Free press., 1907-09-28

force of fanatical horsemen estimated
at $4,000 at his back, while in the
western provinces still slumber the
never radically suppressed rebellions
of the Rogui and Bou Hamara, the
benevolent Father of the Asses who,
with his claim to divine descent and
revelation and his wondrous gift of
eloquence, exercises a remarkable in
fluence upon the mule drivers and all
the other nomadic folk of the empire.
Nations Have Hard Task.
Such in outline is the situation by
which France and Spain find them
selves confronted because of the recog-
milton of their special interests in the
disturbed country, and the police man
date which they received at the con-
ference of the powers at Algeciras. In
the light of recent events it would
seem not at all unlikely that their
diplomatic victory at the conference
Will entail upon France and Spain the
loss of many thousands of men and
many millions of francs, which neither
can afford to throw away. The talk
of an expedition to FeZ, a flying col
umn of 10000 men, in which the boule
ward sheets indulge, is the sheerest
nonsense, or the widest madness. It
would require 10000 men, all picked
troops, to capture Fez, and it would re-
quire many thousands more, and re-
quire them indefinitely, to hold the
holy city and maintain something ap-
preaching law and order in the sur
rounding country.
Portugal was for several hundred
years in possession of nearly all. the
Moorish ports on the Atlantic coast,
including Casablanca; indeed, the Sec
ond title of the ruler of Portugal to-
day is king of the Algarves," which
refers to the royal pretensions to
Moorish sovereignty, all substantial
basis to which has long since disap-
peared, together with the East Indian
dependencies
Fate of Portuguese Army.
1t was in 1873 that Dom Sebastian,
the chivalrous hero of Portuguese song
| and story, equipped an army for the
purpose of overrunning the whole
country. A duke of Leinster and many
Dom Sebastian's standards and began
| the journey to the capital, which sc
many conquerors have undertaken but
in which no single one has succeeded
| at least not since the day when the
green banners of the Prophet of Islam
were first flung to the breezes from
| the battlements of FeZ.
Dom Sebastian and his army of 20,
900 men, together with the uncounte6
adventurers who had come together
| from all over Christendom to follow
so gallant and so generous a prince
met their fate in the valley by Alkesar
which is watered by a shallow river
generally identified by historians anC
geographers as the Lixus of Pliny
There 10000 men were cut to piece:
by the Moorish cavalry, and those whc
died here by the sword were the for
tunate members Of the army. Accord
ing to some accounts, Dom Sebastian
and the more notable of his followers
wounded or captives, were taken tC
Mekinez, where, after they had grace6
| the triumph of the terrible sultan, Alb
del-Melet, their conqueror, the greater
number of them were buried alive in
the city walls. In these same walls
are visible to-day many hundred brick
ed up cells in which on this occasion
and at other times of fanatical fury
Christians were immured while living
as punishment for refusing to recite
the fatiha and so become renegades
to their creed.
The Battlefield of Long Ago.
1t is a dreary scene, this long for
gotten battlefield, but one that the fu
ture invaders of Morocco may remem
Der with advantage. I came upon II
on one of my journeys in Morocco
and made it an indelible impression
1t had been a very hot day, and we
were at first delighted to be wet to the
skin as our horses waded, or rather
swan, the Lixus. Then the colo