A very important article on Morocco appears in the Revue
de Paris from the pen of M. Victor Berard. After dismissing those "specialists" who either parcel out Morocco in geometric sections and distribute it to their friends and enemies, or who proclaim that it belongs to France alone, and that whenever she cares to do so she will annex it, M. Berard continues :— "If ever Morocco is to become ours, it will not be by war. But there are other more effective ways of suppressing the frontiers. More surely and rapidly, perhaps, than force or ruse, it is possible that interest and neighbourliness may one day make of the Shereef, not a subject, but a partner in our African Empire." The significance of the article resides in the fact that it is—according to the Paris correspondent of the Times—a semi-official declaration of the governing prin- ciples of French policy towards Morocco. France is sincerely anxious to maintain the status quo, but she is opposed to any scheme involving an international guarantee of Moroccan integrity. " She desires a free hand in Morocco, not because she has any longing to undertake the conquest of a region which she looks upon as impregnable, but because she is aiming at eventual suzerainty by pacific penetration."
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