ABDEL KRIM.
ABDEL KRIM, the vanquisher of Spain, has now over thrown Raisuli—the chieftain who in turn defied France, Spain, and England, and at one time the Concert of Europe. Everyone wanted to capture Raisuli, but nobody succeeded. Yet, when Raisuli himself wanted to take a European hostage, he simply put out his hand as though he were the Emperor of all Africa, seized Mr. Perdicaris in Tangier, and bore and spirited him off to the mountains.
And now Abdel Krim has, apparently quite easily, done what none before could accomplish. Not only has he stormed Raisuli's fortress, but he has seized the Chief himself and imprisoned him. What is more, he has re- ceived the allegiance of the Anjera tribesmen, and it is said that many of the other tribes in that curious No Man's Land in what might be called the Moorish Maritime Alps have bowed to the new master. Many of them waited long, balancing between Spain and France and the Tangier conglomerate. But now, certain that they have at last spotted a winner, they have put their money upon Abdel Krim. These new conquests and new allies have put Abdel Krim in a very strong position, not only upon the flank of the Spaniards, but on that of the Tangier International State. If there was a risk of Abdel Krim being able to drive the Spaniards into the sea before he subdued Raisuli, and when Raisuli was pro-Spanish, the danger is now enormously increased.
But, while there is real danger for Spain, there is also, though not actual danger, a very considerable risk of em- barrassment for France. She cannot very well recognize and make easy terms with Abdel Krim, for to do so would he unfriendly to Spain. At the same time, to quarrel with him might be very awkward. It might end in a great expedition in some of the hardest and most difficult country in Africa.
Of course, this may all prove a piece of unsubstantial vaticination. The clouds that are now alarming France and Spain and those responsible for Tangier may pass away. Still, the strange, unaccountable ability of the Mohammedan world suddenly to produce a man remains to worry the statesmen of Europe. The East throws up men, great men—if not, at any rate, men capable of great things—with an irrelevant vigour which has no parallel in Europe, if we omit the case of Mussolin;: Mehemet Ali came from nowhere, and till he blossomed into power was nobody. The son of a small tobacco planter in Macedonia, he had hardly been heard of before he made himself a great place in the Mohammedan world. Soon he was able to shake the pillars of the Levant and literally to " fulmine " over Greece and Arabia. The Sultan himself dreaded to hear the Pasha's cannon at Seraglio Point. Abdul Kadir was another man who seemed at one time as if he might become a Mohammedan Charles the Twelfth, while it is not very long ago that first the Khalifa, and then Osman Digma of Suakin were causing uneasiness throughout the British Empire. At the close of the War came Kemal Pasha, and now Abdel Krim.
What a strange thing it would be if, after all, the Morocco mountaineer were to turn out to be the War-Lord for whom the Moslems have been looking for the past hundred years. We do not mean by this that we entertain the superstition of the Holy War. That is not likely to come in-our epoch ; but if a real chieftain arose in Islam, it is quite possible that we should see a political movement in North Africa which would tax the resources of France, Spain and Italy, and even involve us. Unquestionably Abdel Krim needs watching. He may prove only th3 . comet of a season ; but, again, he may turn out to be an Alexander or a Tamerlane.
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