6 MAY 1905, Page 2

The Gil Blas of April 28th publishes an article from

a correspondent containing the substance of a conversation with Lord Cromer on the subject of Morocco. According to the report, Lord Cromer observed that he was not called upon to give advice to France, or entitled to offer her any. But if a friend of France asked him, in the light of his Egyptian experience, what counsel he had to tender, he would say : " Beware of colonists. Beware of those people who go and install themselves as conquerors in a country which is not their own, and who, under the protection of accommodating officials, have but one idea—namely, to make money and extort from the natives everything they can." In Egypt, on the contrary, all the efforts of the Administration had been towards restoring the well-being and winning the confidence of the whole people. For himself, he knew that the reward would come later on when the people would be convinced that

be was working, in the first place, for them, and that their interests took precedence over those of the English ; and all England now profited by the confidence they had thus inspired. This was the policy he advocated in Morocco. "Claim nothing for yourselves. Labour in the first place for the natives. Let the most fanatic Moor be compelled to recognise that you have his interests at heart, that you seek to do him good, and that, far from being an enemy who has come to impose a burden upon him, you are a friend who wants to, help him. Avoid the armed colonists, the solicitors of concessions, and the shady financiers thirsting for gold. Be patient. The game is worth the trouble, for the stake is magnificent."