The question of Tangier is again coming up. At the
moment British, French • and Spanish " experts " are sitting at the -Foreign Office -trying to arrive at a basis of agreement, in principle, so that a -conference of plenipo. tentiaries can be summoned. The trouble is that there is an alarming divergence between the French and British plans for Tangier's future. In brief, the British want the whole zone of some 200 square miles to be internationalized, its neutrality in time of war guaranteed, and the .authority of the Sultan of Morocco reduced to a polite formality. The French, on the other hand, wish the Sultan's powers to be reinforced and international interference to be confined to local administration. It must not be thought, however, that this is a display of disinterested enthusiasm on the part of the French Government for the dignity of the Sultan of Morocco. In practice, of course—indeed in theory also—the authority of the Sultan means the authority of General Lyautey. By the exact extent to which the Sultan is in theory given power over Tangier by so much in fact does this vital seaport pass under the domination of France.
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