The true northerner., 1885-10-08

A People with Golden Future TO Look
Forward To.

n f0Opit WIN u 1otttn to LOOK
Forward To.
If any race in North Africa has O
golden age in store for it that race in
the Berber or Shelluh. In numbers
and physical strength it already stansd
first in Morocco. With the Arab ele-
ment it does not mix at all. People of
this blood and language spread under
different tribal names from Cape Spar
tel to Nubia and the Egyptian Soudan.
They are, in rude but energetic fash
ion, traders, farmers, and shepherds,
and have against desperate odds gained
reputation for intelligence and in
dustry. 1t is sign, characteristic of
French rule, that in Africa alone have
the representatives of this most promis-
ing race, the Kabyles, declined in num-
bers. We say promising adyisedly,
because those who wish we'll to Moroc-
co must live in hope. The rule of
Sultan Muiai Hassan, except in coast
towns subject to European influence,
like Tetuad, Tangier, and Mogador, is
a weak but uncontrolled despotism.
Persons convicted of small otfenses, or
entirely innocent, crowd the prisons
and remain there for life. Slavery is
forbidden, but in no wise suppressed.
Fiscal monopolies and taxes are de-
creed at will, and payment of the latter
is evaded by any one who can take to
the hills. The inhabitants of the Riff
and Atlas live in chronic rebellion
against the kaids of their prov
inces who act as the Sultan's
taxgatherers. From the southern
territories of Sus and Taflet the
imperial exchequer gets little more
than the spoil amassed by Government
raids, often headed by the Sultan him
self. The retaliatory brigandage which
is provoked by such measures is per-
petuated by the absence of an efficient
army of police. Indeed, military serv-
ice and personal serfdom are often
situation are the thinness of the popu-
lation and the want of communication.
Morocco is larger than France, but its
inhabitants, once very numerous, have
dwindled to about six millions. 1t Is
said to possess no wheeled carriage be-
sides the Sultan's coach at Fez. 1t is
covered with metalliferous mountains
and traversed by large rivers, mostly
running westward from sources at At
las; but 1t has neither roads nor
bridges. Irrigation, which now supple
ments to some small extent the def
cient rainfall and the irregular flow OF
the rivers, needs an enormous develop
ment; but the natives have neither the
money nor the confidence required. In
circumstances like these the weakness
of the Government and the poverty OF
the people act and react upon each
other to the common ruin. The condi-
tion of the rural population is indeed
one of primitive destitution and would
be intolerable but for the magnificent
climate in which they live. The men
tend focks, or scratch the earth with
plows of patriarchal make, and women
act as beasts of burden. The ordinary
village is composed of the rudest cab
ins of mud, sticks and leaves. The
few manual industries of the country
are starved alike by want of encour.
agement and want of accessible mar
kets. Such export trade as is done al
the ports, and notably at Tangiers,
gives no idea of the real resources OF
Morocco. The construction of roads
and harbors and the abolition of vexa-
tious imposts would enable other In
dustries to share in the success which
actually attends the cattle trade with
Gibraltar. But neither poverty nor
tyranny has entirely crushed the well.
conditioned natures of the population.
Least of all has it prepared them for
forcible annexation by a European
power. Neither Arab nor Berber has
anything of Egyptian servility about
him. One might expect mendicancy to
be rampant, but this is not the case.
Beggars are thicker and more shame
less at Seville, Naples, or Boulogne
than at Tetuan or Tangier. The char.
acter of the people, like that of the
country, is calculated to excite hope as
well as regret. 1t seems quite impos
sible to believe that these fine races are
to live on like this forever. The trans
forming influence must come from Eu
rope, and the fate of Morocco depends
on the generosity and single-minded
ness of the particular European nation
that may exercise that influence -
National ReUieU.