MR. GIBSON BOWLESI beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether Her Majesty's Government have any grounds for the belief that the country of Sus, lying to the south of the Atlas Mountains, is claimed by the Sultan of Morocco as forming part of his territory; whether, in the country of Sus, authority is and has been from time immemorial exercised by the chiefs of the tribes inhabiting that country; whether the Maroquine Government levies dues and taxes so high as to be prohibitory on all trade that passes across the Atlas mountains to or from Sus; whether the Maroquine Government maintains any resident officers, or levies any taxes in Sus itself, or maintains any troops there otherwise than in periodical raiding expeditions; whether considerable numbers of slaves are captured by Maroquines in Sus, and are brought thence into Morocco for sale; and whether Her Majesty's Government recognise and are prepared, as regards British subjects, to acquiesce in the right of the Maroquine Government to forbid 242 and to prevent by force all direct trade by sea with any part of Sus, and all trade whatever with that country otherwise than through Morocco and across the Atlas Mountains?
MR. CURZONHer Majesty's Government are aware that the Sultan of Morocco claims the Sus district as portion of his territory, and Her Majesty's Minister at Tangier recently received an official notification from the Grand Vizier that the inhabitants of the regions in question were under the protection and guardianship of the Government of Morocco. It is probable that the authority exercised in the country is mainly that of the chiefs, only occasionally controlled by the Central Government. The duties on trade passing across the Atlas Mountains are understood to be heavy, but they can scarcely be prohibitory. Concerning the capture of slaves we have no reports. Her Majesty's Government are not prepared to contest the claim of the Moorish Government to sovereignty over the territory which is acknowledged by other Powers, and it follows that British subjects wishing to trade with the inhabitants of the Sus district must first obtain the permission of the Government of Morocco to do so. It has, however, been, and continues to be, the policy of Her Majesty's Government to advise the Government of Morocco to open trading ports in the region in question.