A Holy War.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 7847, 13 June 1905, Page 3

A Holy War.

The failure of toe harvest and <he threatened invasion of the land toy the infedel are the great, topics of. conversation at present in Morocco, - who has just come idown to the coast, after a brief sojourn in Mairakesb. writes :-l have found a unity of opinion such as the Maxhreb seldom knows. I have seen Sthrog like it in the many years ol my residence. Saints-men whose mental balance is disturbed, or, as, tho Moors says, whose bodies are on rthe earth while their minds are in, Allah's keepingi-priests, schoolmastr ers, country kaids and peaceful merchants, seem to be one a ther termination to resist European penetration, even while admitting their. mall chance of coping with the "devil guns" of the infidel, unless all Islam rises. Patriotic women have been letting) their children that the} hour is coming when nU ol the True Faith must Join in Holy War, and the consternation among the children would be amusing it it were not So) .. largely leavened with fear. My object in writing is to set on record a recent conversation with one of the most powerful of the southern Waste, a memjfer of the great ruling. ' bouse. - This sheriff of the Fllali family that, in times past, united the kingdoms of Marrakesh and Fez is no. fanatic in the ordinary sense of the term. Be saw jjuite unmoved'the attempts made by his kinsman, the Sultan Mulai Abd-ei-Aziz, to bring Western culture io the Moors. He .is a man of education and considerable attainment', a born ruler, whoso cruelty is tempered with justice. " For the Moor," he said, '■' the Go-man Emperor's action is useful just so far as it hampers the French representatives in Fez. Germany is bo mere to us than France, and we are not deceived into the belief or '' hope that the German Ruler has no object in view, than to hold this ifingoom together. We know now that if one Power interferes'with another. far Morocco, it is 1 not .for t&« sake oft the Moors. One and all seem to think that this land is something to, he bought or soht." -I suggested that the French programme of reforms was calculated! to give tranquillity to the country. I apoko ol the Jack of developments, Iho absence of roads and bridges, fc and security for life and property- | ft In fact notning was left unsaid tb a t K might have served Ahab had Naboth . Ijeen Sultan of Morocco. "It is too late to tell me these , ' things in praise of France," replied the Wazir caJmly. "Her words are !t£ while aa ray 'jellabai her heart w • Mack as the pit. . We .do not trust ! France. Why did she come with fire i and a sword to Tuat and Tidikelt,. I to JgH and Figuigj? My lord the ¥ Sultan asked this Question of the I French' Bashador, and he could not I reply. If France wished to aid the L Moors to advance into your Western ™ »ways, why did she withhold her support from your own Bashador when, he tried to make us gather our taxes toy rule, after your manner ?, Whila \ your country and France were foes •in Morocco, the French took what| their guns gave them, and hindered the work you" strove to do. Koto you are friends, think you we will give them aught that they cannot take by force? Man and child will

, fight with stick and stones first." • I pointed out the possibility of resistance ,of European arms. >"! ■ "In ihis country," said the Wazir,. K- !" there are neither roads nor bridges,, bs you have remarked already. There is no rich store of food to feed an army. But there are men w.ho have lived uneontyiered since the Idrcesi; Dynasty was wounded. The Filali Sherifs have ruled Morocco for, more) jtban two Hundred years, and there ere malty mountain tribes still un- • aubtiued. Wo are a fighting nation even when 'divided; the Jehad will (mite us." j, ■" I speak to you "—its eye was alight but bis voice remained perfectly tnmjjuil—" X, who speak to you ' " have but to call, and oil the south ' v. .will rise. And if Our Master be de- '■*, ceived by the Infidel, I wilt cry JUoud to the people. I will lead

_. . ihem against the French. And the '. **orthern tribes that have left the i l . - scourge ot Spain will rise too; ajc„ ' all Islam, even over the burden

&. where they greet the French .with r< -humble words, and wait witE hot f\~ thoughts for the day of freedom. &.i*rno French flog has sharp teeth, and' Ivys&lnen call hint 'My lord the hound." *l|Bab for all that be remains Bilog." r /'jg-Sfe Gazette ; 4