OH. II. MOOEISH IMPORT DUTIES. 53 



peace ; but whether the negotiations were merely opened 

 to gain time, or that the terms demanded by Spain, in- 

 cluding the permanent cession of Tetuan, were deemed 

 exorbitant, hostilities were resumed in March, and the 

 Spanish army commenced to move towards Tangier. A 

 final effort was made by the Moors ; and in the battle 

 which ensued, on the slopes of the hills by which we de- 

 scended a few days ago into the valley of Tetuan, their 

 men, though fighting against nearly 25,000 regular troops, 

 well provided with artillery, seemed for a moment likely 

 to win the day by sheer desperate valour. The victory 

 cost the Spaniards some 1,300 men in killed and wounded, 

 but achieved the object of the campaign. Guided by wiser 

 counsels, the Spanish Grovernment ceased to insist on the 

 permanent occupation of Tetuan, and the city was restored 

 to the Moors, on the payment of a war indemnity of about 

 4,000,000Z. sterling. In the judgment of impartial foreign 

 critics, the Spanish troops behaved extremely well through- 

 out this campaign : when well led they showed no lack of 

 fighting qualities, and to their patience under hardship, 

 their temperance, and general good conduct, all observers 

 bore testimony. 



One result of the war was to increase the customs' 

 duties throughout Marocco, and to cause more strenuous 

 efforts to keep down contraband trade than had ever been 

 used before. The indemnity was partly provided by a 

 five per cent, loan, raised in London ; and the customs 

 duties supply the means for paying the interest, with in- 

 stalments of the principal. These have been so punctually 

 discharged, that the stock usually stands at par. On the 

 Atlantic sea-board the points accessible to sea-going ships 

 are so few that little smuggling can exist. The long strip 

 of Mediterranean coast between Tetuan and the French 

 frontier is nearly all held by the semi-independent tribes 

 of the Eiff mountaineers, and it may be presumed that 

 these pay no duties on the few articles of foreign produce 

 that they consume ; but the southern shore of the Straits 



