MISSION TO TANGIER.
In 1844 Mr. Hay went to England on leave, and visited also Stockholm
and Copenhagen. At this latter capital he met the ‘fair girl’
who was to be his future wife, as Leila had predicted. Whilst
in Stockholm, he was presented to King Oscar by our Minister,
Mr. Cartwright, and in the course of conversation with His Majesty
about Morocco, pointed out the advisability of abolishing the old
Convention between Morocco and Sweden, and Morocco and Denmark,
which stipulated that $25,000 (£5,000) should be paid annually
to the Sultan, in order that vessels under the flags of these two
nations should pass the Straits unmolested by Moorish cruisers; these
cruisers having virtually ceased to exist, though the Convention
remained in force.
A rupture of relations between France and Morocco was at this time
imminent, and Mr. Hay’s father, then Political Agent at Tangier,
had been sent, with the knowledge of the French Government, to the
city of Marákesh on a mission to endeavour to induce the Sultan
to accept the French demands. On hearing of this expedition Mr. Hay
wrote to Lord Aberdeen, who was then Secretary for Foreign Affairs,
to offer his services temporarily in Morocco. This offer was accepted.
That Mr. Hay, while at Constantinople, had gained the kindly opinion
of Sir Stratford and Lady Canning may be gathered from the following
letter written to him after his departure from Constantinople, when
Lady Canning learnt that he had been sent to Tangier. The note was
accompanied by the gift of a beautiful cushion in Turkish embroidery.
You must not leave Constantinople, my dear Mr. Hay, without some
little memento from me to remind you in future days of our life
spent together on the Bosphorus in which, though it may have had
some cloudy moments, I hope the bright ones have preponderated and
will alone be remembered by you. We shall miss you sadly; for your
labours have not been thrown away on Sir Stratford, and you have
helped to keep us all in good humour with our neighbours, and for
all this I thank you much. Let us hear of you often, and believe
that we shall feel interest in all that concerns you.
Yours very sincerely,
E. C. CANNING.
Mr. Hay arrived at Tangier shortly after the bombardment of that town
by the Prince de Joinville. Notwithstanding the promises made by the
French Government that hostilities should not be commenced until his
father returned from the Court, where he had actually succeeded in
obtaining consent to the chief demands of the French, the Prince
had bombarded Tangier. This unexpected outbreak of hostilities
placed in jeopardy the life of the elder Mr. Hay, who was still in
the interior and who had to pass, on his return from Marákesh to
Tangier, through districts inhabited by wild tribes.
Some of the difficulties with which his father had been confronted
in dealing with the Sultan are touched on in the following letter
written on the return journey from his mission to Marákesh, dated
Camp on the Wad Nefis, July 26, 1844:—
’Tis a sad thing that all folks in Europe, my masters in Downing
Street may not be excepted, have hardly any just conception of the
difficulties of my position. It would take a volume—not small—to
relate the bother and the tricks and bad faith with which I have had
to contend—and as to _going fast_, as Mr. Bulwer has everlastingly
urged, who among mortal men can make Moors go fast, nay, nor hardly
move at all—in the straight path of honour and sound policy? . . .
Alas! I know not what to think. I had hoped the French would have
waited until my report reached Tangier or myself arrived there and
told them all. So they are now preparing to cast fire and the sword
on this unhappy country of ignorant barbarians.
The Moors are mere children, vain children; obstinate, through
a shocking bigotry and ignorance scarcely credible. They have,
I believe, had at least two collisions with the French on their
frontier; but all their acts of folly were, I am certain, without
authority. Alas, again, for the poor Sultan; he cannot manage his
own people! If the war do burst forth here, when shall it end? There
will be an internal revolution forthwith, I am almost sure! And
drivellers in pomposity and self-sufficiency would ever publish that
all was well.
The elder Mr. Hay did not long survive the effects of the journey,
with all its worry and vexation; but succumbed shortly after his
return, to low fever and other complaints. During his illness, which
lasted several months, Mr. John Hay was directed by Lord Aberdeen to
take charge of political affairs in Morocco, whilst Mr. H. Murray,
the Consul, conducted the consular duties.
The crisis was one of considerable importance. In addition to the
internal difficulties of Morocco, questions with foreign Powers
embarrassed the Sultan’s Government. Denmark and Sweden had sent
squadrons in this year to Moorish waters, demanding the abrogation
of the treaty referred to in Mr. Hay’s audience of King Oscar.
The Spanish Government had also a question pending with Morocco
regarding the neutral ground and frontier of Ceuta; and, for the
settlement of this question, Sir Henry Bulwer, then H.B.M.’s
Minister at Madrid, had been appointed special Plenipotentiary.
In the following letter to his late chief at Constantinople Mr. Hay
gives an account of the state of affairs which he found on his
arrival at Tangier.
_Sept. 12_, 1844.
MY DEAR SIR STRATFORD,
I received yesterday Y.E.’s kind letter of 27th ult.
Your Excellency will no doubt have learnt, both from H.M.’s
Government and the newspapers, accounts of passing events in this
country, so I only relate the more recent that I have witnessed.
The day before yesterday the French squadron arrived, consisting
of two line-of-battle ships and five steamers, having on board the
Prince de Joinville, Mons. de Nion, the French Chargé d’Affaires,
and the Duc de Glücksberg (Decazes), an adjunct Plenipotentiary sent
for the purpose of meeting the Moorish Plenipotentiary, Sid Buselham
Ben Ali, to arrange the conditions for peace. I received, the same
morning, a letter from Mr. Bulwer acquainting me with the nature of
the French demands, which proved to be identic with those already
granted to my father by the Sultan of Morocco during his late mission.
The Moorish Plenipotentiary, Sid Buselham, has received orders from
the Sultan to be guided by our counsels in replying to the various
demands of the French. I accordingly went to see the Sid and made
known to him the nature of the French demands, telling him they were
just and such as could be granted without lowering the dignity of the
Sultan. I pointed out the proper answers to be made, and urged him
to settle the matter the very day that the demands were presented;
and thus it happened that three hours did not elapse from the time
they were made, until the French flag was hoisted and flying at
the Residence of their Chargé d’Affaires and was saluted by
the batteries.
The substance of the demands was as follows:—
‘That Abd-el-Kader be considered as a common enemy and, if taken by
either party, be confined in a State prison at some distant port. The
frontier to be marked out as in the time of the Turks. The withdrawal
of the French troops from Ujda, except 3,000 men. A new treaty to
be made embracing the above conditions, and, when ratified, Ujda
and the Island of Mogador are to be given up by the French and all
prisoners exchanged and set free.
The question that may now be asked is—What has been the object
of the French in all this? For their demands remain the same and
the concessions are the same as _before the war_: and although they
say the Sultan is faithless, they never gave time to test whether he
would be so or not, after having pledged himself to a British agent
to act with good faith—but this, it strikes me, is the sore point.
French supremacy is aimed at, throughout Eastern and Western Barbary,
and an arrangement effected through the good offices of a British
agent militates against that supremacy.
The foolish language of a British officer high in rank, on the other
side of the water, declaring that England would never allow a gun
to be fired at a Moorish port, roused the worst feelings towards
us throughout the French squadron, participated in by the Prince;
so, five hours before my father’s arrival from the Moorish Court
(although hourly expected, and feeling that to bombard Tangier after
hearing vivâ voce that the Sultan had granted their demands, would be
_un peu trop fort_), having bombarded Tangier in the presence of two
British ships of war and, I may say, of our garrison at Gibraltar,
off they go to Mogador—the _mouth_, as the Moors call it, of
British commerce with Central Africa, where we have a considerable
trade. They destroy the forts, and the destruction of the town
is completed by the wild tribes, who burn, pillage, and murder,
committing barbarities on a par with the wanton and uncalled-for
proceedings of the French. After striking this blow at British trade,
the French embark and return here to make peace!!
Well it is, that peace is made; for the country is in a state of
revolution; the Sultan totters on his throne, and in a few weeks
such a state of anarchy would have ensued that no Europeans could
have remained in the country. There would have been no Government
to treat with, and of the five millions of people, only robbers and
pirates would have come to the front.
How would England have liked this? How would other countries? How
would France?—pledged as she is to us not to take possession of
any part of Morocco. What would she gain but to have roused a spirit
of revenge amongst these wild inhabitants of a country capable of
maintaining ten Abd-el-Kaders, as soon as they learn how to war
with disciplined armies? An army of 20,000 men, well disciplined,
might march from one end of the Empire to the other, but to _hold_
the country 200,000 would not suffice.
The French interest, therefore, was not to have weakened the
Sultan’s power, but to have given him time to put in execution his
promises and to have helped him in so doing, if required; but the
shaft was shot at ‘Albion la perfide’—Albion, whose agent here,
ever since the conquest of Algiers, has been instructed to hold,
and has held, but one language, that of urging the Sultan not to
give ground of offence to his powerful neighbour, and above all not
to support or mix himself up with Abd-el-Kader.
The Spanish affair is also concluded. My father brought back very
full concessions, and on Mr. Bulwer’s arrival at Gibraltar, with
full powers from Spain, all matters were settled at once by the
Moors, and I had the satisfaction of having used my humble efforts
in effecting this.
The Danish and Swedish affairs are in a fair way of being settled
amicably, and, although I must not blow my own trumpet, yet I am
sure your Excellency will be pleased to learn that I have gained
some credit at home for the part I have taken in these affairs which,
in consequence of my father’s serious illness, have been entirely
under my guidance, as being the sole medium of communication both
verbally and in writing. I can assure your Excellency that I daily
feel the benefit reaped from the excellent school of diplomacy in
which I passed my probation in the East; and if I have been of use
to Her Majesty’s Government, the lessons I there learnt have been
my guide; if I have failed, it has been my own fault.
There is one more remark which I wish to add—that I look upon
Morocco as a field upon which there will often be like cause for
anxiety to Europe, and especially to Great Britain; and how can
it be otherwise when we consider the conflicting characters of the
people on the frontier? Such being the case, it becomes more urgent
than ever that some understanding be come to with France by England,
for preserving the integrity of this Empire, and that their agents
here should be persons that act up to the peaceful spirit of their
instructions—otherwise a bone of dissension will ever be found in
West Barbary.
Owing to his father’s illness and subsequent death, the settlement
of the complicated questions alluded to in this letter devolved
on Mr. Hay. In this task he acquitted himself with credit, as is
proved by the satisfaction of his official chief at Madrid, and
the recognition of his services by the foreign Powers for whom he
acted. Mr. Bulwer wrote to congratulate him on his success:—‘Your
conduct and explanations are equally good, and I am _gratified_
with you beyond measure. There is nothing to change in your views
or intuitions.’
Again in a later letter, Mr. Bulwer repeats the expression of his
satisfaction:—‘I have a great regard for you, and a high opinion
of you, and, whenever it is in my power, will do you a service. Be
sure of success; I am for you. All of us have had to contend with
difficulties.’
Mr. Hay further received the thanks of the different Governments
concerned, and the Kings of Denmark and Sweden sent him jewelled
stars, as Commander of the Orders of the Danebrog, and of the Polar
Star respectively. These, according to Foreign Office regulations,
he declined, as also the Spanish Order of Charles XII. Subsequently
he received, from the two former sovereigns, magnificent gifts of
plate, which H.B.M.’s Government authorised him to accept.
Some notes relating to this time, made by Mr. Hay in after years,
may prove of interest.
In the time of Sultan Mulai Abderahman it was not infrequent to hear
that some Basha, or Sheikh, who may have been supposed to have taken
part in an insurrection or given other serious cause for displeasure
to the Sultan, was summoned to the Court, and placed in confinement.
The ‘Mul Meshwa’ or chief Usher of the Court acted on such
occasions as executioner, and bearing a cup of coffee, would visit
the victim and say, ‘Our Lord and Master sends you this,’ adding
peremptorily, should the unfortunate man hesitate, ‘Drink: it is
our Lord’s order. You are in the hands of God. What is written
is written.’
During the time that Abd-el-Kader carried on hostilities against the
French in Algeria, Sultan Mulai Abderahman had given strict orders
to his Ministers and Governors not to hold any communication with
this active and daring chief, as H.M. feared the French might find
some pretext for a quarrel with Morocco.
Sid Mohammed Ben Dris, a very clever man, was at that time chief Uzir,
and was suspected of being in communication with Abd-el-Kader, and
even of having suggested to him that (as he thought it most probable
Abd-el-Kader would succeed in turning the French out of Algeria)
he should enter Morocco, upset the Sultan, and usurp the throne.
There is little doubt that, had Abd-el-Kader listened to these
suggestions, he might have succeeded in such an enterprise.
A courier, who had been dispatched secretly by the Uzir to
Abd-el-Kader, was arrested by the Governor of ‘Hiazna’: his
letters seized and sent direct to the Sultan. Amongst them, the
Sultan found a letter from Ben Dris to Abd-el-Kader with treasonable
propositions. Ben Dris was summoned to the presence of the Sultan,
who exhibited to him his letters asking, ‘Whose handwriting is
this?’ Ben Dris threw himself at the feet of the Sultan, crying out,
‘Amán (mercy)! It is mine.’ ‘You are a vile traitor,’ said
H.M. ‘Approach; put out that tongue with which you solemnly swore,
only the other day, you had never written, and would never write,
to Abd-el-Kader.’
The Uzir put out his tongue, of which the Sultan took hold and,
with one wrench, tore[5] it from its socket, leaving the tongue
paralysed and useless. ‘Go,’ said the Sultan; ‘your tongue
can no longer lie.’
The Uzir withdrew, his tongue swelled in a frightful manner, and
he died shortly afterwards in great agonies; but few persons at the
time knew the cause of his disgrace and death.
French journals, and Frenchmen in general, accused the British
Government and their Representative in Morocco of being in
communication with Abd-el-Kader, and even of sending emissaries and
money to assist that chief in carrying on hostilities against the
French. But the accusations were without the slightest foundation,
and though on one occasion Abd-el-Kader addressed me a letter
asking for British intervention on his behalf, no reply was sent
nor was any notice taken of his communication, and certainly not
one farthing was ever given by our Government to this gallant and
patriotic chief. On the other hand, advice was unceasingly tendered
to the Moorish Government by my father, and subsequently by myself,
that they should hold no communication with Abd-el-Kader or his
followers, and should oppose his making the Rif country a basis for
hostile operations against the French, when driven out of Algeria.
Mr. Hay’s appointment at Tangier was as yet only a temporary
one. His chief at Constantinople, who evidently awaited his return,
writes in December, 1844:—
I am glad to hear that you have won such golden opinions in Spain
and in Downing Street, and for your sake I shall be glad to learn
that promotion was the result. But as the last letters from the
Foreign Office speak of you as first attaché to this Embassy on
Alison’s apotheosis, I presume that you are to return, at least
for the present, and that being the case, I shall be glad to have
your services as soon as you can conveniently return to us. Napier
is going home to be married. . . . Add to this that I have lots of
business in hand, and very important business too. As Pisani is in
the Chancery as of yore, I will avail myself of your help with less
sacrifice of your eyes, and hazard to your health.
I hope you will be able to read these hieroglyphics. Believe me very
sincerely yours,
S. C.
The reference to ‘less sacrifice to your eyes,’ it may be
inferred, was a jesting allusion to an occurrence which had taken
place at Stambul, when Mr. Hay was Acting Private Secretary. The
story is told by Mr. Stanley Lane-Poole, in his _Life of Sir
S. Canning_, how the fiery Ambassador and his not less hot-headed
young attaché, both worn out with over-work, lost their tempers
and their self-control[6].
In 1845, Mr. Hay succeeded his father as Political Agent and
Consul-General in Morocco. As will be gathered from the following
letter addressed to him by Lord Ponsonby, congratulating him on his
appointment, Mr. Hay considered that in diverging from the direct
line of a diplomatic career by becoming Agent and Consul-General,
he endangered his hopes of future advancement. But he decided on
incurring this risk, in order to assist his widowed mother, who had
been left with slender means, by undertaking the education of his
younger brothers. For many years he devoted half his salary to this
object, and, at a later period, to starting them in life or assisting
any member of his family who was in need of aid.
‘I have been wishing,’ wrote Lord Ponsonby in April, 1845, ‘ever
since I heard of your appointment, to write to you and say how very
much I rejoiced at it, but I fancied it might be more prudent to
hold my tongue; your letter of the 11th (received this night) has set
me free, and I will declare my conviction that however advantageous
your nomination to the important post may be to yourself, the English
Government will find it more so for their own objects. Your intimate
knowledge of the country where you are to serve, and I will add,
your talents, your zeal, your courage and honesty and manner, such
as I know them to be, will enable you to overcome difficulties which
might be held insuperable; and I suspect that the time will come
when you will have to encounter them. Aberdeen is a kind man, and
I have no doubt of his considering your father’s services as they
deserve to be considered, but I am very sure he would not have shown
his estimation of them in the way he has done, unless he had cause
to know and to appreciate the capacity of _the father’s son_. Have
no fear that “the door of ambition is closed against you.” _I_
think it is opened wide to you now; there will be plenty of room
for the display of your judgment and activity in the management
of questions of great importance, and as I feel confident you will
succeed, I entertain no doubt of your mounting to what are called
higher posts, though I _do_ doubt if you will find any of them
demanding more skill and vigour in the occupier than you will be
called upon to display where you now are.
‘Your most kind remembrance of the time we passed together gives
me very great pleasure; you are a man to make the most profit of
experience, and in that time I allude to, many affairs well worth
noting were in fermentation. I am too wise (excuse this vanity)
to attribute to myself anything more than honesty and good fortune
as the cause of the success that attended the Embassy, and it is
claiming a great deal too much I fear. I will accept, gratefully,
the kind things you say of me personally, and I am happy to know
that my manner to you (for there were no deeds) showed the feeling
of friendship for you which sprung up in me from my observation of
your good qualities.
‘Lady Ponsonby is well, and at this moment I hope amusing herself
at a ball at Lady Palmerston’s. I will give your message to her
when she comes home, and I am sure she will be most happy to receive
it. She has shared in my rejoicings for your advancement.’