MOROCCO DAYS

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3132, 10 July 1917, Page 7

MOROCCO DAYS

TUB LIQUIDATION OF A SULTANATE

A £10,000 CHEQUE

(I/union "Time?" JloroiT^C'oriTf-pcintlcnl.)

The Ingiiitlaiion of the affairs of an alnliviik'il (iriciiinl p-jlcntalc is by jno pu'iin.-, a simple pKH-i'i;iliii(,'—and it was into such a whirlpool of contention and discussion I liar, hie writer was enticed. The Sultan, who in JIII2 signal tlie Treaty by which France assumed the I'rotecloraU' over Morocco, resigned tho throne a few months later. Jn the. interval tbcre was a prolonged personal,battle Let ween Hh, .Majesty anu thn .French authorities. The Suitau bargained with rapacity to obtain tho best I wins possible for himself. liven on the very day ■)f his official abdication, when ho was ■to leave .Morocco for Franco, ho demanded <unl obtained a sum of JHO.OOO übovo what had been stipulated, by stubbornly refusing to abdicate, or go, unless ho not it, nnd as the orders for tho proclaiming of the now Sultan had already been dispatched to the towns of tho interior, the eum had either to bo paid or serious complications laced. As the Sultan stepped on board the launch, that was to liiko him 'to tho cruiser which awaited him he halided to tho French Jtesident-ticncrul his.deed of abdication, but ho would not allow it to leavo his, hands until ho, in turn, had obtained a firm grip on tho .£IO,OOO cheque. Sacred.Emblems Destroyed. The night before ho abdicated the' Sultain 'destroyed tho eticred emblems of the ciultanata of Morocco—for he realised that ho was tho last independent Sovereign, of that country. Ho burnt the crimson velvet-paraeol which had been carried over his head on occasions of State. The criinson-covered palanquin he hewed in pieces and consigned to the. flames, together with the cases in which tho holy books were carried. The books themselves, there is reason, to believe, ho took with him. Two famous brocaded banners of.great sanctity wore'also made viotims of tho flames. He was, however, far less sentimental about the Palace jewels, and. carefully secured the whole lot. . ■

Oα the ex-Sultan's , return from Franco, where he had travelled in semi-State as the guest of the French Bepublic, he took up his residenco at Tangier, in iho old pafaco of tho Kasba, which had been put at his disposal. Here his family and suite, in all about 160 persons, joined him. Almost immediately began the discussions of tho details .of the abdication, for previous to tho cs-Sultan's departure dnly the principal lines had been fiettled. In a very short time the relations between. His ex-Majesty and the I'reiich authorities were seriously embroiled. It was at this moment, when overything seemed in a hopeless, muddle, that the writer w<l3 invited, -independently by both parties, to iifbsrveno. During tho following weeks tho principal points were solved—the question of pension, funds for tho construction of a palace at Tangier, the retention of certain, great properties in the interior, and 'the future of the ex-Sultan's wives and children. Thoncanio tho rjucstion of the debts, concerning sorao of 'which,'there arose long and ceremonious discussion, ■if'or instance, there was a very large l>lll for a marble staircase, ordered in Italy lor tlte palaco at Fez. Tho French representatives argued that tho staircaao was merely a picco of wild extravagance on tho ex-Sultan's part—and that, acoordingly, ho must pay for it. His ex-Majesty, on tho contrary, insisted that tho palaco was tho property of the State, and that any additions or improvements made to it I were for tho good of tho State. It was his euccessor, and not he, who , would benefit from the stairoaso. ■ Tho Proteo torato allowed tho justice of this last argument and paid tho bill. The eequol of tho Story is worth tolling. A few months later, when tho eiSullan was signing tho contracts for the construction of his new palaco at Tangier, ho eliminated ono of tho several marble staircases whiifh were t<l he orected. Ho had,, ho snid.a very fino staircase which would do admirably in its placG. Tho writer ventured \o ask if it wa3 tho famous niarblo staircaso over. which there had I,con so much discussion. "It is," replied the ox-Sultan. "You seo it lia4 not yet left Jl-aly; fo I telegraphed and had it landed hero instead of being sent to Fez."

Tho Protectorate Government ajso paid for several hundred , yards of Icrtmson doth for trousers for tho women slaves in fbo .Imperial kitchens. The Sultan vehemently protected against heing called upon to 'pay lor 'theeo garments—the kitchen slav.es were part of t,ho Imperial milourage and required troupers just .us much as thn troops did. The Prolnclor.ito authorities complained that n. cotton material would havo donn as well. "H may b<! thn customs in Europe," the ox-Sultan replied, "for tho royal kitchenmtiidfl to ucar cotton Irouscrt, but in ll'orncco wo have moro sense of llio dignily of their position." This argument war- unanswerable, and tbo bill was paid.

The Sultan's Dentist. The. most difficult cas> to nettle was •tliat of the ex-Sultan's dentist, a. Spaniard. It might naturally bo supposed that his Ull was for professional wor¥; but no—it wns for a livo lion. After all, there is no reason why dentists should not, he employed to buy and sell lions or anything dap, only at first it womed a little incongruous. ' Tha dentist had been engaged by the Sultan at: a. regular stipend, and having, presumably, pa'.ched up the months of all the Imperial family, was unemployed. The Sultan, having just usurped "his brother's throne, was setting himself up as a. legitimate Sovereign, and accordingly began to purchase wild beasts with the energy of a circus proprietor. Ho therefore dispatched the. dentist to Germany 1o procure him » selection, which Hagenbeck supplied. But the- dentist crrod. Hs should have returned with lhr> menagerie and shared its srJory. Be did not do eo. nml whon b<? arrived in Fez a few months later the. nowll.y .ind glamour of tho wild boafta was over, ami there was a lion that liad not. been paid for. So iar, though disputed. Iho quesj-ion was possible of solution, but 'there, wp.ro. coraplj-cations-for Iho Sultan, immensely attracted by the mechanism of the dentists chair, had some time, before ordered lrom Lho dentist, a throne which wns low constructed on llw sumo principles. J.ms throne had never been dclivered-sc.there was a counter-claim. But t.he. Sultan iilso claimed to have paid for the lion, or if ho had not paid, for it, 'then it was a Stale debt. Ho claimed, too, o have pa ill the dsntifit in advance lor We mechanical 'throne. . Now tho dentist held a. trump card. The ex-Sultau. had lodged him in. a small villa in'one of his Tangier properties. The dentist rofusod to quit, and the Spanish authoiitiee upheld him. lne cx-Sultnn sent a ]iody of his slaves to oviot liis dentist. They found the yi la> barricaded and wero received with pjstol shots W length an interview was arranged between the two disputants, nt which, as mediator, tho writer was invited to bo present. Tho ex-Sultaii was tented on a divan studiously reading a boot when the'dentist entered and made his obeisance, but this obeisance—poluo but intentionally curt«ilcd-dul not meet with the approval of His ex-Majesty, who, without raising his eyes, continued reading hair aloud. A long silence ensued, broken by'ono of tho Sultan's suite, who said:— . . "My Lord the King, lho dentist is here." "Has lib brought my dentist-chair throne?" asked the eS-Siiltan in his mildest of voices, without looking up. Now that wvs not on our programme at all. There was to have, been no mention of such unpleasant subjects as dentist's chairs. There- was to have been a reconciliation; a sum of money promised to tho dentist, and a general abandonment of claims. But, alas! before anyone could intervene- lho dentist had shouted: "Pay mo for my lion!' And then lho fat was in tho fire. For some moments the atmosphere boiled with vituperative allusions to lions and dentists' chairs, until, while the writer almost held tho infuriated potentate >n his place, the dentist was removed struggling and shouting from the presencechamber. By dint of great persuasion tho writer eventually obtained a solution. The Sultan did not. get his dentist cha.iv, nor did he pay for lho .lion, .which, the Gorern-

menfc of the French" Protectorate took over,' not realising that it; had meauwhilo died. The dentist got a sum of money in softleruent of nil claims. Tho writer, whoso solution it wa3, got thn thanks of none, the three parties concerned all expressing themselves an highly dissatisfied with tho settlement arrived at.