Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 January 1894 — A GLANCE AT MOROCCO. [ARTICLE]

A GLANCE AT MOROCCO.

THE WORLD’S MOST COMPLETE DESPOTISM. One of the Mandates of Its Ruler to That His Subjects Shall Obey All Foreigners—Atrocious Cruelties. It hst been often remarked of late that the Ess per or of Morocco is about the most absolutely despotic monarch of whom the world knows anything in these days. He has Ministers, but they are merely his favorites for the time being, and subject to his whim. He bss no laws to bother him save his will, and no precedents to respect or unpopular representatives to fear. He, himself, .is law and justice, and 3,000,000 people hold their lives and property subject to his nod. And yet hie power is in many directions very narrowly circumscribed. The representatives of foreign nations have very diligently cut his claws. They have taken the natives under consular protection so freely that Emperor Muley Hassan must frequently have wondered whether or no he has any subjects to punish in that portion of his domains occupied by the foreigners. That is a good thing in its way, but a few years ago there wae an angry dispute when it was found that, though there were only three Americans in Morocco, our consul there had made 150 American citizens out of the natives, that he himself insisted upon being their judge, and that he was in the habit of thrusting into prison anybody against whom they made complaint. The Emperor has been frightened out of his wits by these proceedings, fearing that they might lead to the dismemberment of his empire; and a few years ago he ordered his subjects implicitly to obey all foreigners and all people protected by them. Dark crimes against person and property have been committed under this sanction, and many of these shrewd proteges, and not a few consuls as well have grown rich from it. Though the Moors have been nominal rulers of Morocco for 400 years they have never really been rulers of the whole country. The native Berbers were driven to the mountains, and there they have ever since remained, defiant and unconquered, and the emperors of Morocco have been glad enough to lot them alone. The Kahyles of the Riff coast, who recently opposed the Spaniards at Melilla, belong to his stock, and Muley Hassan can in no way control them. They are a far superior lace to the Moors, who are in fact largely Arabs diluted with Spanish and other blood.

Humnn slavery flourishes openly and without hindrance there, even in tne accessible cities, and almost within sight of Gibraltar; while the poor Jews, almost the only thrifty and peaceful element of the urban populations, are bled most unmercifully. Morocco is a fertile country, and rich in copper and other minerals. But the government will neither develop these resources itself,nor allow anybody else to do so. The Moors lack the foresight needful for agriculturists, and they never plant or gather enough to carry them through till the succeeding season, so that one bad harvest means great suffering. The spirit of the Arabs is inherently antagonistic to Christian civilization, and were it not so the Government of Morocco would make thrift and industry impossible. Fez might readily be brought into direct steam communication with the world by means of the Sebou River. Instead, it was until very recent years almost an unknown city. There is not a highway worthy of the name leading from it. Indeed, there are said to be only two wagons in all Morocco. One is the coach presented by Queen Victoria to Muley Hassan a few years ago. He uses it, though he makes the driver walk, since no man must sit above the Emperor. The young Hessian prince, who fifty years ago took the first carriage to Tangiers, was only permitted to use it after he had taken off its wheels. There is no regular means for the dis tribution of justice and none for the collection of taxes When the Emperor needs money he directs the pashas to collect the tenth prescribed by the Koran. The pashas add a tenth for themselves, and the actual collectors put on another tenth for their trouble. If there is any suspicion that the man is not paying all he ought, the torture is a prompt and efficacious way of increasing the pile.

J ustice is openly sold to the highest bidder, and to be accused of an offense against the government is to entail confiscation of all visible property, whether found guilty or not. It is not to be wondered at, then, that the inhabitants of Morocco live in squalor; that they bury their money whenever they think they can safely do so; that they wear dilapidated clothes and let their houses go to decay. To show any evidence of wealth is to invite misery and perhaps death. RoastiDg, stretching, pinching, whipping, branding and mutilating are familiar forms of punishment in Morocco. Revolts are put down by wholesale massacres. Slow beheading with butchers’ knives and daggers in the public street are of common occurrence. Theft is punished by cutting off the right hand; eyes are torn put. ears and noses are cut off for various offenses, and the bodies of the poor are mutilated in still more horrible ways. Nor does conviction always precede punishment. It is ordinarily quite sufficient to have been accused, if the persecutor be a person of consequence.—[New York Press.