The World Has Changed

From a month of palaver and pleasure in France, Sidi Mohamed ben Youssef, Sultan of Morocco, this week sailed back to his North African domain. His mission had tried in vain to loosen the ties binding Morocco and France. Now the suave and stubborn Sultan talked guardedly of breaking them.

Under the impetus of the North African campaign of World War II, the urban Moroccan intelligentsia grew increasingly restless for a fuller measure of freedom than that allowed them under the French protectorate. Most clamorous for nationalism was the Istiqhlal (Independence) Party. A leading moderate was the Sultan ; he well knew that his backward countrymen were not yet ready for full freedom in a modern state, and besides, French power made his position secure against possible uprising of Berber tribes.

But when he arrived in Paris last month, the Sultan told French leaders that even moderates now wanted more autonomy than was possible under the Protectorate Treaty of 1912. The French agreed to minor reforms, but only within the frame of the 1912 treaty. Sidi Mohamed expressed regret, hoped France would change her attitude later.

A Moroccan spokesman told the press: "In 40 years the world has changed. The Moroccan people cannot remain indifferent to the examples of India and Egypt." Before leaving for home, the Moroccan delegation informed government officials that what they really wanted was an end to the treaty altogether and a completely new agreement in its place.

The polite French, with Indo-China undoubtedly in the back of their minds, feted the Sultan of Morocco, saw him off aboard the cruiser Georges Leygues, promised to form a mixed French-Moroccan committee to meet soon in Rabat to study Sidi Mohamed's program.

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