While the internal situation in Spain is disquieting, the news
from Melilla is even worse. On Tuesday the Moors, who are now close to the town, attacked the railway, and a desperate battle ensued. The Spanish casualties, considering the rela- tively small number of men engaged, were enormous. General Pintos, a large number of officers, and about a thousand of the rank-and-file were killed, while the wounded are said to number no less than two thousand. The Spanish troops, though they behaved with bravery, are, we fear, not equal to their duties, either in respect of numbers or organisation, and they are face to face with the bravest and most fanatical of the Moorish population. The Riff tribesmen who inhabit the country round Melilla are as fighting-men as formidable as the Dervishes of the Soudan. It is said that General Marina, in view of the critical position. in which he finds himself, has asked for reinforcements of seventy-five
thousand men. •
