CHAPTER XXV

.

LAST YEAR OF OFFICIAL LIFE. 1885.

Early in 1885 Monsieur Ordega was recalled by the French Government and succeeded by Monsieur Féraud. Of the new French Minister Sir John writes on March 30:—

Féraud has arrived, and is all that he has been described—very friendly and desirous to please, liked by every one.

I gave him a dinner, and we have had many chats. He disapproves entirely of Ordega’s proceedings, especially of his conduct towards me and of his contributing venomous articles to journals regarding me and my acts.

He is a first-rate Arabic scholar and even poet, a good artist, a great archæologist, and is writing a work on Tripoli. In two affairs I have tested his assurances of good-will, and have good grounds for being satisfied.

I told him positively that there was no reason why there should not always be a perfect ‘accord’ between us, except on one point, viz. if either of our Governments desired to take possession of Morocco. ‘Kick it out,’ I said, ‘into the Atlantic a hundred miles, and then the sooner Morocco was colonised by a civilised people the better.’

Subsequent intercourse confirmed the favourable impression. In a later letter Sir John writes again of M. Féraud:—

I think I told you that Féraud complained the other day of inaccurate and malevolent reports, about his doings, in local papers, and said he hoped I did not believe them. I told him I was the last man to put any faith in newspapers; that I had been the butt of their shafts, which, at first, had stung; but I had grown so accustomed to abuse that now, when not held up as the author of evil, I feel it and wonder whether I have ceased to be of any importance in the eyes of my revilers. ‘You,’ I said, ‘will soon be accustomed to this also, and find it pleasant.’ ‘Charmes,’ the contributor of _Débats_, who has been with Féraud to Fas, was in the room, and had been introduced to me. Last year he wrote virulent articles against me, inspired, I think, by Ordega. He was sitting on my right, a little behind me, so I took an opportunity of letting go my shaft, and added, ‘Why, even leading papers in France chose last year to publish virulent and untruthful articles about me; but, far from my having any rancorous feeling against the writers, I am grateful to them. They drew public attention to me and my conduct in such a manner that it was taken up in our Senate, and my conduct and character were vindicated by the Ministers of all parties, and a mark of Her Majesty’s approval conferred upon me. I am grateful to my revilers in England and France.’

When leaving, I gave C. my hand, and my eye, I dare say, twinkled. C. has lately written an article in the _Débats_ on the policy of keeping the _status quo_ in Morocco and disapproving of all the late policy. Féraud evidently inspired it.

In June, 1885, he writes:—

Now I am an _old_ man, having entered my seventieth year. How time glides by. Next year, if I live till then, we shall be quitting this for good. . . .

Féraud is still at the Court. He has made a good name by rejecting the trumped-up and usurious claims of protected Jews. He denounced them to the Sultan, and complained of public notaries who, in league with claimants, had drawn up false documents.

Though he told me and other colleagues he had no affair of importance at Fas, we know better. He aims at obtaining what France wants by cajolery and presents. He eschews menace and force. He is more dangerous and far more able than his predecessor. I shall, I think, get on well with him; I cannot blame him for playing the game which suits his country. If England had been as contiguous to Morocco as is France, I think ere this we should have annexed this misgoverned country; but it would never do for us that France should hold the Straits—the gut of commerce, the passage to India and the East. It is far more likely to be injurious than if she held the Canal. As a sentinel of the Straits, I fire my gun, as a warning, when I know of a move to obtain that object.

An article in _Débats_ says, with some reason, that England, in consequence of her failures in the East, is no longer looked up to by the Moorish Government as before, and Italy is the rising sun. There is some truth in this. . . .

Oh! I shall be so glad to be at rest next year, if I live. I am sick of this Government and its stupid, blind policy. As I said to Torras[63], ‘What is the use of a fair lady saying she loves you better than any one in the world, and yet, while refusing to allow you to embrace her, she showers kisses on the man whom she declares she detests?’ Moor shut up by the _sillygism_.

His letters become at this time to an increasing degree full of expressions showing that he was weary of the hopelessness of his task. Thus he writes:—

Every day as the time draws nearer I sing, ‘Oh be joyful!’ I am sick of the bother, and the dirty work of British subjects that I have to attend to. I am tired also of writing and talking to this fossil Government, who cannot, or will not, understand their true interests.

The same note is struck in a letter written from Ravensrock on July 3, and September 7, 1885:—

We are well. Air here delightful, only 78° up till now, in the shade. Cholera striding fast in a deadly march on the other continent.

Weber[64] just left. This time next year I shall have gone also, and go without a pang, except to leave this lovely spot and the kindly peasantry who always welcome me with bright faces and affectionate words. Civilised men are getting too independent to be demonstrative of good-will and gratitude.

_Sept. 7_.

The Sultan has sent orders for the settlement of various long-pending affairs, but nothing about the Convention of Commerce. Their last _mot_ on this is, ‘How is it possible that the Sultan’s treasury can be benefited by a reduction of duties on exports?’ and, ‘If we export all that the English Minister suggests, in the revised Tariff, the price of food will rise and the Moslem will be starved!’ These Moors are a parcel of children; but we can hardly be surprised at their holding these absurd views when a restrictive policy is pursued in commerce by the greatest nation in the world.

As to the cable between this and Gibraltar, the Sultan’s advisers tell him that, once it is laid, ‘Every day some Representative will telegraph for a ship of war!’ One does not know whether to laugh or to cry at such tomfoolery. I think, however, jealous folk drop poison in the ear of the Sultan, and din in His Sherifian Majesty’s ears that England has fallen from her high estate, and that she barks but can no longer bite. The French papers in Arabic from Algeria sing this loudly.

The existence of slavery in Morocco called forth now and again articles or letters which appeared in British journals, and in this and the previous year the subject was much discussed in the newspapers. At Sir John’s suggestion, all natives,—who as _employés_ of the officials attached to the Legation or Consulates enjoyed British protection,—were required to liberate their slaves. He believed, however, the form of slavery in that country to be lenient, and though always urging on the Moorish Government the desirability of abolishing an institution so obnoxious to modern ideas, he foresaw difficulties that might, and did, prove insuperable in his day. The following extracts from his letters on this topic, written at different times, will show the attitude which he adopted towards the question:—

We have no Slave Treaty with Morocco.

The British Government has at times called upon me for reports upon slavery. It is of the mildest description. There is no slave trade by sea; five or six hundred slaves are brought yearly by land, I believe. The men are bought for servants in the houses of wealthy Moors, and the women as handmaids or servants. They are very kindly treated, and when their masters die are given their liberty and a portion of the estate.

With one exception, the only cases where I have been appealed to, to intervene in behalf of slaves, have been to beg that the masters should _not_ give their slaves liberty! They preferred, they said, a comfortable home! Of course it is desirable that slavery should be abolished even in Morocco; but it would be a hopeless task to urge upon the Moorish Government the abolition of a domestic institution, admitted by the laws of the Prophet, unless England had an opportunity of rendering Morocco some great service, such as preventing her being attacked by a stronger Power. Hitherto we have given her no _aid_ but _much advice_ in the hour of need, and then deserted her.

When England has done as much for Morocco as she has done for Turkey and Egypt, by preventing unjust aggressions, &c., &c., then she may hope to persuade the Sultan to abolish slavery. Do you remember the long correspondence between our dear father and the Sultan on the subject, which finished by His Sherifian Majesty quoting Scripture in favour of slavery? I also have had a fling on the subject. But slavery in Morocco exists in the mildest form. Slaves are not used for agricultural purposes—not transported, like pigs, in vessels—and are generally the spoilt children of the house.

I am not going to tell all this to the world, and thus appear to be defending slavery.

However, I hammer away at the Moors on the subject, and in my last note hinted that if they do not seek to satisfy public opinion by abolishing the objectionable institution, _they_ may be _finally abolished_—or something to that effect. . . .

The Anti-Slavery Commissioners came to me to say good-bye, thanked me for courtesy to them, and volunteered to say, ‘You are much belied, Sir John, but we have taken care to sift for truth and shall make it known.’

The story about the Jewess who was flogged last year by the Governor of Dar-el-Baida, in the presence of the native employed as British Interpreter, is most exaggerated. I dismissed the Interpreter as soon as I heard he had been present at the flogging of a woman.

Esther is a pretty girl of a dissolute character. The sons of the Interpreter had been wasting their father’s patrimony on her, and when the old father remonstrated with his sons, caught with Esther, one of them fired a pistol at him, so the Interpreter rushed off to the Governor to demand the arrest and punishment of the woman and of his sons. The Governor arrested and flogged all three, in accordance with the law of this country, but there was no brutal punishment of the girl. What nonsense to talk about the Interpreter having left without giving compensation! Who was to give it, and who receive it? The Governor did his duty according to their tyrannical law. The Interpreter did not punish the woman or his sons; it was the Governor; and the Interpreter got dismissed by me from his employment, a very severe mode of showing my disapproval of his being present at the flogging of a woman. Subsequently I got the Sultan to abolish the flogging of women by Governors for immorality, and to ordain that it shall be inflicted by a Kadi only. Now a Kadi cannot order a woman to be flogged for adultery unless six honourable men of _spotless_ character declare they witnessed her misdeed! So no woman will henceforward be flogged in Morocco. This I obtained in black and white, and Esther got a warming with a beneficial result to all females of her class.

Féraud is to join the German Minister and me in negotiation. He is one of the best Frenchmen I ever had to deal with. I expect the Sultan will kick hard against the reduction of the Tariff.

Another subject with which Sir John was much occupied during the closing years of his residence at Tangier was a scheme of prison reform and the restriction of the period of incarceration for debt. Writing on this point in March, 1886, he says:—

As to prisons, they are no doubt very bad; and so, Mrs. Fry tells us, were ours fifty years ago. I obtained an order from the Sultan for cleaning them, and for bread for those who have no means to buy food; but such orders, though given, if they entail any expense, are soon disregarded. At Tangier I send a soldier of this Legation now and then to inspect the bread. The quality and quantity diminish, and the profits go into the pocket of the person in charge, so I have a constant battle with the authorities.

Unless the whole administration of the Government were reformed, it is a hopeless task trying to sweep this Augean stable.

English humanitarians are shocked to find no beds provided for prisoners. They do not bear in mind that the poorer classes can always take up their bed and walk—their bed, i.e. a rug, or piece of mat. They say how horrid it is that the prisoners should have fetters. At Tetuan the fetters were removed; one hundred and fifty prisoners rushed to the door, knocked over the guards, and fled into the mountains. This has often occurred when prisoners are free of fetters.

I have taken steps to put a stop to the arrest and imprisonment of debtors of British subjects without trial. Great cruelties have been practised upon debtors at the demand of the Foreign Representatives, often for claims that are either fraudulent or unjust. There is an outcry against me by British creditors because I do not back the Government in extorting money from wretched debtors, too often the victims of usurious Christians and Jews. I have just sent in a report to the Government on this subject.

The Jews are certainly an oppressed race, but many of those who have obtained protection conduct themselves in such an arrogant manner, and are guilty of such infamous proceedings in forging false documents about debts of Moors, or in putting forward preposterous claims based upon the grossest usury, that the Mohammedans are exasperated, and some day, when a revolution takes place or the Sultan dies, there will be a massacre and pillage of Jews in the interior.

When the chief Jews of Fas requested Féraud, during his mission, to obtain for them a grant of ground to add to the Mellah[65], they especially requested that protected Jews should not be allowed to inhabit the new quarter, as they said they expected some day an onslaught of the Mohammedans on these persons, and they wished to be separated from them. Féraud told me this.

The revision of the Commercial Treaty of 1856 might, perhaps, have been forced upon the Moorish Government by the united Representatives of the Foreign Powers. But, though on this point the various Ministers joined hands, the hope entertained by Sir John that a Convention might be framed which would abolish the system of irregular protection was not realised. Under the terms of the Convention of 1882, protection is still afforded to the numerous agents of European traders and agriculturists, who therefore are not immediately amenable to the jurisdiction of the Moorish authorities. On this point Sir John had been defeated by the action of his colleagues. But the wisdom of his proposals was abundantly justified by the course which was taken by the negotiations for a new Commercial Treaty in 1886. On the advantages of revising the Commercial Code of 1856 all the Representatives of Foreign Powers were agreed, and made common cause together. But their efforts resulted in failure, and this failure was principally due to their previous refusal to surrender or restrict their privileges of protection. The Moorish Government showed a natural reluctance to encourage European trade by an improved treaty, fearing that a greater influx of European merchants and agriculturists would only multiply the number of irregularly protected Moorish subjects as agents, and remove more natives from the direct control of the Moorish authorities.

Though Sir John might reasonably derive some satisfaction from this practical proof of the wisdom of his advice to his colleagues, his failure to obtain a revision of the Commercial Treaty deepened his sense of the impossibility of reforming the Moorish Government. He was weary of the hopeless struggle which he had carried on for more than forty years. In spite of his personal regret at severing his connection with Morocco, he longed to throw off the official harness under which he had so often chafed. His letters in the summer of 1886 are filled with expressions of his delight at his freedom:—

July 2, 1886. Eve of departure. The Jews have sent a deputation and address. Moors pour in with lamentations. Torras weeps in a letter. Even British subjects join in the wail, whilst I continue to sing, ‘O be joyful.’

Alas! dinners and lunches are the _dis_order of the day; and speeches, which being pathetic about our departure, choke me and prevent a fitting response.

July 4, 1886. Here I am, with my harness off, kicking my heels like an old horse turned out to grass. So glad to send dispatches and letters to my address to the _Chargé d’Affaires_.

I had a very flattering letter from Lord Rosebery’s private secretary, Villiers, to say that his Lordship, in ‘recognition of my long and distinguished services,’ will meet my wishes, &c., &c. . . .

We have been _fêted_ successively by the diplomats here, and speeches were made laudatory of me. In a circular, each vied in saying flattering things, such as that I had been looked up to for my experience and clear-headedness as the guide, &c. of the Diplomatic Corps.

We are on the look out for the s.s. Mogador. I think I told you the Forwood Company have placed her at my disposal. . . .

Disgusted at the last proof of Moorish apathy and obstinacy, Sir John declined to pay a formal visit of farewell to the Moorish Court, and the Sultan’s Prime Minister addressed him a valedictory letter on behalf of himself and his colleagues in office, a translation of which is subjoined as a curious specimen of Oriental phraseology:—

Praise be to God!

The beloved and judicious Counsellor, who strives to promote good relations between the two friendly Sovereigns, the Minister of the exalted Queen of Great Britain and Empress of India, in the dominions of Morocco.

We continue to make inquiries regarding you and regarding your condition, and we trust that you may always be prosperous.

Which premised, we have received your letter in which you inform us that, your term of office having expired, you are about to quit this country, and you express your regret that you are unable to have an audience of His Majesty, exalted by God, in order to take leave of His Sherifian Majesty, and express your gratitude for the marks of good-will, confidence, and friendship that His Majesty has shown towards you, and you observe that you have served for forty years in these happy dominions, and that our Lord and Master, the grandsire of our present Lord and Master (assisted by God), and our Master the sire of His Majesty (may God sanctify them both), bestowed on you their confidence, friendship, and trust, and that our Lord and Master (may God assist him) has likewise held you in the same regard, and that the friendship between the two Governments has remained in the same state as formerly, it has neither altered nor been disturbed; and that you will never grow weak in your devotion to the welfare of His Majesty and of his subjects, for you are convinced of the friendship of His Majesty and of his subjects towards you: you request us also to bid farewell in your name to the Uzirs and chief officers of the Sherifian Court, whom you name, and you further state that, should God prolong your life, you will return to this country after the lapse of a year, and will reside here for a time during the winter months, and that, should it meet with Her Majesty’s approval and your Government grant its consent, you would then visit the Court in a private capacity with the view of taking leave in person of His Majesty, exalted by God.

I have laid your letter before our Lord the Sultan, and His Majesty has taken into consideration all you state in it, and (may God render him powerful) has commanded me to reply to it and to state that your departure from these blessed dominions causes great grief and sorrow, as it was sure to do, for you are one of the wise and judicious persons of your illustrious Government, who have from ancient times mediated between them and the Sherifian Government with friendship, sincerity, and consideration, as is known to all, and about which there can be no dispute, and which at all times has been continuously renewed, proved, and confirmed by the strength and power of God. And the fact that your exalted Queen selected a sagacious person like yourself, of excellent social qualities, pleasant to have relations with, and seeking to do good, for service in this country for so long a time, is a proof of her sincere friendship and of her desire to promote good feeling and to strengthen the bonds of union between the two friendly Sovereigns, and is a sign whereby is known Her Majesty’s extreme judiciousness, wisdom, and judgment; for a person gives proof of his judgment and condition by one of these things, viz. his envoy, his letter, or his present. His Sherifian Majesty (may God render him powerful) has commanded me to convey the expression of his sincere thanks and best acknowledgments to your beloved Queen, and to yourself also, O friend, and invoked on Her Majesty an increase of power, greatness, dignity, and grandeur; and on you, blessings on yourself, on your family, children, relatives, and posterity.

I am to add that what you state regarding the confidence that was reposed in you by our Lord and Master, His Sherifian Majesty’s sire (may God sanctify him), is true and well known to every one, and His Sherifian Majesty (may God render him powerful) likewise reposes confidence in you and regards you as a sincere friend, and that your remark that the friendship between the two Governments has undergone no change during the term of your office is also true, for the friendship between the two Governments is the result of your services, verifying the opinion held of you by your illustrious Government, the soundness of their judgment and the accuracy of their discernment regarding yourself, and it (the friendship) has through your assistance increased in purity, constancy and growth, in love and affection, in word and deed. And as to what you say that you will not grow weak in your devotion to His Sherifian Majesty and to his subjects, this is in accordance with the opinion formed of you, and is what is confidently expected of you, for such is the disposition of persons of a friendly and affectionate character, whether they be near or far.

I have taken leave in your name of the Uzirs and officers of the Sherifian Court whom you mentioned, and they all reciprocated your affection and gave expression to it, and praised you, and invoked blessings on you, and were not sparing in their expressions of sorrow and grief at your departure, and recited the lines of the ancient poet:—

‘Though severed in body we suffer no hurt; for our hearts are united, welded by pure love.’

With regard to your statement that if God prolongs your life, and it is agreeable to His Sherifian Majesty, you will visit the Sherifian Court (exalted by God), and that, should your Government approve, you would come with the object you mention, our Lord (may God make him glorious) has commanded me to reply that he prays your life may be prolonged by the power of God, and that you may continue in happiness and health, leading an agreeable life; and if your Government sanction your coming with this object, you are welcome, and such sanction will be agreeable to His Sherifian Majesty (may God assist him), for it (your Government) desires for you and for His Sherifian Majesty only what is good, and you seek only to promote the welfare of them both, and how indeed could your Government refuse to grant its sanction for what is beneficial? Our friendship for you is everlasting, and its freshness will never fade day or night. May God be gracious on the leave-taking, and not forbid the meeting.

Finished the last day of Ramadan, 1303 (July 3, 1886).

MOHAMMED MEFADAL BEN MOHAMMED GHARRIT.

On his retirement, Her Majesty was pleased to make Sir John a Privy Councillor, and, though no longer holding a responsible post, he was constantly appealed to on Morocco affairs by the British Government.

‘The Foreign Office,’ he writes, in December, 1886, to his daughter, Mrs. Brooks, ‘continue to send me dispatches about Morocco to be reported on, and, when I make suggestions as to

## actions, they are adopted. This is pleasing to me, and Government,

though they rather bother me with their consultations, flatter me by their continued confidence in my counsels.’

The Emperor of Austria sent Sir John his portrait set in brilliants on the lid of a golden casket or snuff-box, and by special permission of Her Majesty he was allowed to accept the order of the Grand Cross of the Danebrog from the King of Denmark—for whom as for Austria he had so long acted as Agent in Morocco. The Danish order was the only one he was permitted to accept of the many foreign decorations bestowed on him during his long career.

Until the end of Sir John’s life, it may be added, his name and personal influence retained their ascendency over the natives, as will be seen from such passages as the three following extracts from some of his letters, written from Ravensrock in 1891 and 1892:—

The Basha, Hadj Mohammed Ben Abd-el-Sadek, called to make known to me an order he had received from the Sultan to tell me that His Sherifian Majesty looked upon me as a true friend of himself and of the people of this country, and the Basha said he was directed, should any serious question arise, to ask for my advice, as His Sherifian Majesty felt persuaded that I would always be actuated by feelings of justice and friendship in giving counsels, as in the time of his sire and grandsire.

I informed the Basha that I had withdrawn from intervention in official affairs, and that some of the Foreign Representatives might be disposed to resent such interference, even if my counsels happened to be beneficial to them in bringing about settlements of vexatious questions.

The Spaniards are making lime at the caves of Ashkar, and live there. The caves are Government property, and the stone has been used for making mill-stones for two thousand years. The poor villagers of Medióna and Jebíla complained to me, saying that they are afraid some day that mountaineers who visit Ashkar to buy mill-stones may kill or rob these Spaniards, and then an indemnity will be demanded by the Spanish Government, and they (the villagers) will be thrown into prison. (I told the villagers to complain to the Basha.) . . .

Or again, in January, 1892:—

The ‘Thunderer’ remains here, as the mountaineers belonging to the Tangier province have revolted against the Basha, and troubles are expected. I think the Sultan will remove the Basha, who is unfit to govern. Happen what may, I and mine are quite safe, for the Moors on mountains and plains look upon me as their friend; and so indeed have I been. I remained during the Spanish war, when every Christian and Jew bolted, and no barbarian harmed me or mine. . . .

Or, once more, the following written in February, 1892:—

When you arrive, all will be settled with the tribes. The Fahs are coming in with presents of oxen, &c. Jebála follow. The new Basha, a good fellow, has written me a letter, received yesterday, to say he is coming up here to pay me a visit as soon as all the tribes have come in (and looks upon me as Baba[66]). The fact is, I was appealed to by the tribes, &c. whether they should accept him, as he is a relative of the late Basha. I said certainly—and told them to come. Ships of war are leaving. All’s well that ends well.

##