Life in Morocco and Glimpses Beyond Part 18

_Interpreter._ "The Minister wishes to build a port at Tangier, yes, my Lord, and to hold it till the tolls have paid for it."

_Sultan._ "Which may not be till Doomsday. Nevertheless, I will consent to any one making the port whom all the European representatives shall agree to appoint"--a very safe promise to make, since the Emperor knew that this agreement was not likely to be brought about till the said Domesday.

_Interpreter._ "Your Excellency's request is granted. You have only to obtain the approval of your colleagues."

_Minister._ "His Majesty is exceedingly gracious, and I am correspondingly obliged to him. Inform His Majesty that the same firm is willing to build him bridges over his rivers, and to make roads between the provinces, which would increase friendly communications, and consequently tend to reduce inter-tribal feuds."

_Interpreter._ "The Minister thanks our Lord, and wants also to build bridges and roads in the interior to make the tribes friendly by intercourse."

_Sultan._ "That would never do. The more I keep the tribes apart the better for me. If I did not shake up my rats in the sack pretty often, they would gnaw their way out. Besides, where my people could travel more easily, so could foreign invaders. No, I cannot think of such a thing. G.o.d created the world without bridges."

_Interpreter._ "His Majesty is full of regret that in this matter he is unable to please Your Excellency, but he thinks his country better as it is."

_Minister._ "Although I beg to differ from His Majesty, so be it. Next there is the question of our commerce with Morocco. This is greatly hampered by the present lack of a fixed customs tariff. There are several articles of which the exportation is now prohibited, which it would be really very much in the interest of his people to allow us to purchase."

_Interpreter._ "The Minister requests of our Lord a new customs tariff, and the right to export wheat and barley."

_Sultan._ "The tariff he may discuss with the Wazeer of the Interior; I will give instructions. As for the cereals, the bread of the Faithful cannot be given to infidels."

_Interpreter._ "His Majesty accedes to your Excellency's request.

You have only to make known the details to the Minister for Internal Affairs."

_Minister._ "Again I humbly render thanks to his Majesty. Since he is so particularly good to me, perhaps he would add one kindness more, in abandoning to me the old house and garden on the Marshan at Tangier, in which the Foreign Minister used to live. It is good for nothing, and would be useful to me."

_Interpreter._ "The Minister asks our Lord for a couple of houses in Tangier. Yes, my Lord, the one formerly occupied by the Foreign Minister on the Marshan at Tangier for himself; and the other adjoining the New Mosque in town, just an old tumble-down place for stores, to be bestowed upon me; yes, my Lord."

_Sultan._ "What sort of place is that on the Marshan?"

_Interpreter._ "I will not lie unto my lord. It is a fine big house in a large garden, with wells and fruit trees: yes, my Lord. But the other is a mere nothing: yes, my Lord."

_Sultan._ "I will do as he wishes--if it please G.o.d." (The latter expression showing the reverse of an intention to carry out the former.)

_Interpreter._ "His Majesty gives you the house."

_Minister._ "His Majesty is indeed too kind to me. I therefore regret exceedingly having to bring forward a number of claims which have been pending for a long time, but with the details of which I will not of course trouble His Majesty personally. I merely desire his instructions to the Treasury to discharge them on their being admitted by the competent authorities."

_Interpreter._ "The Minister brings before our Lord a number of claims, on the settlement of which he insists: yes, my Lord. He feels it a disgrace that they should have remained unpaid so long: yes, my Lord. And he asks for orders to be given to discharge them at once."

_Sultan._ "There is neither force nor power save in G.o.d, the High, the Mighty. Glory to Him! There is no telling what these Nazarenes won't demand next. I will pay all just claims, of course, but many of these are usurers' frauds, with which I will have nothing to do."

_Interpreter._ "His Majesty will give the necessary instructions; but the claims will have to be examined, as Your Excellency has already suggested. His Majesty makes the sign of the conclusion of our interview."

_Minister._ "a.s.sure His Majesty how deeply indebted I am to him for these favours he has shown me, but allow me to in some measure acknowledge them by giving information of importance. I am entirely _au courant_, through private channels, with the unworthy tactics of the British Minister, as also those of his two-faced colleagues, the representatives of France and Spain, and can disclose them to His Majesty whenever he desires."

_Interpreter._ "His Excellency does not know how to express his grat.i.tude to our Lord for his undeserved and unprecedented condescension, and feels himself bound the slave of our Lord, willing to do all our Lord requires of his hands; yes, my lord. But he trusts that our Lord will not forget the houses--and the one in town is only a little one,--or the payment of the indemnity to Maimon Botbol, yes, my Lord, or the discharging of the claims. G.o.d bless our Lord, and give him victory! And also, pardon me, my Lord, the Minister says that all the other ministers are rogues, and he knows all about them that our Lord may wish to learn: yes, my Lord."

"G.o.d is omniscient. He can talk of those matters to the Foreign Minister to-morrow. In peace!"

Once more a few of his stock phrases were man[oe]uvred by Kyrios Mavrogordato, as with the most profound of rear-steering bows the representatives of civilization retreated, and the potentate of Barbary turned with an air of relief to give instructions to his secretary.

III. THE RESULT

A few weeks after this interview the _h.e.l.lenike Salpinx_, a leading journal of Athens, contained an article of which the following is a translation:--

"OUR INTERESTS IN MOROCCO

"(_From our Special Correspondent_)

"Marrakesh, October 20.

"The success of our Emba.s.sy to Morocco is already a.s.sured, and that in a remarkable degree. The Sultan has once more shown most unequivocally his strong partiality for the Greek nation, and especially for their distinguished representative, Kyrios Dimitri Mavrogordato, whose personal tact and influence have so largely contributed to this most thankworthy result. It is very many years since such a number of requests have been granted by the Emperor of Morocco to one amba.s.sador, and it is probable that under the most favourable circ.u.mstances no other Power could have hoped for such an exhibition of favour.

"The importance of the concessions is sufficient to mark this emba.s.sy in the history of European relations with Morocco, independently of the amount of ordinary business transacted, and the way in which the Sultan has promised to satisfy our outstanding claims. Among other favours, permission has been granted to a Greek firm to construct a port at Tangier, the chief seat of foreign trade in the Empire, which is a matter of national importance, and there is every likelihood of equally valuable concessions for the building of roads and bridges being made to the same company.

"Our merchants will be rejoiced to learn that at last the vexatious customs regulations, or rather the absence of them, will be replaced by a regular tariff, which our minister has practically only to draw up for it to be sanctioned by the Moorish Government. The question of slavery, too, is under the consideration of the Sultan with a view to its restriction, if not to its abolition, a distinct and unexpected triumph for the friends of universal freedom. There can be no question that, under its present enlightened ruler, Morocco is at last on the high-road to civilization.

"Only those who have had experience in dealing with procrastinating politicians of the eastern school can appreciate in any degree the consummate skill and patience which is requisite to overcome the sinuosities of oriental minds, and it is only such a signal victory as has just been won for Greece and for progress in Morocco, as can enable us to realize the value to the State of such diplomatists as His Excellency, Kyrios Mavrogordato."

This article had not appeared in print before affairs on the spot wore a very different complexion. At the interview with the Minister for the Interior a most elaborate customs tariff had been presented and discussed, some trifling alterations being made, and the whole being left to be submitted to the Sultan for his final approval, with the a.s.surance that this was only a matter of form. The Minister of Finance had promised most blandly the payment of the damages demanded for the murder of the Greek and for the thras.h.i.+ng of the Jew. It was true that as yet no written doc.u.ment had been handed to the Greek Amba.s.sador, but then he had the word of the Ministers themselves, and promises from the Sultan's lips as well. The only _fait accompli_ was the despatch of a courier to Tangier with orders to deliver up the keys of two specified properties to the Amba.s.sador and his interpreter respectively, a matter which, strange to say, found no place in the messages to the Press, and in which the spontaneous present to the interpreter struck His Excellency as a most generous act on the part of the Sultan.

Quite a number of state banquets had been given, in which the members of the Emba.s.sy had obtained an insight into stylish native cooking, writing home that half the dishes were prepared with pomatum and the other half with rancid oil and b.u.t.ter. The _litterateur_ of the party had nearly completed his work on Morocco, and was seriously thinking of a second volume. The young _attaches_ could swear right roundly in Arabic, and were becoming perfect connoisseurs of native beauty. In the palatial residence of Drees, as well as in a private residence which that worthy had placed at their disposal, they had enjoyed a selection of native female society, and had such good times under the wing of that "rare old c.o.c.k," as they dubbed him, that one or two began to feel as though they had lighted among the lotus eaters, and had little desire to return.

But to Kyrios Mavrogordato and Glymenopoulos his secretary, the delay at Court began to grow irksome, and they heartily wished themselves back in Tangier. Notwithstanding the useful "tips" which he had given to the Foreign Minister regarding the base designs of his various colleagues accredited to that Court, his own affairs seemed to hang fire. He had shown how France was determined to make war upon Morocco sooner or later, with a view to adding its fair plains to those it was acquiring in Algeria, and had warned him that if the Sultan lent a.s.sistance to the Ameer Abd el Kader he would certainly bring this trouble upon himself. He had also shown how England pretended friends.h.i.+p because at any cost she must maintain at least the neutrality of that part of his country bordering on the Straits of Gibraltar, and that with all her professions of esteem, she really cared not a straw for the Moors. He had shown too that puny Spain held it as an article of faith that Morocco should one day become hers in return for the rule of the Moors upon her own soil. He had, in fact, shown that Greece alone cared for the real interests of the Sultan.

IV. DIAMOND CUT DIAMOND

Yet things did not move. The treaty of commerce remained unsigned, and slaves were still bought and sold. The numerous claims which he had to enforce had only been pa.s.sed in part, and the Moorish authorities seemed inclined to dispute the others stoutly. At last, at a private conference with the Wazeer el Kiddab, the Amba.s.sador broached a proposal to cut the Gordian knot. He would abandon all disputed claims for a lump sum paid privately to himself, and asked what the Moorish Government might feel inclined to offer.

The Wazeer el Kiddab received this proposal with great complacency. He was accustomed to such overtures. Every day of his life that style of bargain was part of his business. But this was the first time that a European amba.s.sador had made such a suggestion in its nakedness, and he was somewhat taken aback, though his studied indifference of manner did not allow the foreigner to suspect such a thing for a moment. The usual style had been for him to offer present after present to the amba.s.sadors till he had reached their price, and then, when his master had overloaded them with personal favours--many of which existed but in promise--they had been unable to press too hard the claims they had come to enforce, for fear of possible disclosures. So this was a novel proceeding, though quite comprehensible on the part of a man who had been bribed on a less extensive scale on each previous visit to Court.

Once, however, such a proposition had been made, it was evident that his Government could not be much in earnest regarding demands which he could so easily afford to set aside.

As soon, therefore, as Kyrios Mavrogordato had left, the Wazeer ordered his mule, that he might wait upon His Majesty before the hours of business were over. His errand being stated as urgent and private, he was admitted without delay to his sovereign's presence.

"May G.o.d prolong the days of our Lord! I come to say that the way to rid ourselves of the importunity of this amba.s.sador from Greece is plain. He has made it so himself by offering to abandon all disputed claims for a round sum down for his own use. What is the pleasure of my Lord?"

"G.o.d is great!" exclaimed the Sultan, "that is well. You may inform the Minister from me that a positive refusal is given to every demand not already allowed in writing. What _he_ can afford to abandon, _I_ can't afford to pay."

"The will of our Lord shall be done."

"But stay! I have had my eye upon that Greek amba.s.sador this long while, and am getting tired of him. The abuses he commits are atrocious, and his man Drees is a devil. Haj Tab el Gha.s.sal writes that the number of his _proteges_ is legion, and that by far the greater number of them are illegal. Inform him when you see him that henceforth the provisions of our treaties shall be strictly adhered to, and moreover that no protection certificates shall be valid unless countersigned by our Foreign Commissioner El Gha.s.sal. If I rule here, I will put an end to this man's doings."

"On my head and eyes be the words of my Lord."

"And remind him further that the permits for the free pa.s.sage of goods at the customs are granted only for his personal use, for the necessities of his household, and that the way Haj Tab writes he has been selling them is a disgrace. The man is a regular swindler, and the less we have to do with him the better. As for his pretended information about his colleagues, there may be a good deal of truth in it, but I have the word of the English minister, who is about as honest as any of them, that this Mavrogordato is a born villain, and that if his Government is not greedy for my country on its own account, it wants to sell me to some more powerful neighbour in exchange for its protection. Greece is only a miserable f.a.g-end of Europe."

"Our Lord knows: may G.o.d give him victory," and the Wazeer bowed himself out to consider how best he might obey his instructions, not exactly liking the task. On returning home he despatched a messenger to the quarters of the Emba.s.sy, appointing an hour on the morrow for a conference, and when this came the Amba.s.sador found himself in for a stormy interview. The Wazeer, with his snuff-box in constant use, sat cool and collected on his mattress on the floor, the Amba.s.sador sitting uneasily on a chair before him. Though the language used was considerably modified in filtering through the brain of the interpreter, the increasing violence of tone and gesture could not be concealed, and were all but sufficiently comprehensible in themselves.