Avuncular American

Pirates at the Legation: Morocco & the Civil War

CSS Sumter, US Navy Historical Center

This is a guest post by Dr. Jamie L. Jones.* 

Given the length of this post, be sure to click at the line marked "continue reading Pirates at the Legation..." 

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One hundred and fifty years ago this week, the sultan of Morocco weighed in on the United States Civil War:  Morocco would side with the Union, against the rebelling Confederate states.  The announcement was subtle but decisive, delivered in the form of an edict about ships entering Moroccan ports.  Because Morocco did not recognize the legitimacy of the Confederate government, it would not allow Confederate ships to enter Moroccan ports. 

In a letter dated September 23, 1863, the sultan and his ministers issued this order to the bashaws in all the ports of Morocco: 

...if any vessel of the so-called Confederate states enters your ports, it shall not be received, but you must order it away at once, as they are not allowed entrance, because we do not know them, and they have no consul by which they may be known to us, or who may act for them; therefore we have prohibited their entrance on pain of seizure; and you will act on this subject in cooperation with the United States vice-consul, in accordance with the treaties and in conformity with our master’s royal order.  And peace.

A ship is a material emblem of its state, and when Morocco closed its maritime ports to the Confederates, it closed the country to the Confederacy at large.

The formal letter offers a glimpse of diplomacy as a polite process carried out in pen and paper.  But the letter was the last stage in a process that began a year and a half earlier when the U.S. Consulate at Tangier (now the Tangier American Legation) played host to two pirates and a noisy riot.  The Civil War’s arrival in Tangier was strange and surprising: an important, if little-known, episode in the history of relations between the U.S. and Morocco.

James De Long, US Consul Tangier

During the winter of 1862, the U.S. Consul James De Long got word that two Confederate naval officers were visiting town on a short layover.  The men had been sailing with the Confederate raider Sumter, which had been sinking Union ships in the Mediterranean.  When De Long heard that the two men had landed at the port, he acted quickly.  With the assistance of Moroccan police, he arrested the two men, Henry Myers and Thomas T. Tunstall, and held them in irons at a makeshift prison at the Consulate.  His charge?  The two men were treasonous traitors, “pirates” who were bent on destroying the material interests of the United States, of which they were legal citizens. 

Not everyone agreed that the two Confederates were pirates.  In fact, De Long’s peers among the European diplomats in Tangier were outraged.  Europe and England were working hard to maintain neutrality in the U.S. Civil War, in part because they depended so strongly on cotton trade with the southern states.  The consuls and ambassadors in Tangier believed De Long had no authority to enlist Moroccan police, nor to imprison the men.  (It’s hard to imagine the present-day Legation as the site of a prison, however makeshift.)  

Some of the Europeans in Tangier raised a riot and stormed the U.S. Consulate in an attempt to free the prisoners at the Consulate.  In response, Consul De Long wrote scolding letters to foreign ministers and ambassadors of nations all over Europe and to foreign ministers in Morocco.  De Long implored these diplomats and statesmen to punish offending rioters in Tangier and side with the Union against the Confederacy.  The matter of how to respond to De Long was debated in the British Parliament and, likely, in offices throughout Europe.  In short, De Long and his pirates incited a diplomatic crisis.  While Europe and the U.K didn’t budge in their doctrine of neutrality, Morocco agreed to take sides, and the United States strengthened ties with one of its oldest allies.

Facebook First: Arabic Interactive Novel

The concept: write a novel, with "Zohra," James McBey's 1952 painting at the Legation as its centerpiece.  Zohra is stolen from the Legation, which leads to... well, you'll have to read the novel.

The medium: Facebook, interactive.  Readers react, comment, influence subsequent chapters.

The language: Arabic, making this the first Arabic Facebook interactive novel.

Not bad for Tangier journalist Abdelouahid Stitou (above at the Legation with journalists from Moroccan 2M TV).  The book, still visible on Facebook (in Arabic), is out now in print, and last night "ZohraLiza" (a reference to Zohra's reputation as the "Moroccan Mona Lisa") was presented to a capacity audience at TALIM.

Sponsored by a Moroccan social action association "Centre-Ajial" ("Generations"), the audience of Facebook Generation Tanjawis peppered author Stitou with questions about plot, characters, and the process of book writing in 2013 Morocco.  Even though Stitou is a respected local journalist with contacts in the world of publishing, he encouraged budding writers to be imaginative, and to consider alternate outlets like Facebook and the web.  Breaking into the publishing world is difficult even for the likes of Stitou: the print version of "ZohraLiza" is self-published.

We're delighted that James McBey's 1952 painting has inspired this publishing first, and that it is a Tangier native who is helping bring "Zohra" to the attention of new audiences.  He is set to present his book in Brussels - home to a sizeable Moroccan expatriate population, largely from Tangier and the Rif - on his next appearance.

Gerald Loftus

Magical Realism Transforms Legation

 There was the King of Sweden, and then there was Madison Cox.

Photo by Isabelle Bosquet-Morra

Both men had the same great idea, some years apart, of hosting a private event at the Legation.  We weren't there but we're certain the Swedish dinner party was a royal affair, but we can assure you that Madison Cox, American landscape architect and designer of exquisite gardens around the world, transformed the Legation with a few elegant touches.  Madison Cox was recently profiled by his longtime friend and fellow designer Marian McEvoy in the Wall Street Journal. McEvoy had earlier written about his Tangier home in the New York Times.

 

Photo by Mohammed Jadidi

The Legation's many cracks are all still there, and the moldy walls haven't disappeared.  But for a few hours on Friday night, all that mattered was that guests from the world over were enchanted by this venerable building, one that most of them never knew existed.

Photo by Gerald Loftus

Photo by Isabelle Bosquet-Morra

A few well-placed lanterns, flowers by Isabelle Bosquet-Morra of "Fleurisa" in New York, and of course Madison Cox's understated but elegant touch in everything from table coverings to lighting were enough to transform our sometimes dowdy US-Government-surplus-look historic building.

 Perhaps I'm too harsh on our look, which - as the photos in this post show - can indeed be magical.  One guest, taking in the eclectic mix of medina-Moroccan walls, 19th century Spanish architectural touches, and Federal period interior volumes, said that he was reminded somehow of the White House.

Now, we have in common two things with the White House: ownership by the USG, and designation as National Historic Landmarks.

Very flattering, though we'd like to have a 100th of the White House budget for furnishings and maintenance.

Photo by Isabelle Bosquet-Morra

Gerald Loftus

A Plethora of Donations-in-Kind

As we restore previously-hidden areas of the Legation, that precious wall space is being taken up with new acquisitions.  Perhaps "acquisitions" is not the precise term: we continue to receive donations-in-kind, and last night's reception at the Legation was a celebration of our latest donors.

Sponsored by Mr. and Mrs. Joe and Barbara Abensur (originally of Tangier and New Zealand, who now make their home in London, Geneva, and the Côte d'Azur), we lauded them and a number of other donors who have been mentioned recently in this blog.

Joe Abensur, pictured at right with his portrait as an angelic four year old, posed in 1933 for noted British portraitist George Apperley, who died in Tangier in 1960.  Apperley, fleeing mounting turmoil in Spain, had literally just arrived in Tangier when he painted the young Joe Abensur.

This was also an occasion for old friends to meet up; three women from the same Lycée Regnault graduating class found each other after many years.

And generosity begets generosity.  One guest, admiring the Perdicaris "kidnap album" which we recently were given thanks to the J. Paul Getty Jr. Charitable Trust, realized that he possessed a similar treasure from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

So today, in the fastest turnaround in the annals of donations, longtime British Tangier resident Jonathan Dawson presented the Legation with the personal photo album of 19th century British Minister of the Legation in Tangier, Sir Arthur Nicolson (father of Harold Nicolson, himself a legendary "diplomatist" who literally wrote the book on his trade).

There are plenty of fascinating photos in the album, but we leave you with a selection of purely domestic scenes.  Thanks to all our donors - past, present, and future.

Gerald Loftus

"Dear Mrs. Perdicaris"

Before Tweets, before instant messaging, texting, and Skype, before viral videos, there were letters.

And on May 20, 1904, a flood of letters, from all over the world, started to flow towards Tangier.

Mr. Ion Perdicaris and his wife's son Cromwell Varley had been kidnapped by Moroccan "brigand" and chieftan Moulay Ahmed El Raisuli, in what came to be known - worldwide - as "the Perdicaris Affair."

The incident sparked a diplomatic crisis, with US President Theodore Roosevelt dispatching the Atlantic Fleet to Tangier and issuing the ultimatum "Perdicaris Alive or Raisuli Dead," which became his reelection campaign slogan.

Now these letters, painstakingly collected by Mrs. Ellen ("Nellie") Perdicaris in May-June 1904 in a bound album, are at the Tangier American Legation, along with other documents and images of an incident that the Legation helped resolve.  We wrote this up in a post last spring, and someone who could take action read it.

We have longtime Tangier resident Christopher Gibbs to thank for ensuring that this rare document has come "home" to Tangier.  Christopher Gibbs is Chairman of the J. Paul Getty Jr. Charitable Trust, and TALIM has been the recipient of a generous grant to enable the purchase of the album.

Gerald Loftus