New Sultan

Old Sultan. "The Sultan is dead. . . ." Death came last week to Mulai Yusef, Sultan of the Shereefian Empire (Morocco), 36th lineal descendant of Ali, cousin and brother-in-law of the Prophet Mohammed. The Sultan died in the 48th year of his life and the 16th of his reign from a violent attack of uremia (his kidneys could not strain off blood poisons), his demise taking place in the Imperial Palace at Fez, one of the four Imperial Capitals.*

In theory the Sultan was an absolute monarch, although in practice the French governed for him under the protectorate they exercise over Morocco. He was aged 30 when his brother, abdicating, nominated him as his successor, a choice that the College of Ulemas (wise men, meaning the Mohammedan religious heirarchy) seconded. But Mulai Yusef had had no thoughts of ruling Morocco and thus without any training orexperience he found himself walking under the Shereefian umbrella, the symbol of power in Morocco (equivalent to the sceptre in occidental countries).

The country had hardly recovered from the threat of war incident to the despatch of the Panther by the German Government to Agadir. Internally the country was split by a virtual civil war as well as the usual bandit depredations. It was natural that the young Sultan should lean more and more on Marshal Lyautey, "the grand old man of Morocco," who was the French Resident General. It was largely because of their mutual confidence that France was able so completely to pacify the country that she was able to withdraw two-thirds of her troops during the War.

On the day following his death, as is the custom, the late Sultan was laid to rest in Fez, a solemn ceremony being held in the Great Mosque. All the high dignitaries of the land were present. French Resident General Theodore Steeg paid his last respects to the dead monarch before the great catafalque that bore his corpse, but he was not allowed to enter the Mosque, as none but Moslems may do so.

Meanwhile the College of Ulemas was deliberating on the choice of a successor, the rule of primogeniture not being necessarily observed. There were three candidates, all sons of the late Sultan. The youngest, a boy of 14, was finally chosen: Mulai Mohammed Hamada.

New Sultan. ". . .Long Live the Sultan." And so upon the day his father was buried with the full Moslem rights of Morocco and the full Christian rites of France, Sultan Mulai Mohammed, as he will be known, stepped under the Imperial sunshade to direct the destinies of his native land--under the aegis of the Republican French, who are now expected to have a freer hand than ever in the administration of their greatest protectorate.

* The other three are Rabat, Marrakesh, Meknes.