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.