The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-01-07

known as Tuat, and it seemed as If further
invasion of Moroccan territory was imminent
The Moorish government found 1t necessary
to send strong warnings to the tribes Of the
neighboring district of Talelt to prevent the ex-
ecution of plans for attack upon the French,
as holy war; had been proclaimed in the public
markets. Had such thing taken place, there
would probably have been pretext for further
Impressions on the territory of the sultan for the
ostensible purpose of restoring order, and pos
sibly sufficient pretext for war would have been
found At the same time that efforts were made
to check the movements of the trtbesmen OF
Tatlelt. protest to France and an appeal to the
principal European powers were made. The
case, however, was complicated and none OF the
powers seemed inclined to interfere with the
French in their free hand on the frontier.
Shortly after this time, the public mind was
vizier. Al Hal Hakhtar, who had succeeded Abu
Hamid. What this meant not understood.
such occurrences said to be rare In re-
cent years But it did not remain entirely a
M ystery. for in an exceedingly short time the
vizier who appointed to succeed him
sent special mission to England, ostensibly
probably; III fact; as later developments seem
to show, to make a stronger appeal than ever
before to Britain for protection against the en-
croach ments Of the French - =,
1t is said that the embassy sent at this time
was dealt with in very straightforward man
ner by King Edward. with the result that the
vizier carried back to his master the intelli-
gence that Britain was ready to help him hold
his empire together providing the old shell of
clusiveneSS should be broken and reforms in gov
eminent made which would insure an open door
to all European nations. In short, the young
sultan seemed to be in state Of mind to be
convinced that Morocco must either go forward
with the nations or be speedily "eaten up by
them. And 1t soon became evident that he
preferred the former. for he surrounded himself
with corps Of foreign assistants such
previous sultan had ever had-drillmasters, ma
etc.-and it looked as If the day of reform in
Morocco had dawned. Foremost among the i'm
provements in the administra ton the 1nsti-
tuition Of systematic property taxation designed
to relieve the people from the burden Of being
squeezed'' made to pay taxes at the will of
the magistrate. Without doubt though no Of
| fetal announcement has heraIded the fact, the
sultan has had in mind definite plans for the i'm
provement Of traffic facilities and small model
railroad is i'm process Of construction in Fee. The
free transportation Of grain by sea has been al
| lowed, relieving greatly the high prices In the
| northern part Of the empire.
! But while these innovations were welcomed
| by a large class, their meaning was not under
! stood by the masses, and Jealousy the part
| of certain class put them in further disfavor.
Instead Of understanding that the sultan had
! taken the only course left for the preservation
| dain the idea that foreigners We're to be feared
or to be listened to, and all sorts Of rumors were
circulated. It was not pleasant medicine for the
| proud Mohammedans to swallow when, on the
! sultan's arrival at Fee last spring, score or
| more of the best houses and gardens had to be
vacated for the foreigners in the employ of the
|
real situation the reasons for this strong
| feeling, bit the crisis came unexpectedly. The
| sultan had planned to have wagon road con-
| structed from Fee to MeQuinez and sent en-
gineers out to locate it. In so doing. signal
| poles We're used after the fashion Of surveyors,
| and these were taken to be the hags OF the ma
tions and were at once torn down by indignant
Berbers, who supposed that the foreigners had
! really taken the country.
1t was shortly found that the, feeling among
| the Berbers was Of no transient character, and
soon their dissatisfaction found vent In up
rising of the tribes of Zimmoor and Cirwan, west
of Mequnez The public markets within theil
| reach were looted, roads became impossible
and it was strongly rumored that they had ex
pected, except for the timely reinforcements fol
| the small body of troops at Mequinez, to make
effort to enter that city by force, release the
sultan's brother, Moolai Mohanmed, who is
| prisoner there, and to proclaim him sultan.
Plans which had evidently been made for the
sultan to remain in Fee for the winter were in
terfered WITH and he is gathering an army
having announced his expectation of leaving fol
Rabat. Fortunately for the sultan. the viziers
or executive cabinet, seem to be in full sympath,
with the reform movement. The sultan is sait
to be nothing daunted and may yet prove the in
strument for reforming dark Morocco.