Tafilet

by Walter Harris

As soon as Haj Amaati was confined in jail, Sid Mohammed Soreir was arrested; but, with far more pluck and courage, he followed his captor without resistance, and entered prison like a gentleman.

Wild rumours spread all over the town as to the reasons of the imprisonment of the Viziers, and it was generally stated that a plot had been discovered by which the Sultan and Sid Ahmed, the new Vizier, were to have been assassinated that very day, en route to mid-day prayers. But whatever may have been the truth of this assertion, the fact remains that no attempt was made, and Mulai Abdul Aziz was driven in his green-and-gold brougham to the mosque, surrounded by his Court. Both his Majesty and Sid Ahmed looked extremely nervous, and every possible precaution was taken to prevent assassination. During the afternoon a lesser Vizier, who acted as amin el askar, or paymaster of the troops, Sid el Arbi Zebdi, was seized and imprisoned. This but added to the terror of the remaining officials, who had escaped, but dreaded a like fate.

I had the opportunity the same evening of discussing the course events had taken with two men, who hold in different ways almost the highest positions in Morocco. One was himself a Vizier, the other far above all fear of arrest. They both told me the same tale; but, in spite of the high authority on which I heard it, I do not think it is to be credited, and in my opinion it was the officially agreed upon story, that was to give justice to the arrest of such important members of the Sultan’s Court.

I was told that both the Viziers in question had addressed letters to Mulai Ismain in Fez, and to Mulai Mohammed in Morocco City, the young Sultan’s uncle and brother respectively, inviting them to seize the opportunity of attempting the throne, and offering all their large fortune and influence in the event of their doing so. These letters, it was said, were intercepted and the plot discovered.

Although both the Viziers in question were quite capable of such a plot, I cannot believe that either pursued the course stated above. To a Moor a document of any sort is a far more important thing than to us, and any one who is acquainted with the Moors knows how extremely difficult it is to obtain any kind of matter in writing. Had such an idea as that stated above entered the minds of Haj Amaati and his brother, and had they formulated any conspiracy to that effect, they would never have been so foolish as to commit themselves to writing, and any communication with the two Shereefs in question would have been made with the aid of a trusted envoy. It was easy to see that one of my informants at least discredited the story he was telling me, which he only knew from official sources. My own opinion is this, that the whole affair was the result of Sid Ahmed’s jealousy, and that he was actuated no doubt also by a feeling that the course he pursued was the safest in the Sultan’s interests—for by removing his own two most dangerous enemies, he at the same time would find further scope for his influence and policy. That the Viziers deserved their fate none can deny. Haj Amaati had impoverished the whole country by his enormous and insatiable greed and black-mail, and his brother had deprived the soldiery of a very considerable portion of their pay.

Immediately the arrests were made the entire property of both—together with that of Sid el Arbi Zebdi—was confiscated, and their houses at Fez seized. Haj Amaati had just completed the building in the capital of a palace second to none there in size and decoration, a block of buildings rising high above the level of the other houses, which will be an eternal landmark of the Vizier’s rise and fall. It had been completed only during his absence in the south with the Sultan, and so much pride did the Vizier take in this new palace that he had ordered all the decorations in stucco and mosaic, of which the Moors are perfect masters, to be draped with linen, so that none should see the general effect before himself. A rope attached to these curtains would allow the entire drapery to fall, when the every beauty of the decoration would be exposed. Within a week of realising this dream of oriental fancy, he was cast into a dungeon, and his house and all his wealth confiscated to the Sultan.

With the fall of the two Viziers it became more apparent than ever that Sid Ahmed meant to be master of the whole situation; but he was wise enough not to attempt alone what could be done equally well, and very probably better, with the advice of trusted counsellors. There were two people at the Court in whose hands might lie the power of treating him as he had treated the others. These two were respectively the Circassian mother of the Sultan, and Sidi Mohammed el Marani, an influential Shereef, who had married the sister of Mulai el Hassen, and into whose hands a considerable part of the upbringing of Mulai Abdul Aziz had been intrusted. Both must be conciliated, for over the Sultan both held great influence—so great, in fact, that should Sid Ahmed’s conduct in any way displease them, their united power might easily persuade the Sultan to dismiss him. Not for this reason alone, however, did Sid Ahmed, as it were, invite these two to join him in a sort of council of regency, for he knew fully well the ability of both and their devotion to his lord and master.

In the hands of these three persons the welfare of Morocco lies. But before entering upon any conjectures as to the future, the history of past events must be continued a little further.

On Thursday, July 19, a start was made from Meknas towards Fez, the army and the governor of the tribes and their escorts having camped the previous night a slight distance outside the town near the Fez road.

Two events worthy of mention had meanwhile taken place at Fez—first, the behaviour of Mulai Omar, the Sultan’s brother and viceroy; and, secondly, the fact that the enkas, or local taxation upon all goods sold, had been removed, together with the octroi at the city gates.