The special correspondent of the Times at Melilla says in
Wednesday's paper that there will be no more forward move- ments by the Spanish army in Morocco. Almost the whole Beni Sicar district will be held by fortified posts, and for this purpose the original Melilla garrison will have to be quadrupled for some time to come. We need hardly point out that the Spaniards are consenting to stop far short of the end which they proposed to themselves. It is quite uncertain whether what they have achieved will make the mines safer than they were before the war began. But we are exceedingly glad that the Spanish Government evidently intend to withdraw as soon as possible from a disastrously expensive undertaking. If the Riffs should still threaten Spanish interests, the Spanish Government might do worse, as the Times special correspondent has sagaciously suggested, than subsidise them in order to buy their good behaviour. If the Riffs broke their promises the payments would cease. The plan is familiar on the Indian frontier, and the system of subsidies there has proved itself cheaper than continual " little wars."
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