The Savannah morning news., 1904-08-14

to notoriety and aff1uence does not
stop at these demands. He goes on to
inf1ict his vengeance on the men who,
ten years ago, were responsible for
laying him by the heels for his COM
plicity in a series of particularly re-
voting crimes. So these sheiks. at an
age when they We're expecting to reap
the fruits of their age and service to
the government, are torn from their
homes and cast into a filthy prison.
BriEnnd and Overload.
Then Raisouli asked for the governor
ship of two small villages These were
granted. The cupidity of the men ex-
cited by his easy victory, he demands
a province. This, too, is granted him
Then another province is asked for
and another, until he is overload of A
great slice of territory. Then money is
requisitioned and promptly granted
and Raisouli finds himself at the end
of two months negotiations in much
better position financially and politi-
cally than most men who have devoted
lifetimes to honest work.
touch upon Raisouli's present posi-
ton because it may be a very great
factor in the situation he has himself
unwittingly created.
Black as this mans character is,
think there can be no doubt that the
last thing in the world he desires is
European occupation of this country.
He is Moor enough, Mohammedan
enough, fanatic enough to regard
Christian encroa chment upon this land
of God as something to be resisted with
every drop of blood in his body 1 give
him no more credit for this than 1
would the meanest peasant that ever
peddled charcoal on the Sok for being
possessed of a similar sentiment And
yet Raisouli's act has brought about
the very catastrophe that he, no less
than Mussulman Morocco, most breads
Frances Mission.
From the moment Mr. Perdicars
was forcibly taken from his house the
occupation of Morocco became inevita-
BILE. l do not entirely share the doubts
that have been thrown upon Lord
Lansdowne's wisdom in handing over
the absolute control of this country to
France, but surely no treaty was ever
so quickly put to the test as that made
by England and France. The wisdom
or unwisdom of that section of the con-
vention dealing with Morocco will he
decided almost at once. Great Britain
having relinquished the last shred of
claim. she may have had in favor Of
France, and incidentally her respon-
sibilfties, will France carry out the
duties involved by the convention and
restore law and order to this coun-
try?
For the punishment of Raisoul will
not prevent a recurrence of the incl
dent that agitated Tangier for month
There are hundreds of little men anx-
ious to emulate Raisouli.
Human nature is much about the
same the world over: gentlemen who
successfully loop the loop are soon
supplanted by other gentlemen who
as successfully "ay the fume," and we
may look forward to a brisk revival in
the brigandage business.
Unless
There is no law in Morocco worth
talking about. Acts of violence are
only avoided by mutual consent Of all
parties. so to speak. The Sultan is
powerless TO deal with people of the
Raisouli breed. Morocco is made up
of a number of disunited states with
distrust of the Sultan in common.
1t is to France that Europe must
| now look for a restoration of law at
the inevitable cost of war. Great
Britain with the Transvaal squander
and the Somaliland folly behind her
and a general election somewhere
round the corner, will do nothing, that
is certain.
After France there remains only
| America, and what America viii do IN
any given set of circumstances none
but the most foolhardy would prophesy
It may be taken for granted that she
will do exactly the thing that nobody
anticipates.