it is necessary that something should be known of the Hinterland of this wonderful country. To the majority of the people in Europe, Morocco presents the mental picture of a stretch of sand-dunes and a few palm-trees, with an occasional camel thrown in. These artistic mind-pictures have been raised

by a confusion of the geographical senses-a confusion which connects Morocco with the superficial impressions formed by visitors to the open ports in Algeria and Tunisia. This confusion is completed with a touch of Cairo and the all-absorbing desert of the Sahara painted in. With regard to Algeria, the casual estimate has been based upon artistic misrepresentations. The desert, the camel, and the palm-tree, however desolate and inattractive in real life, make fascinating studies for brush and pencil. The artist can find the cornfield and the vineyard without going so far afield as Northern Africa. He consequently depicts Algeria as a desert in spite of the fact that the strong, almost fierce Algerian wine is the foundation of the largest amount of red wine consumed in France. In sympathy with better known Algeria, Barbary has likewise suffered. In reality the Hinterland of Morocco differs very little from the south of Spain. It is as well watered, as fertile, and to some extent possesses a more salubrious climate. The Spaniards since the days of Ferdinand and Isabella have extravagantly claimed that the southern boundaries of Spain were the Atlas Mountains. With more truth the Moors could have said that the northern confines of Morocco were the Pyrenees. Forgetting the camel and the palm-tree, and thinking of the valley of the Guadalquivir,' the student can picture the fertile valleys of the Sebu, Regrez, and Sus, and their network of tributaries. These sweet waters produce millions of acres of wheat, barley, vines, and millets. The soil is so strong that it asks but little labor from the husbandman, and the coun

1 Guadalquivir is itself a corruption of the Moorish name "Wad el Kebir," which is Arabic for the "Great River."

try is so sparsely populated that thousands upon thousands of acres remain virgin and unproductive. It is certain that the bottom of its agricultural wealth can never be approached by its present inhabitants. Yet withal it is, as much as is Spain, a white man's land. The cooling influence of the Atlantic is felt throughout the hottest months of the summer as far inland as the Algerian frontier. The rains come in stated season in the same manner as the monsoon in India. Except for a few weeks before the summer rain, the climate is exquisite. Flowers bloom with a rank exuberance that is only equalled in Asia Minor. So much, then, for the agricultural wealth of this fair land. Of the mineral assets it is impossible to speak with accuracy at present. The prevailing belief is that in Northern Morocco the mineral wealth is only a moderate proposition. In the practically unknown Atlas region, the reports of such daring prospectors as have set foot upon the fringe of this immense territory are encouraging almost to the dreams of avarice. What the reader, however, should understand, is that Barbary is pre-eminently a white man's land, and that is why the Panther, and now the Berlin, are rolling their bilge-keels clear in that terrific Atlantic swell.

The Algeciras Treaty, which had as its intention the pacification of Morocco as a field for international commerce, gave to France and Spain spheres of influence for police purposes. The French as a nation are as capable as colonists as the Spaniards are incapable, which is high compliment to the French. In the matter, however, of open trade competition with British and German trading firms, neither France nor any other country can hold its own without some preferential advantage. With the exception of the sugar trade, France cannot seriously

compete at this moment either with British or German houses. France, therefore, has to look for preferential advantages. As her police duties brought her into military conflict with the Moors of Shawia, she, not unwisely, converted her successes into commercial advantages. Supporting the successful usurper Mulai Hafid, she guaranteed to keep Shawia loyal to him. It must be allowed that she carried out her promise. Although it is impossible to support the methods employed in preparing Shawia for military occupation, yet the results to international trade may be said to have justified the means. The Spaniards had a far more convincing opportunity in Melilla, as their action was not marred by a "Casablanca incident," but they were incapable of turning their affair even to advantage to themselves, much less to Europe at large. Since General D' Amade's operations in the Shawia, and the subsequent occupation of the Shawia littoral, Casablanca has developed into a trading port and district of first-class importance. Melilla, in spite of General Marina's 60,000 men, is still a Spanish presidio of inean commercial significance. While Casablanca now sends cereals, wool, and skins to the ends of the world, Melilla's highest ambitions centre in market-garden produce for Malaga.

The French successes in the Shawia, however, when taken in conjunction with the Anglo-French Agreement that led to the entente cordiale, had a deep international significance. Mulai Hafid, the pretender, when he made himself secure on the throne, foolishly rendered himself responsible for his brother Abdul Aziz's European engagements. This placed the new Sultan irretrievably in the debt of France. As money makes money, so does debt create debt, and in spite of his accession promises to his people, Mulai Hafid was soon increasing his country's

was the French Military Mission to Fez. It was quite obvious that, after the Anglo-French Agreement, the old unofficial Sir Harry Mac ean military régime could not continue. France had to arrange some security that the moneys advanced to Mulai Hafid should not be cast upon the waters by reason of a new usurpation. In the past the only way that Moroccan Sultans have been able to keep their throne has been by maintaining a small corps of mercenaries and then enlisting one half of the tribes to punish and extort money from the other half. The paid mercenaries just kept the balance for the Sultanate between the warring tribes

men.

Mangin military Algerian

The officers of the French Mission, however, had other instructions. Their business was not only to train the mercenaries, but to effect as well a complete ascendancy over the Sultan. They were also to make him provide sufficient funds to create a European led, armed, and drilled force that would enable the Maghzen to deal with all its subjects at one and the same time, without enlisting one tribe to defeat the next. Colonel was the head of this mission. An officer of Tirailleurs, with a force of character bordering almost upon genius, he set about his work with an enthusiasm that soon changed the complexion of the Maghzen's attitude to its subjects. The enlisted Arabs, under their French officers, made excellent soldiers. The Sultan, basking in the favor of France, and prompted by El Glawi, his rapacious Grand Vizier, soon discovered that his French-led troops were an instrument, if used for extortion, the like of which he had never possessed before. No longer was it necessary to ally himself with one section of the tribes to squeeze money from the next. He could walk out as he wished and

collect undue and unjust revenues from all and sundry just when the spirit or the empty cash-box prompted him. It was here that Mangin fell short of genius. He, prompted no doubt by the desire to blood the troops he had so efficiently trained, aided and abetted the Sultan in his rapacious treatment of his subjects, little realizing that by his actions he was charting the estuary of the Sus for the German anchor that is holding there to-day. The tribesmen also realized the new danger that had come to them with the arrival of the French officers at Fez. They saw that the Sultan was now about to become an absolute ruler, whereas in the past he only had power provided they did not combine against him. They knew the ways of a Maghzen with absolute power. They conferred together, and agreed to revolt and destroy this Sultan and his French following before it became too late. This led to the investment of Fez and the ultimate despatch of General Moinier and a relief force to the capital.

The German attitude at this point requires very careful study. For diplomatic subtlety and the genius of waiting, it must commend itself to all who appreciate astute human restraint. While Colonel Mangin, lapping glory from the Paris Press, was losing his head, Dr. Vassal, the German Consul, was stealthily stalking him amid the flowers and fountains of Fez. The day that the investment of Fez was raised by the near approach of Moinier's relief force, Dr. Vassal had Colonel Mangin "stone dead"; and if it had not been for the near approach of the coronation of King George, the Panther might have cast anchor at Agadir then. There was nothing, however, to be lost by waiting. It was well that France should continue to do the "dirty work" of accustoming the Moors to the unveiling of their capital. There were military risks attached to it; and