Part 15 (1/2)

Il est entendu, que les cultivateurs, gardiens de troupeaux ou autres paysans indigenes au service des Francais ne pourront etre l'objet de poursuites judiciaires sans que l'Autorite consulaire competente en soit immediatement informee, afin que celle-ci puisse sauvegarder l'interet de ses nationaux....

(De Card: ”Les Traites entre la France et le Maroc” (Paris, 1898), pp.

221-22.)

(_c_) THE CONFERENCES OF MADRID (1800) AND ALGECIRAS (1906).

Through the efforts of the British Minister at Tangier, Sir John Drummond Hay, who had negotiated the Treaties of 1856 and who was strongly opposed to the abuses of the Protection system, a Conference of the Powers and other interested States was held at Madrid in 1880 with the object of introducing reforms.[102] A new Convention, containing a few fresh restrictions, was agreed upon, but, as a matter of fact, the Conference was a failure, owing to the reluctance of France to abandon a system which gave her an advantage against Great Britain in promoting her influence in Morocco.[103] For obvious reasons, Jewish influence was also largely used to the same end. The Jewish factor of the problem came out very prominently in the debates of the Conference. All the proteges referred to by name were Jews, such as the families of Benchimol, Moses Nahon, David Buzaglo, and Isaac Toledano.[104] One of the few reforms carried out by the Conference was the abolition of hereditary protection. An exception was, however, made in the case of the Jewish family of Benchimol, whose rights in this respect had been guaranteed in the Convention of 1863 with France, and a special reservation to this effect was inserted in the new Treaty.[105]

The Conference also dealt with the general questions of Religious Liberty in Morocco and of the treatment of native Jews. In 1864 Sir Moses Montefiore, as President of the Jewish Board of Deputies and with the support of the British Government, had undertaken a mission to Morocco in order to secure an improvement in the treatment of the non-Mohammedan population, and more particularly the Jews. He succeeded in obtaining from the Sultan a remarkable Edict a.s.suring to the Jews a perfect equality of treatment with all the other subjects of the Sultan.[106] This Edict had not been observed, and, at the instance of the Pope, the Madrid Conference adopted a Declaration calling upon the Shereefian Government to give effect to it and at the same time to a.s.sure Religious Liberty to all its subjects. The result was to extract from the Sultan a formal reaffirmation of the Montefiore Edict.[107]

A similar course was pursued by the Conference which met at Algeciras in 1906 to consider the Moorish question in its wider political aspects.

The intervening quarter of a century had been as barren of reforms as the period which elapsed between the granting of the Edict of 1864 and the meeting of the Madrid Conference. The maltreatment of the Jews had continued, and had been the subject of frequent complaints by the Alliance Israelite, the Anglo-Jewish a.s.sociation, and the American Jewish Committee, and of remonstrances by their respective Governments.

Accordingly at the instance of the United States Government, the question was brought before the Algeciras Conference, and, at the sitting of that body on April 2, 1906, a resolution was adopted, again calling upon the Sultan of Morocco to see ”that the Jews of his Empire and all his subjects, without distinction of faith, were treated with justice and equality.”[108]

No steps, however, were taken to enforce this resolution, and it was not even made a treaty obligation. That, however, was of little consequence, for, very shortly after, the Moorish Empire virtually disappeared, and a French Protectorate was proclaimed. The Jews of Morocco are now in the same situation as their brethren in Algiers and Tunis, which, however, is not to say that it is entirely satisfactory.

DOc.u.mENTS.

EXTRACTS FROM PROTOCOLS OF THE MADRID CONFERENCE (1880).

_Protocole No. 3.--Seance du 20 Mai, 1880._

Sur la question de la protection hereditaire, le Plenipotentiaire de France rappelle que la Convention de 1863 accorde formellement cette protection a la famille Benchimol. Les raisons qui ont motive cette exception ont ete dument appreciees a cette epoque par le Gouvernement Marocain; elles ont conserve toute leur force, et il est impossible au Gouvernement Francais d'abandonner une famille qui jouit depuis 17 ans de la plus juste consideration. Il demande le maintien de cette exception si legitime.

Le Plenipotentiaire du Portugal, tout en maintenant dans toute son etendue le droit au traitement de la nation la plus favorisee, reconnu toujours au Portugal et recemment encore lors des Amba.s.sades speciales envoyees par sa Majeste Cherifienne en 1875 et 1877, admet que la France puisse alleguer des motifs speciaux en faveur d'une exception qui, selon lui, n'invalide pas le principe. Il accepte donc sans reserve que la protection ne soit pas hereditaire, avec l'exception unique etabli nominativement dans la Convention de 1863. Seulement pour le cas ou le Gouvernement Marocain accorderait par la suite d'autres exceptions de cette nature, il reserverait le droit du Gouvernement Portugais de reclamer une exception a.n.a.logue.

Pareille reserve est faite par les autres Plenipotentiaires.

”La protection n'est point hereditaire. Une seule exception est maintenue en faveur de la famille Benchimol, comme etant etablie dans la Convention de 1863; mais elle ne saurait creer un precedent. Cependant si le Souverain du Maroc accordait une autre exception, toutes les Puissances representees a la Conference auraient le droit de reclamer une exception pareille.”

_Protocole No. 11.--Seance du 24 Juin, 1880._

Le Plenipotentiaire d'Italie demande la parole, et s'exprime en ces termes:--

”...L'Italie a toujours maintenu inalterable son droit consuetudinaire sans jamais en abuser. En effet, en examinant le chiffre de 108, auquel montent ses proteges, on trouvera que 11 seulement sont proteges en vertu du droit consuetudinaire.

”Six sont d'anciens Vice-Consuls et interpretes des etats Italiens composant actuellement le Royaume d'Italie. Le nombre de ceux qui ont rendu ainsi des services a l'Italie est de six et non d'un seul (M.

Moses Nahon), comme M. le Ministre des Affaires Etrangeres du Maroc avait cru pouvoir l'affirmer dans la seance du 19 Juillet, 1879, des Conferences de Tanger.

”La veuve David Buzaglo et ses deux fils composent la famille d'un Agent Diplomatique Italien, et jouisse a ce t.i.tre de la protection.