This translation provides fascinating insights into a critical period in Moroccan history and Moroccan-British relations during the nineteenth century. Using the life and work of the British representative in Tangier, John Drummond Hay, an individual who personally experienced the relations between the two countries and contributed directly to them for a period of almost half a century, the author observes the nature of these relations and the interwoven threads which governed and directed them.

John Drummond Hay was an immensely influential British diplomat who guided British diplomacy in Morocco in the latter half of the nineteenth century, when Britain was contemplating taking Morocco over - an ambition it abandoned only in the Entente Cordiale in 1904. Drummond Hay was also very influential within Moroccan political circles, and had a considerable effect on the initial Moroccan reform programmes as the sultanate tried to come to terms with the French occupation of neighbouring Algeria. Dr Ben Srhir is recognized in Morocco and internationally as the leading authority on the period and the topic.