Moroccan War

Don Luis Silvela, Spanish High Commissioner in Morocco, arrived in Madrid and was received with mixed feelings.

He was called to the capital by the government who want to discuss plans for the taming of the Moroccans by pacific means. The policy of pacification was first voiced last year and has divided political Spain into two camps. The first points to the necessity of conquering the Riffians (Moroccan tribe) before it can be made possible to govern the land pacifically. The second believes that Spain cannot conquer the Riffians without great sacrifices in men and materiel. The implication is that the game is not worth the candle and that the only thing to do is to give up the Spanish Zone in Morocco or govern peaceably. At all events Foreign Minister Senor Santiago Alba greeted Don Luis Silvela with great warmth, but the Minister of War's greeting was conspicuous by its lack of good feeling.

In the meantime General Martinez Anido, Military Governor of Spanish Morocco, threatens to resign unless the Government gives him 30,000 reinforcements and votes a credit of 50,000,000 pesetas. He believes that the only way to effect a permanent and stable government is by military conquest that will create conditions favoring permanency. Again, some Spaniards want to avenge their recent defeat.

The Spanish zone in Morocco--a coastal enclave at the extreme Northwest of the African continent--although demarked by boundaries, has never been fully occupied by the Spanish. In 1921 Spain determined to exert her influence over the whole of her protectorate, but in doing so met with serious disaster at the hands of the Riffians, commanded by Abdul Krim. Particularly since then Spain has had a hard row to hoe both in Morocco and at home. Although the towns of Nadur and Zelnan were recaptured from the Riffians in 1921, there have been more or less continuous clashes between the Spanish forces and the natives. At home the controversy over the Spanish defeat of 1921 has dominated Spanish politics for more than a year.

Don Luis Silvela was appointed Spanish High Commissioner in Morocco on February 14, 1923, in succession to General Damaso Berenguer, retired. General Berenguer was charged by public sentiment with negligence in connection with the Spanish defeat of 1921. Recently he caused a pleasant surprise by waiving his immunity to trial by demanding to be tried before the Supreme Court of War and Marine.