RELEASE OF KAID McLEAN.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 70, 21 March 1908, Page 13

RELEASE OF KAID McLEAN.

ARRIVAL AT TANGIER ft - HIS STORT OF HIS IMPRISONMENT. TANGIER, February 7. Kaid Sir Harry Maclean has arrived acre in good health. Raisuli has also come in. The Kaid, who is sixty years old, served for ten years in the British Army before entering the service of the Moorish Sultan. For his devotion to British interests in Morocco he received a knighthood. His salary as instructor of the Sultan's army is said to be £7000. For his release he is partly indebted to Mr. Edmond Pious Carleton. called "Bibi" (beloved) by the natives, who is British Consular Ag-ent at Alcazar, and has conducted tlic negotiations with Raisuli on behalf of the British Legation. The terms of the Kaid's release were: (1) a ransom of £20.000, £5000 to be paid : at once, Raisuli to draw monthly interest on the remainder for five years; if his behaviour is satisfactory during that time, the capital to be paid over to him; (2) Bri- j tish protection for Raisuli and bis family; (3i return of black slave women and of certain prisoners. Haisuli seized Mr. Perdicaris, a wealthy ' American, aud Mr. Varley, an Englishman, on May IS, 1904. releasing them five weeks later for a joint ransom of £11,000. He captured Mr. Vf. B. Harris, the "Times -, correspondent, on June Iβ, 1003, releasing him In exchange for certain prisoners three weeks later. THE KAID-5 STORT. HOW HE FACED STARVATION, THREATS, AND HARDSHIPS. Sir Harry Maclean furnished the -'Daily ! Mail" special correspondent in Morocco. ' -Mr. William Jlnzwell, with an interesting '. j acrouut of his capture and imprisonment. j! •Before I left Fez in June." the Kaid \ I wrote, -the Sultan gave mc letters for Rai- i suii and for some of the tribes. His Ma- j' j Jesty told mc to hand these letters to the | 1 chiefs of the tribes, and uot to give them ,' ■to Raisuli. He also bade mc leave no- j ! thing undone to induce Raisuli to come to ' : Fez. Si Abd-es-Slam Kirwanl, nephew ' ' of Raisuli. met mc in Alcazar, and swore | .by everything a Moor can Rw«ar by that ' J Raisuli would come to Fez—that he wanted ' Ito come with mc, o:ily I must do nothing ! ' ,to cause Haisuli to think I was not play- j : ! Ing foir. as he had received no end of let-,! 1 j ters ttiJiug him not to trust mc. For that 1' reason 1 took with mc only a few of my .' men. * '• I "When I met Raisuli at the river he was awfully nice. He asked mc to come a! j little way into the chiefs' country to show . * that I also trusted them, and to give tlrem j, their letters from the Sultan. I made Rai- I* suli clasp hands and swear by everything. , ' he held sacred—even by the local saint who j is his patron saint and ancestor—that he ! was going to act fairly. He did all these !, tilings, and added that it was a shame Ii • should think that he would behave ill. j j 1 'You ought not," he said, 'to talk in this ! \ way. Am I not going to put my life in s your hands .by acompanying you to Fez;' I "I had letters which I had been ordered ito give to the chiefs themselves. Raisuli , had with him fifty-six armed men, whereas I had only three or four rifles. I knew • ; that if he made up his mind to act unfairly j I Fhould be made to go with him, and I I went. I have not told you one quarter of j what Raisuli and his nephew said to per- i suade mc. Soon after we passed the river ; I knew it was my Rubicon, and that I was I entirely in Raisuli's hands." , "MAD WITH SHAME." j 1 I "Next day." continued Kaid Maclean, l ! I "when Raisnli sent his scribe, El Dowdie, ' !to tell mc that I was a prisoner, I was j I mad with sorrow end shame, for instead ' 'of helping the Sultan I had made matters j, I worse for him. and had put my own Govern- I j ment in a difficult position. I felt in- ' j clined to kill myself in order to help the j Sultan and to prevent Raisuli from mak- ' iDg anything out of his treachery" The Moorish Government tried to nego- ' tiate and failed. Then it sent two utterly ] inefficient armies against Raisuli. ; "When the Sultan's soldiers came," says i the Kaid. "Raisuli told the people that I i had sent them, and asked mc to write letters insisting cm their withdrawal. Of 1 course, I could not write such orders. I I was, indeed, glad to hear the firing, but the I ; 'armies' were no good. In the last attack j , not a single man on Raisuli's side was ] killed. If I had waited till the "annies - | released mc I must hare waited for ever. "Raisuli. realising that I would not help him and suspecting mc of urging the Gov- . ■ eminent to active measures, determined to ! give mc a bad time. On the march nearly j all my mules were taken from mc. aud after ' a seven hours' ride my men were sent to • I put up Raisuli's tent, while I was lpft ! ■ I without food, sitting until night in the I. burning sun with a hot. dirty jellab over !'. mc. Raisuli knew how 1 was treated, for : ] ;he and his nephew passed close to mc seat- |, I eft on tbe ground in the sun. and took no j • I notirc of mc. The El Khmes tribe urged [ \ RnlMill to give mc up, but he put the gurml | ■ round his tent and declared that he would i< ! fight first." I . j The K.iid was afterwards s ibjected to I continuous harsh treatment. He says- • I "On August 21 I was placed in a tumble- i ] ; down room with the roof off on one side ! ■ I ar.<l partly off on thp other. I was not j j permitted to leave the room, which four j . Moors shared with mc and the fleas. We ', had only a little kettle of water among us, and I could wash only my hands and face. ■■ (We were in a beastly state. On September ■ j 2 Raisuli must have received news that ; .alarmed him. for he sent four of his guards to carry mo off into the hills again. I was ill at the time. Happily, the men bad had such a bad time during our previous stay in the hills that they refused to go" One of the most curious modes of annoy- j ing the prisoner is thus described. Sir Harry Maclean is a great lover of music. He plnys the bagpipes, and the strur ran that he was wont to solace himself with the skirl of the pipes. Vα- ■ happily, bis pipes were not with him. and , the music to which he was compelled to listen was intended as a form of torture. ! The guards tonk their cue from Arrar. and \ j determined that the dog of a Christian i should listen if he would not dance to their I tnDe. The two-stringed fiddle of the counj try was at work night and day, aud the ' I captive was prevented from sleeping. Pro- | test was in vain. The same old tune was ground out until one or two in the morn- I ing. These murderers of sleep nnd of j music demanded rewards, and promised to abate the nuisance if given the price of a sheep.. They bought a goat instead, declaring that the m'hallas had eaten nil their sheep—more mischief than most people suspected them of doing. Being a Moor and a time server. Si Mahomet Arrar began to amend his ways when he saw some pros- ' pect of the Kaid's release. Kaid Maclean has borne his long captivity like a soldier. He has never uttered one word of complaint, and has always I' shown himself ready to be made a sacriuw if his detention, or even his death, could benefit the cause of Abdul Aziz. j WIDE RANGE. : "IM like to open a singing school," said the young lady v.ith the squeaky voice, as she stepped from the train. "Do you think there is a large field in ! this community?" "Yessum," drawled the rude farmer . on the platform, "thar be. a field forty j acres wide back of the brick kilns, an' , nothin' yeou could disturb but bullfrogs < ;vn<i snake?-"