At the same time as the “Miracle of the Marne”
another, less famous but almost as vital to France,
was being silently performed at the other end of her
dominions. It will not seem an exaggeration to
speak of General Lyautey’s achievement during
the first year of the war as the “Miracle of
Morocco” if one considers the immense importance
of doing what he did at the moment when he did it.
And to understand this it is only needful to reckon
what Germany could have drawn in supplies and men from
a German North Africa, and what would have been the
situation of France during the war with a powerful
German colony in control of the western Mediterranean.
General Lyautey has always been one of the clear-sighted
administrators who understand that the successful
government of a foreign country depends on many little
things, and not least on the administrator’s
genuine sympathy with the traditions, habits and tastes
of the people. A keen feeling for beauty had
prepared him to appreciate all that was most exquisite
and venerable in the Arab art of Morocco, and even
in the first struggle with political and military
problems he found time to gather about him a group
of archaeologists and artists who were charged with
the inspection and preservation of the national monuments
and the revival of the languishing native art-industries.
The old pottery, jewelry, metal-work, rugs and embroideries
of the different regions were carefully collected
and classified, schools of decorative art were founded,
skilled artisans sought out, and every effort was made
to urge European residents to follow native models
and use native artisans in building and furnishing.
At the various Exhibitions much space was allotted
to these revived industries, and the matting of Sale,
the rugs of Rabat, the embroideries of Fez and Marrakech
have already found a ready market in France, besides
awakening in the educated class of colonists an appreciation
of the old buildings and the old arts of the country
that will be its surest safeguard against the destructive
effects of colonial expansion. It is only necessary
to see the havoc wrought in Tunisia and Algeria by
the heavy hand of the colonial government to know what
General Lyautey has achieved in saving Morocco from
this form of destruction also.
All this has been accomplished by the Resident-General
during five years of unexampled and incessant difficulty;
and probably the true explanation of the miracle is
that which he himself gives when he says, with the
quiet smile that typifies his Moroccan war-policy:
“It was easy to do because I loved the people.”
THE WORK OF THE FRENCH PROTECTORATE, 1912-1918
PORTS
Owing to the fact that the neglected and roadless
Spanish zone intervened between the French possessions
and Tangier, which is the natural port of Morocco,
one of the first preoccupations of General Lyautey
was to make ports along the inhospitable Atlantic coast,
where there are no natural harbours.
