Last Saturday King Alfonso, accompanied by the Prime Minister and
the Minister for War, arrived at Melilla for a short visit to see the progress made since the Spanish campaign in Morocco. The Tangier correspondent of the Times says that Melilla is a changed place ; everywhere are signs of energy and progress ; works and buildings are being constructed, and the first passenger train in Morocco now runs to the ' iron mines. It will be remembered that the massacre of Spaniards which caused the war took place at these mines. We questioned the title of the Spanish company to the mines at the time of the war—it was, to say the least, shadowy—and we also doubted the wisdom of foreign adventures when so many resources remained to be developed in Spain herself. Spain has done better since the loss of Cuba and the Philippines than ever before in living memory. But the account by the Times correspondent is certainly reassuring. The Riffians, he says, are living at peace with one another and
with the Spaniards for the first time in centuries, and blessings on all this enterprise now come from the Liberal Government, which opposed the war when it was in opposition.
