NEWS OF THE WEEK.
THE talk of Europe for the day is the Prince DE JOINVILLE'S bom- bardment of Tangier. The reasons for it are as much canvassed as ever ; the Prince's skill more so ; while the efficacy of the process is doubtful : and the French Government cautiously abstain from throwing their share of light upon the matter by publishing the official despatches from the scene of action. Altogether, the affair is not only a nine-days wonder, but a puzzle. English accounts, which seem to be trustworthy, represent the Emperor of Morocco as having conceded every point demanded by the Prince ; and the Prince himself as avowing, after he had received a notification of the Emperor's last resolve, that he was disposed for peace ; yet, without any apparent change of circumstances, there was a change of course, and Tangier was bombarded. That is certainly strange. It does not appear, indeed, that the terms of the notification re- ceived were the same as the terms obtained by Mr. DRUMMOND HAY; whose mission the Prince refused to recognize. He thought that the Moors wanted to gain time ; they say in Paris that Mar- shal BUGEAUD sent to spur his intent ; and, although he may have been inclined to delay, it does not follow that his ceasing to wait any longer was a real inconsistency, or that ia- his previous pro- fessions he was guilty of gross prevarication. But whatever his motive, it is clear that he did bombard the place, though not quite so clear what success he had. The French accounts, which are couched in general terms, are calculated to create an im- pression, that with Cwsarean brevity he made the assault, destroyed the fortifications, and silenced the native guns. Certain English critics who stood by, and who are said to be naval officers, paint a very different picture of his achievements ; for, according to them, he was bungling even in the working of his ships, and the whole affair was a protracted and ludicrous failure. It may be surmised that the critics were swayed by national bias or professional jealousy: a London Ministerial paper volunteers to be an apologist for the sailor Prince, and bids one remember how the tide and the waves may have interfered with his evolutions ; and allowances of various kinds might no doubt be made. But the critics state some facts which, until directly contradicted, will be stronger than generalizing remarks : the French commanders exposed their ships to be raked while taking up their positions ; although a good deal of bricks and mortar may have been knocked down, very few guns were touched; the steamers skulked about among the neutral vessels ; even some of the bombarding ships kept too far off, and their balls fell short ; as they were towed away, the Moors had the last pop at them; and the Moorish flag, instead of being struck, floated aloft as the French gave up their labour and withdrew. The object of the bombardment was of course to strike an imposing terror into the Moors : they do not ap- pear to have been terrified at all ; and the most signal result seems to have been a vast deal of amusement afforded to the British tars at the awkward scrapes and blunders of the French after their boasting. Some cautious persons fear that this ridicule—this "biting imper- tinence," which has been dubbed in Paris the "Britannic salt"— may provoke dangerous anger among the Prince's countrymen at home : but yet it may not be without good effects. The facts, weeded from all insulting inferences, tend to show that the French marine is by no means formidable ; though perhaps they do not tell so forcibly against the skill and courage of the Royal Admiral. The very object of his pamphlet was to declare, that in sailing-vessels France could not cope with England ; and that the steam-marine, so far from being in a proper state, had to be made. He had con- demned his tools before there was a prospect of being called upon to use them so soon. And his own ship was driven in the closest to the hostile shore. The French acquired some credit by their tar- get practice in the Mediterranean ; but, since the beginning of their great naval exertions, they had not before been brought to do real work. When a duellist who could snuff a candle with his pistol failed to wing his man, it was remarked, in explanation of the dis- crepant results, that the candle had not a pistol in its hand. With- out, however, imputing any thing like cowardice to the French, this result has justified our expectations : they are too anxious about the issue, too impulsive, to be well suited to the heavy mechanical move- ments of naval warfare, which are not to be hurried on like a hot charge of cavalry—not to be hurried over—not easily to be retracted until the close of a bull-dog struggle for life or death. But the utility of the lesson is quite lost upon us if we only employ it to mortify. It is well that we should know the French to be not so strong as we are in the eminently-aggressive warfare of the sea, be- cause France is the most aggressively-disposed power in Europe, while we are the most peaceably-disposed—in Europe. Granting the utmost extent of failure at sea, France still has abundant power to maintain her position ; and great would be our increase of trou- ble, great the danger to general civilization, if she were to lose it. As to the immediate future in Morocco, the aspect is not of the best. The Moors are not cowed, but of course they are exaspe- rated. The Prince DE JOINYILLE has gone on to repeat the dose of irritation at Mogador and elsewhere along the Atlantic seaboard. And while he is thus prettily employed, the Due DE GLUCKSBERa, the young diplomatist who insulted ESPARTERO and would have provoked a war between France and Spain but for a cowardly re- liance on Spain's weakness, is on his way to Morocco, sent by the French Government to conclude a treaty of peace with the Empe- ror. France seems at present in the humour to choose angry boys for her gravest missions.
