March 21, 1933
My very dear friend,
I have received your charming letter. The reasons for delay for me to reply are due to the fact that our friend Ahmed Balafrej just arrived in the company of Mr. Jacques Longuet, the Director of the "Al Maghrib" magazine.
The latter came from Paris to gather as much information as possible on the matter of the Moroccan accused of the murder of a Jewish national. He was condemned by the French tribunal system to two years in prison and 50,000 Francs in payment for the loss of life. This (French intervention) was because the crime was perpetrated in the Berber territories and remanded after the (new) legislation in force to the French courts despite the fact the criminal and the victim were both Moroccans.
We wanted to welcome him with a formal reception but the (French) Minister of Foreign Affairs authorized Mr. Longuet to go to Morocco under the condition that no ceremony be conducted in his honor.
Nevertheless even though there was no official welcome, multiple festive events occurred since he arrived in Fez. Last Friday we organized a very successful field trip in which many of our youth took part. I will send you several photographs of this outing in a future letter.
What drew the folk's interest in our guest was his extreme modesty, his irreproachable demeanor and the strong empathy he demonstrated with respect to everyone.
He tried to express himself with gestures to make up for the fact that he only spoke French. He appreciated our traditions giving them preference over the habits and customs of his own land. He took care to respect local manners. He ate with his fingers and never used a spoon or a fork. He removed his shoes when he entered sites covered with carpet. He sat like us Moroccan style. In short, he responded with the (same) benevolent kindness that our young intellectuals had towards him.
We will present him with a precious object of traditional Moroccan art as a welcome gift.
The authorities took all kinds of precautions to isolate him by enforcing a severe control over all who were presented to him or with whom he met or had discussions.
But all this did not prevent folks to get in contact with our guest who, himself, was truly irritated by the behavior of the Protectorate Administration on his behalf, a behavior he characterized as paramilitary. He traveled during the night from one site to another, finding everywhere doors shut and in surveillance by armed watchman who controlled the goings and comings of all passersby.
