Asiatic Quarterly Review (Full Title: The Imperial and Asiatic Quarterly Review, and Oriental and Colonial Record): Volume XIII, No. 26 [‎482r] (88/238)

Morocco: the Sultan and the Bashadours. 301
occurred subsequently, when the Sultan received his dis
tinguished guests at the palace, instead of sallying forth
on horseback surrounded by his troops, and with the red
umbrella held above his head by his attendant slaves, a
custom which will probably never again be resuscitated, as
it implied the humiliating feature for the foreign envoys of
standing bare-headed before the Sultan whilst their inter
preter translated their address to the monarch of the
faithful.
The Shereefian Court is to be congratulated upon this
more correct sense of proportion and upon this more
reasonable appreciation of the manner in which the repre
sentatives of the European Governments should be received
by the Sovereign of a country which, despite its extent of
territory and the individual valour of its inhabitants, cannot
be compared as a military power with even the smallest of
its European neighbours. The traveller—and especially
the artist—will, however, regret the final elimination of so
striking and characteristic a custom.
A week later the same ceremonies were repeated on the
arrival of Count Crennville, the first Austrian Minister who
has presented his credentials in person to the Sultan.
Beyond the exchange of courtesies, including the presenta
tion of gifts, this visit was merely one of ceremony, and not
for the purpose of any serious diplomatic negotiations.
Tangier, however, has good cause to congratulate itself,
since Count Crennville had very graciously undertaken to
solicit the Sultan’s approval of a series of regulations affect
ing Tangier municipal interests, together with a scheme for
the erection of a much-needed additional market, whilst
the French Minister, animated by a similar desire to
improve the condition of the diplomatic capital of the
country to which he is accredited, had promised the
Commission charged with the preparation of these matters
his support in securing some addition to the very limited
means at the disposition of what is somewhat inaptly styled
the Tangier Hygienic Commission, better and more cor-