Los Angeles herald., 1907-09-08

| The tribes, If not in open rebellion, are
taking to pillage and brigandage In
the most daring manner. and there is
general refusal to pay taxes. For
eigners are hated more than ever be-
fore, and 1t has been for some time as
much as life And liberty are worth Tor
| Christian man or woman to venture
outside the walls of even coast towns.
| In the interior, matters are much
worse. All Christians. including even
the consuls, have been ordered to leave
Fez, and even so intimate friend or
the country and the natives as Bibby
| Carlton, British consular agent at Ell
K'sar- has left for Tangier.
Rails Uli and his friends may stalk
boastfully up and down the Street of
the Christians in Tangier and openly
buy rifles and ammunition in the "Soko"
or market-place. The situation is in
deed most ludicrous when the British
minister has to beseech (and beseech in
vainD his French colleague in the dead
of the night to instruct the captain or
the first-class cruiser Kleber to turn
his searchlights from the bay on Mr.
Harris house, where Iooting and as
sault were in full swing. The Moors
seem to know no gratitude.
Nor is there any real army or--police in
this chaotic empire. When Moulai ADD
el-Aziz left Marraksh and Fez and Ujda
to fight the pretender, Blu Hammara. he
instructed his fighting Kaids to bring
levies of troops with them, mainly horse
men armed with six and seven-foot jez-
rails, which are often more destructive
to the person firing them, off than to the
enemy.
These tribal levies, gathered together
1p 81, .5o1
England were, make for an agreed meet
Ing place. and as they receive no pay at
all they have to tive on the country"
in the dreadful sense of arson and plum
der. Moreover in the case of this particu-
lar war, thousands of the imperial troops
were seduced from whatever allegiance
they might have had, owing to Blu Ham
mara enticing them to his camp in the
night and showing them a few common
tricks of Juggling and legerdemain taught
him by French officers.
Robbery In Taxation
Whence comes the desire for re-
venge? One way to reply to this ques-
tion is to outline the system of taxa
tion.
Kaid Aissa, than whom there is no
more respected (and feared) governor
IiA Ill MOTOCCOs dQOptS LILO oodoA NOaASS'
He assemblies his horsemen, with trum-
peters on foot, on the Mosque square,
and causes the letter to be read aloud,
omitting the amount, however. Next
the Kaid calls together the Tribal
Sheikhs, and gravely tells them that
Sidna (our lord) has sent down q de-
mand for $4,000, taxes. These grave
Arab chiefs depart, each man to his
tribe, and assure their people that the
sultan has sent for some preposterous
amount. s
And so the game goes on, each man
lining his own pockets, as well as for
warding the required sum, so that by
the time the demand filters down to
the poor wretch who scratches the fer
tile soil with tree branch, drawn by
an OK and an ass, he Is almost deprived
of his last n'soliyeh.
Is 1t any wonder In this state Of society
that a prosperous man (and there are
such) should permit the exterior of his
house to tumble into ruins lest some spy
should go to the local governor and say:
'Mohammed Hamwar has money hidden
deep down in his subterranean mata-
moras, and also fiocks of sheep and herds
| of camels and asses"
| If such report goes abroad about him
| the unfortunate man Is invited to dinner
| by his governor, who tells him gravely
that "our lord' Qs 1t any wonder the sui
tan is hated?) has sent for more taxes,
and 1t is his painful duty to ask Mo
hammed to part with so many hundred or
thousand dollars.
Dangerous lntrlgues
But even these tyrants are themselves
subject to fell strokes from higher
power; and very dramatic and truly
oriental instance of this was the case of
the threatened disgrace of that powerful
prince, Sidi El-Menebbhi, who went to
London to the coronation of King Ed
ward to represent his imperial master at
the ceremony.
While Menebbhi was away the newt
able intrigues against him began at