In the ranks of the viziers there was also trouble; Sid Akhmed ben Musa, the _Hajib_ or Chamberlain, trusted of Hassan and also of the young Sultan’s mother, who possessed unusual power, became protector of Abdul Aziz; whereupon, for the safety of his own position if not from jealousy, Sid Akhmed caused to be removed from office most of his fellow viziers, filling their places with his own brothers and men who would do his bidding. The dismissal of the fallen viziers was followed by their prompt arrest, and all their property was confiscated, not excepting their concubines and slaves. From a palace second only to that of the Sultan, the Grand Vizier, Haj Amaati (who had plundered the country in the most barbarous fashion and put his money in property, there being no banks), went to prison in a single shirt, and a mongrel beggar swapped caps with him as he was dragged bound through the streets. Sid Akhmed ruled as dictator, suppressing wayward tribes by vigorous means, as well, probably, as anyone not a Sultan could, until the year 1900, when he died. The young Sultan, then being twenty-two, assumed alone the power of his office, to rule the country in a feeble, half-hearted way, his object, it would seem, more to entertain himself than to improve the condition of his passing empire. Morocco needs a tyrant, for tyranny is the only law it knows; yet Abdul Aziz, raised to believe himself enlightened, and having no taste for brutality, has endeavoured to govern easily. He was brought up by his mother, a Circassian of evident taste and refinement, much in the manner of a European child. Kept within her sight and shielded from immorality, he grew up pure and most unlike his many brothers. In all Morocco there was no company for him. In mind there was nothing in common between him and any of his household. Even his women, brought as presents from the corners of the country, some from Constantinople, had for him only temporary charm. It was natural that a young man of his temperament and education, trained to abhor the vices and the crimes to which the Moors are given over, should become more interested in Western things, and should seek to reform his country. But Abdul Aziz had been weakened as well as preserved by his training, and when he came to authority it was without the determination and without the courage of his youth and of his race. In no sympathy with his Court or with his countrymen, it was natural for him to surround himself with men with whom he could be intimate, and the retinue that he acquired were Europeans, mostly Englishmen.