We had a pleasant journey here, and our companions are agreeable, clever men.
Reception on entering Fas unusually demonstrative. The Sultan most gracious; but he is surrounded by venal and ignorant Ministers whose only aim is to fill their own pockets, so my preachings and prayings will, I fear, not result in any radical reforms.
When my back is turned, Sultan will be deceived, and the progress in cow-tail fashion will continue.
Some of the petty obstacles which beset his path and the way in which he overcame them may be gathered from the following account written by Sir John of an interview with the Uzir Sid Mokhta.
Having learnt that it was not the intention of the Uzir to return my visit of ceremony on arrival, I sent a message to him to this effect: ‘On what day and at what hour will it be convenient for the Uzir to return the visit of ceremony I propose to pay him?’
He replied that he could not return the visit of any person, Mohammedan or Christian, as he was connected by marriage with the Sultan. To this my reply was, through the interpreter, that I could not admit such an excuse, for if he was connected in the female line by marriage with Sultan Hassan, an ancestor of my family descended in direct line from Queen Arabella of Scotland. Therefore, on the same pretext of alliance with royalty, I could decline to call upon him! After an interchange of many messages, this question of etiquette was referred to the Sultan, who declared that the Uzir was to return my visit the day after I had called.
This Uzir had also declined to introduce the word ‘Sir’ in his letters to me, or to put the equivalent in Arabic, giving as an excuse that it was contrary to the precepts of the Mohammedan religion to address any Christian by a term which was, as he had been given to understand, equivalent to ‘Sid,’ meaning Lord or Master.
To this I replied that unless he prefixed the title, which my own Sovereign had given me and which was made use of in Her Majesty’s letter of credence to the Sultan, it was out of the question to expect that I should address him as ‘Sid’ or by any other title. The Uzir offered to address me verbally, or in writing, by the Spanish word ‘Caballero.’ I replied that I was not a Spaniard, and therefore declined to be addressed by a Spanish title; but if from a religious point of view he persisted in declining to use the English word ‘Sir’ or a synonymous Arabic title in writing to me, I should, in addressing him a letter, give him, in addition to that of Uzir, the same title or preface that he granted to my name.
This question was also referred to the Sultan, who decided that the Uzir should address me as the ‘Minister of the Queen of Great Britain,’ without putting my name, and that I should in like manner address the Uzir without putting his name. I told the Uzir, when we met, that such a discussion was most puerile, and would be so considered by statesmen and diplomatists, both in Mohammedan and Christian countries; that it was not worth the waste of time and paper, and I should let it drop, accepting the Sultan’s decision.
We then interchanged visits without further question; but a few days after these visits of etiquette, having occasion to interview the Uzir on business, I requested him to fix the hour and place of meeting. He sent word to me that, as the weather was warm, he would receive me in a ‘kubba’ in the garden of his palace, and named the hour. I took a ride that morning, and arrived at the Uzir’s house ten minutes before the time fixed for the interview. The usher of the Uzir received me, and said that his master had not yet arrived from the Court. I looked at my watch and told the usher that I had arrived ten minutes before my time, and would therefore sit down and await the Uzir. So he led me to a pavilion, at the end of a long narrow path, where I saw two chairs placed, apparently for the Uzir and myself. The one, facing the entrance, was a very gorgeous arm-chair covered with beautiful damask; the other, on the left of it, an ordinary rush-bottomed wooden chair, evidently intended as a seat for the British Envoy. I heard at a distance the heavy shuffling steps of the unwieldy Uzir, waddling towards the spot; so without letting it appear that I was aware of his arrival, I took possession of the gorgeous chair, to the dismay of the usher; saying at the same time in a loud voice, so that the Uzir might hear, ‘What have you done? You must be very ignorant in matters of ceremonial forms to have placed such a shabby chair for your master the Uzir by the side of this handsome chair, which you have prepared for me. Take it away,’ pointing to the rush-bottomed chair, ‘and bring for your master a proper seat.’