Thus foreigners in Morocco enjoy within the limits of the central
power the security of their own lands, and the justice of their own
laws. They do not even find in Morocco that immunity from justice
which some ignorant writers of fiction have supposed; for unless a
foreigner abandons his own nationality and creed, and buries himself
in the interior under a native name, he cannot escape the writs of
foreign courts. In any case, the Moorish authorities will arrest him
on demand, and hand him over to his consul to be dealt with according
to law. The colony of refugees which has been pictured by imaginative
raconteurs is therefore non-existent. Instead there are growing
colonies of business men, officials, missionaries, and a few retired
residents, quite above the average of such colonies in the Levant, for
instance.

For many years past, though the actual business done has shown a
fairly steady increase, the commercial outlook in Morocco has gone
from bad to worse. Yet more of its products are now exported, and
there are more European articles in demand, than were thought of
twenty years ago. This anomalous and almost paradoxical condition is
due to the increase of competition and the increasing weakness of the
Government. Men who had hope a few years ago, now struggle on because
they have staked too much to be able to leave for more promising
fields. This has been especially the case since the late Sultan's
death. The disturbances which followed that event impoverished many
tribes, and left behind a sense of uncertainty and dread. No European
Bourse is more readily or lastingly affected by local political
troubles than the general trade of a land like Morocco, in which men
live so much from hand to mouth.

It is a noteworthy feature of Moorish diplomatic history that to the