Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-08-25
HAS. AN IMPERIAL AIR
STRIKING CHARACTERISTICS OF
THE SULTAN OF MOROCCO.


special Cahlegrsm TO The Star.
TANGIER, August GA lady who has
seen much of the Sultan OF Morocco. Abr
ell Aziz. the beloved" says that person.
ally his appearance is very striking, vet he
Is not tall man. but rather short, short
necked and approaching dangerously near
to emtonpoint Bnt he has such dignity
and distinction. such air Of imperial yet
genial pride. such instructive command.
that he would be recognized in a crowd as
one born In the purple and accustomed to
homage of an unusual description
Moreover. In spite of his monastic retire
ment and secluson and the fewness of those
he meets from outside. he never descends
to familiarity with his intmates. never al
lows them to forget that he Is my lord
the sultan and they his servants or sub
)ects: ADJ ell AziZ never doffs the grand
manner. But for II all the duality of him
is most striking. Thus there is one of him
that Is great scholar. learned in all the
abstruse questions that distinguish Arabic
literature and Persian thought. For In
stance. the German ambassador to his
court quoted wrongly in a conversation a
line from one of the rare old Arabic books
he had brought the sultan from his master.
William III of Germany. ABB ell AZlz I'M
consciously. almost. repeated the line as 1t
Is written. In that beautiful classical Arabic
that hardly any one in Morocco speaks.
The beloved covers his head In the Moor
ish fashion. but the concealng folds that
encircle his head do not hide away the beau
tiful modelling of his brows, nor the deli
cate outline of the eyebrows and nose The
eyes are large. long and luminous. filed
with that melancholy anticipation
In Van Dycks portrait of King Charles
the foreknowledge OF suffering. and who
knows what else? The upper portion of his
face is wholly poetical, scholarly and ars-
tocratic. The falling-off comes with the
mouth, loose-lipped and thick, with a weak,
vacillating, chin and feeble jowl, with
forward droop.
Weak and Unstable.
man weak and unstable. who depends
for his impressions another stronger
than himself, too weak to resist too indo-
lent to resent. Shut off as he Is by his ad-
visers from all contact save what they
carefully choose in the world. how can he
be otherwise than n succ ession of refiec-
lions. At once foolish and determined.
strong and feeble, good and bad, and withal
a very brave man, who has had the courage
to fight against the instincts of his race
and family and attempt to rule in an en-
lightened modern fashion over those sub
jects of his who belong to the age Of
Genesis.
YES" says abb ell Azz now. when the
NaZrini talk of reform, but the time Is
not yet: Haste is of the devil Yet he is
the man who was persuaded into a new
system of taxation that left the Moors in
a condition of absolute want, and who by
an assassin from the shrine of Mulai Idrees.
the hitherto inviolable sanctuary of Moroc-
and the hottest mosque, and put him
forthwith to death. The man deserved
DEATH but not according to his lights and
those of abb ell Aziz: and 1t is that fact.
and not all the other things in him offensive
to his people, that has turned them against
the sultan.
The dancing girls. the motor cars, the BIZ
cycles and photography, the audience to a
woman Of evil character. the receiving OF
all and sundry who might choose to travel
to his court-all these things and many
others that gave offense have been set right.
True. the electric light installation and the
telephone wires still dlsfgure his palace
courtyards, but the Moors have grown ac-
customed to these, perhaps they might con-
done them in time-if they could forget the
man who was dragged out of the sanctuary
and put to death for killing a Christian.
And they might, had England kept faith
with Morocco. The sultan never receives
Christian women now, not even the Ba-
shadaw ladies. He sends them gifts when
they come with the missions, but he does
not see them. He is wise when 1t is too
late.
Despite all, Abb ell Azz is the most
charming, the most polished and delightful
Of romantic personalities.