The news from Morocco grows worse instead of better, and
we may be on the eve of the establishment of a new fanatical monarchy which will plunge all North Africa into a Holy War. On Wednesday it was reported from Tangier that a great battle had been fought between the troops of the Sultan and the rebel tribes, and that the Imperial forces had been completely routed. The heads of forty of the enemy were suspended from the tent of the Pretender in sign of victory. The Sultan, however, who is believed to be brave as well as able, is sending up more troops, while a large increase is . reported in the rebel forces. The Times correspondent, who is specially well informed, sends to Wednesday's paper a long letter, written in the Sultan's camp on December 3rd, in which the rebel movement is fully described. The writer evidently thinks it almost an even chance that the Pretender may win, or that he may disappear as quickly as he rose. After the new victory, the former alternative seems the more likely. A curious fact con- nected with the rebellion requires notice. The Pretender states that he claims no throne for himself, but that his
mission is a Holy War against the Christians, involving the deposition of the present Sultan on account of his European leanings, and the substitution of a fanatical ruler chosen from some Shereefian family. If the rebels are successful in this aim, the European Powers with interests in North Africa, and especially France, may find their position a very difficult one.
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