File No. 381.81F47/7.
The American Minister to the Secretary of State.
Tangier, July 11, 1912.
Sir: I have the honor to report to the Department that Hadj Mohamed Lehesen El Filaly, Semsar at Fez of Mr. Joseph R. Cazes—concerning the attempted Court Martial of whom I recently had the correspondence with the Department—called at the office to thank the Legation for the interest taken in his case and said that it had saved his life. He stated that the French tried to get him to renounce his American protection and become French, when they found he was under American protection, and that his declining to do so brought on the trouble. That he had never had a certificate of French protection, as claimed, though they might have had him on their lists unknown to him. Since these events, however, he advises me that he has been shown great courtesy and kindness by the French officials so that the matter has apparently been taken somewhat to heart by them. He says the French have recently asked him once or twice to be of assistance to them, which he has gladly done. I told him I was glad to have him be of assistance to them when he could, and when they asked, but that usually he should maintain a neutral attitude in their disputes in so far as possible. He seems to be a man of a good deal of character and is thought very highly of by the prominent Moors here. He advised me that there is firing still about Fez every few nights, though the trade route here is now open; he further added that General Lyautey had made a very good impression, yet the French policy there from the first has made so many enemies, that the pacification of the tribes would undoubtedly be a long-pending work. As to conditions in the far south of the Empire, he said they were far from satisfactory, which corroborates the reports we get from all sources.
I have [etc.]