SLAVERY IN MOROCCO.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XX, Issue 6817, 22 September 1883, Page 2 (Supplement)

SLAVERY IN MOROCCO.

" Reports on the State of the Slave Trade and Slavery in Morocco," ia the title of a parliamentary paper. At Lord G.anvill-'a request Sir J. Drummond Hay forwarded to him in May and Jane of this year reports from the consular offices at Moorish ports ou this subject, referring His Lord.-ship at the same time to a report he had drawn up at Lord Derby's request in 1876. Lord Granville, on receiving the reports, wrote to Sir J. \i. Hay a despatch, dated July 2, which brings the correspondence to a close. The deap.itch stat'.s tuat "though tlie reports differ as to the treatment which slaves receive at the hande of their master*, they showthat men, woinoa and children are hawked about the streets 3nd eo'.d by auction; that they may be re-sold on the death or bankruptcy of their owners ; thai; there is no aecurity against the separation of wives from their husbands, or of coildrtn from parents ; that cruelty is nob infrequent, nud that the ouly remedy for which an ill-used slave can hope, who cannot obtain his freedom, ia a change of master. No security is provided for the chastity of womeD, nor for their rescue from degradation. Many instances— perhaps the majority of ca-:es—might be appealed to in which slaves aie kindly treated and well cared for, but the fa<jt cannot he gainsaid that the system of slavery exists in the Empire with some of its moat revolting features. Her Majesty's government have no ground, for interference founded on conventions, nor do they wish to make protests in individual ca*es ; but they would, in the interests of humanity, make an earnest appeal to tho Emperor and ask him to concider whether the time has not come when he would bo ready to place himself on a level with oth*r civilized rubers by taking sti-ps to abolish shivery in his dominions They are aware of the difficulty which the government of tho Emperor may meet in dealing with a long establishci custom, but that difficulty has been found nnttobeinsnperable by other Muhamerlan sovereigns. His Majesty might be assured that any step taken by him in th's direction would be welcomed, not only in this country, but in the civilized world ; whereas the position of his Stat?, as the ouly territory bodoring on the Mediterranean iu which no effort is made to combat this evil, must become daily raore intolerable in the fcyes of all nations, whatever may be thoir religious creed." Earl Giataville then instructs Sir J. D. Hay to make a ttrong representation to the Moorish government, and t'i lose no opportunity of renewing his efforts whenever a favourable opportunity may offer.