back door and its harbor converted into a hornets’ nest of submarines ... well, as the English will tell you, that is quite a different matter. England has no objection to French colonial schemes in Africa so long as they do not conflict with her own. But her possession of Gibraltar and the Canal has made her mistress of the Mediterranean—and mistress of the Mediterranean she intends to remain. The fall of Abd-el-Krim—now an exile in the island of Réunion—gave birth to the hope, if not the belief, that Morocco would no longer remain a potential menace to the peace of Europe; but during the summer of 1926 there thrust himself upon the stage of North African affairs a new and highly disturbing figure in the person of the Italian dictator, Benito Mussolini. Now the fact must not be lost sight of that Italy has never forgiven France for forestalling her in Tunisia, with its eighty thousand Italian inhabitants, nor for the fashion in which Italy has been systematically ignored in the settlement of questions pertaining to Northwest Africa. That Italy now purposes seriously to challenge French dominance of the Mediterranean there can be but little doubt, for in the air she is immensely stronger than her rival, she is very nearly as strong upon the sea, and though she is weaker in land forces, she is in better financial condition, and she has, moreover, recently strengthened her position by effecting with Spain an understanding which, in the opinion of competent observers, is not far removed from an offensive and defensive alliance. France could probably successfully defy Italy alone; Spain alone would not be a very serious menace to her; but, with an unreconciled Germany on her flank, it is to be doubted whether she is in a position to challenge the two together, for their combined fleets could probably destroy her lines of communication in the Mediterranean and cut her off from her sources of man-power and food supply in North Africa. The government at Paris is perfectly aware, moreover, that in the event of such a conflict France could look for no aid from Great Britain, whose interests in the Mediterranean are confined to insuring the security of her sea-road to the East.