The Jewish advance., 1880-08-13
NO. ia.

tives in Morocco. The people, though
vain and fanatical, are enterprising and
intelligent, and so courageous were the
| Sultan's half lf-disciplined Almagazer
that the Spanish campaign of 1890
cost the invaders three millions of money
and the lives of fifteen thousand men,
and deferred Napoleon III. from tempt
ing fortune in a country where gain
and glory were likely to prove so prob
lematical. Isolated from the rest of the
world, and ruled by Sovereigns of the
line of the Fileli Sherifs, Morocco is
habitually desolated by civil war and
anarchy. There are laws, but they are
disregarded by the rapacious officials,
who squeeze out of the people the last
farthing they are believed capable of
yielding. The pay of high functionary
may be only fourpence per diem but he
amasses fortune in the few months he
is permitted to hold office. The Statute
Book is the Koran, or Sidi Beccari's
Commentaries on it, and the stick as a
judicial instrument is considered the
gift of Heaven" 1t is evident that
people endowed with such sound though
primitive ideas regarding the fitness of
things are, in spite of their being cursed
with some of the most repulsive Of
Moslem vices. capable of a future. Less
isolation, railway and few European
communities in the interior would
speedily work wonders in the cities of
Fez, Morocco, and Mequinez, which are
at present in much the same condition
as were Stamboul, Bagdad, and Salon
lea century ago.
The Europeans in Morocco do not
number over five hundred individuals,
and are entirel y confined to Tangier,
Mogador, and one or two of the other
ports. OF oppression they have no rea-
son to complain on the contrary, the
extravagant privileges which they claim,
and the immunities which even their
native servants enjoy have been long the
subject of grave remonstrance on the
part of the Moorish authorities. But
the Jews are less favorably situated.
The Hebrews are scattered through
every part of the kingdom to the number
of-according to various estimates
from one hundred thousand to three
hundred thousand and of these, very
few are protected The others are liable
to tbs most cruel treatment on the part
of the Mahometans, and as they are
the wealthiest people in the
country, robbing them has been the in
variable method whereby provincial
Governors have recruited their hungry
taeasuries The Moroccan Jews are
descended from those who
were expelled from Spain in 1892, and
from Portugal in 1896, and though the
influence of Sir Moses Montefore with
the late Sultan procured them the prom
ise Of better treatment, they are all
habitually despised, plundered, and i'll
used. For instance, in the city of Mo-
rocco they are not allowed to wear tur-
bans, and when in the presence of a
Governor or when passing a mosque,
they are compelled to remove the blue
handkerchief which at other times forms
their head covering. Even the richest
Hebrews are obliged to wear black in
stead Of the buff shoes dear to the
Moors, and must walk bare footed when
out of their own quarter Of the town. A
jew is not even permitted to ride
through the city, and on meeting Moor
must always pass to the left. The use
of arms is denied them, and in every
part OF the country except Tangier they
must practice the rites of their religion,
not in synagogue, but in a private
house. In public they are grossly insult
ed, without having any remedy at Law.
To pelt jew with rotten oranges is
considered by the Moorish youth one Of
the most joyous of outdoor amuse-
ments. In court of law the oath of
Hebrew ayails nought when opposed to
the testimony of a Moslem, and redress
for their wrongs, either civil or criminal,
is under the present condition of affairs
all but impossible. Only this spring a
Jew was murdered by a Moor, and
though the widow produced the clearest
proof Of the Wantonness Of the crime,
the murderer escaped simply because
she could not prevail on any Mahome
tan to bear witness against him. Still
more recently the Governor Of Emtita
caused a Jew to be foggcd to death, and
his property confscated, for no other
crime than the fact ofhis employing as
domestic servant a Moorish woman,
whom out of charity he had taken into
his family In spite Of all this, the Jews
in Morocco, as elsewhere, are masters Of
finance. They hold some of the highest
places of trust they form the taxes;
and monopolize several branches of
trade. Indeed, so indispensable are they
to the province of Sus that they are not
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