It was easy to swindle the Sultan. An American came to Fez to persuade him to send ‘a Moorish village’ to the Exposition at St Louis. Being unaccredited, the man could get no proper introduction from the American Minister at Tangier, but by a clever ruse he saw the Sultan nevertheless. The American brought with him to Fez a bulldog with false teeth. Through some of his European entourage the Sultan heard of the dog and ordered it to be brought to him; but the dog could not go without its master, who obtained from the Sultan some 40,000l., spending, I am told, perhaps 2,000l. on the Moorish village.
While spending money in this fashion—which might in itself have made Morocco bankrupt—Abdul Aziz took no trouble to collect his taxes. To bring to order a tribe careless about paying them, it is often necessary for the Sultan to lead his forces in person. But Abdul Aziz after one or two campaigns left his army to the command of Ministers; and gradually his troops dwindled away, and, his moral force weakening, gradually, tribe by tribe, almost the entire country discontinued to pay taxes. At last only the garrison towns could be depended on for revenue.
News of his European tendencies spread throughout the land. The influence of Kaid Maclean in the army was known and resented. Photographs of the Sultan had been seen by many of the Faithful. Finally, it was reported that he had become a Christian.
In 1902 a pretender, Bu Hamara, proclaimed himself Sultan, and established his claim to divine appointment by feats of legerdemain. According to a story current among Europeans, one of his ‘tricks,’ in gruesome keeping with the country’s cruelty, was the burying of a live slave with a reed for him to speak and breathe through. Bu Hamara by this means called a voice from the grave, and after he had called it, placed his foot upon the tube. When the grave was opened the slave was found really to be dead.
Bu Hamara came near to capturing Fez.
Raisuli rose to power and successfully defied the Maghzen forces.
With Abdul Aziz things went from bad to worse, till, hopelessly bankrupt, with a following of perhaps ten thousand men, mostly volunteers, he came to Rabat in September of last year, roused to this move when his brother Hafid was proclaimed at Marakesh. Since then Fez has also proclaimed Hafid, and the army that came with Aziz has dwindled away, until it numbers now hardly four thousand men. Besides these he has but the petty garrisons, who find it convenient to remain in the barracks of coast towns.
Abdul Aziz, now thirty years of age, is a pale-faced quadroon with a black, immature beard and a thin moustache. He is above medium height and well built, of a healthy though not athletic appearance. His manner in the presence of official visitors is seldom easy; his words are few and constrained. With private guests whom he knows, however, he is gay and often familiar. He speaks gently and slowly, I am told, occasionally placing his hand on one’s shoulder, and all who know him like him. He seems anxious that things shall go well, but he is more a student than a man of action. He is vain of his enlightenment, of which he has a somewhat exalted opinion; and he is jealous of his prerogatives. He tells Europeans who visit him that his brother Hafid (who is almost black), was of course brought up differently from himself, that while possessing some good qualities, he is of course a man of little education, and that his head has been turned to declare himself Sultan. Abdul Aziz says he will not punish Hafid—when the rebellion is put down and he is captured—except to imprison him in some princely palace.
The historic empire of Morocco has to all intents come to an end. Whether the French or a combination of European Powers control hereafter, it remains that the once great empire has passed as an independent State. In name perhaps its independence will survive for many years; the Sultan Abdul Aziz may return to Fez and gain again, with the aid of the French, the loyalty of the interior that is lost to him; and he may—he will, no doubt, he or another Sultan—continue to conduct negotiations with foreign countries. But his control of his own land will be hereafter as of a man on an allowance from the revenues that will go to his creditors, chiefly to France and Spain, and his dealings with other Powers must be for the future in obedience to dictation from those creditors.