478 



MOROCCO. 



the treaty unreservedly, with the exception of four 

 of the articles, as to which further discussion was 

 necessary. This statement was verified by the 

 Sultan the next day in an audience which Sir C. 

 Euan-Smith had with him, when he expressed 

 his desire to arrive at a satisfactory conclusion. 

 On June 16 an attempt was made to intimidate 

 the mission. At a late hour in the night the 

 Governor of Fez warned Sir C. Euan-Smith that 

 an attack would be made on the members of the 

 mission by the populace, who were highly excited 

 by the demands of commercial reforms, and 

 that their lives were threatened, asking the 

 British minister for his approval for having a 

 special guard placed at his door. Sir C. Euan- 

 Smith, who was aware that no such attempt was 

 contemplated, requested him to have the extra 

 guard withdrawn, and this was done and no 

 disturbance took place. On June 28, while the 

 objectionable articles were still under consid- 

 eration, the Moorish Minister of Foreign Af- 

 fairs requested an audience with Sir C. Euan- 

 Smith, and, after everybody except one inter- 

 preter had been excluded, offered him a bribe of 

 $100,000 if he would sign the treaty without the 

 clauses distasteful to the Sultan. He said that 

 such steps had been resorted to frequently in 

 cases of various missions of foreign ministers to 

 the Moorish court where difficulties had arisen 

 between them and the Sultan, and he hoped that 

 by this means all difficulties regarding the treaty 

 under consideration might be removed. More- 

 over, he said that the Sultan desired to make 

 this offer to him personally the next day. When, 

 on the following day, Sir C. Euan-Smith had an 

 audience with the Sultan, the latter repeated 

 the offer made by his minister, and admitted 

 that it was done by his order, adding that if 

 ministers who came to his court went away satis- 

 fied it was because they removed difficulties 

 from his way, explaining that he made presents 

 to them, and that they were satisfied and he was 

 also content. Sir C. Euan-Smith declined to 

 discuss these proposals, requesting the Sultan to 

 continue the discussion of the treaty, and urging 

 him not to persist in the rejection of the clauses 

 in question, which had been modified to the 

 utmost possible extent in compliance with his 

 Majesty's wishes. Discussions went on until 

 July 5, when a disturbance took place. It was 

 the first day of the Bai'ram festival, and large 

 crowds of fanatical tribesmen thronged the city. 

 When the chief interpreter of the British mis- 

 sion, with several Americans and Europeans, 

 accompanied by servants of the Legation, was 

 passing through the crowd, they were met by a 

 mob of about 500, which had gathered near the 

 quarters of the mission, and were hooted and 

 abused, and some stones were thrown at them. 

 It appeared that the Governor of Fez was at the 

 bottom of the disturbance, and that the Deputy- 

 Governor was the leader of the mob. Sir C. 

 Euan-Smith immediately sought an interview 

 with the Sultan, informing him that, if neces- 

 sary, and if this line of conduct was persisted 

 in, he would hoist the British flag personally, 

 and that he would look to him, under his treaty 

 engagements, to take all necessary measures for 

 due protection and honor being paid to the flag 

 on that occasion. The Sultan requested him 

 not to have the flag hoisted, and promised that 



full reparation should be made to the insulted 

 foreigners ; accordingly, the Governor was or- 

 dered to make official apologies personally to 

 all the persons insulted, and to pay a fine of 

 $10,000, which Sir C. Euan-Smith distributed 

 among the blind and the poor. The Deputy- 

 Governor was sentenced to be imprisoned in 

 chains for one year. On the evening of the 

 same day a deputation of the six principal per- 

 sonages of the Sultan's court waited on Sir C. 

 Euan-Smith, requesting him to come to the 

 Sultan immediately. On his arrival at the pal- 

 ace the Sultan informed him that he thought 

 the negotiations regarding the treaty had gone 

 on long enough, that useful discussion had been 

 exhausted, and that he would give orders for 

 the treaty to be signed and concluded on the 

 following day. After asking for one or two 

 more slight concessions, to which Sir C. Euan- 

 Smith objected, the Sultan declared that the 

 treaty should be concluded as he (Sir C. Euan- 

 Smith) wished. The Foreign Minister was sent 

 for, and orders for its execution were given 

 him in explicit terms, the Sultan remarking 

 that he did this because he was anxious to have 

 it known to all men how great was the friend- 

 ship between the two governments. 



The scribes arrived on the following morning, 

 to make duplicate copies of the treaty, at the 

 same time asking for an extension of time of 

 twenty-four hours for the completion of clerical 

 work. During the two days following the com- 

 missioners kept coming to the British envoy 

 and informing him that the Sultan could not 

 keep his promise, and asking for further altera- 

 tions and concessions. Sir C. Euan-Smith re- 

 plied that the Sultan's solemn and unsolicited 

 promise barred all further discussion, and begged 

 for the speedy execution of the document. On 

 July 9 he received an Arabic, document from his 

 interpreter, which had been handed to the latter 

 by the Foreign Minister with the remark that 

 this was the only treaty which the Sultan was 

 likely to accept ; it was unaccompanied by any 

 letter, nor was it sent to Sir C. Euan-Smith direct. 

 Upon examination, it proved to be a travestied 

 copy of the treaty agreed upon on July 5, with 

 every single concession obtained from the Sultan 

 during the subsequent negotiations erased and 

 canceled, and the treaty altered absolutely in 

 the interests of the Sultan. Sir C. Euan-Smith 

 tore the copy up and returned it to the Foreign 

 Minister, who excused himself for what had oc- 

 curred, but explained that he had acted under 

 the Sultan's orders. After this last incident Sir 

 C. Euan-Smith arrived at the conclusion that the 

 Sultan was acting on principles or under influ- 

 ences which rendered any attempt at further 

 negotiation hopeless, and that he could not, with 

 due regard to the legitimate demands of British 

 prestige and influence, continue the discussion. 

 He _therefore addressed a letter to the Sultan, 

 setting forth the reasons that compelled him 

 to take his departure from Fez without delay, 

 and asked for a farewell audience. The Sal tun 

 at this last interview expressed his regret at the 

 prospect of the departure of the mission, and also 

 attempted to apologize for the incident of the 

 treaty referred to above. He acknowledged that 

 he had made many promises regarding the treaty 

 which he had not fulfilled, but'that other people 



