After Wandering About For Some Time, Stirring Up The Minds Of The
People To Revolt, Muley Arshid Fled To The
Mountains of Rif, where he
offered his services to the Sovereign of those districts, who,
unfortunately discovering the abilities of
The stranger, confided to
him the administration of his territories, when, after having by
stratagem and prodigality gained the troops and the people to his
interests, he dethroned and inhumanly butchered his royal
benefactor. He then defeated his brother _Mahomet_, and closely
besieged him in Tafilet, whence that good prince died of grief. To
enumerate the bloody exploits of this prince would extend my letter to
a volume; suffice it therefore to say, that his reign was short, and
the remembrance of it never to be effaced. He died in 1672 of a
fractured skull, in consequence of a fall from his horse.
He was succeeded by his brother _Muley Ishmael_, who distinguished
himself by some brave actions; and his reign would have formed a grand
epoch in the history of this country, had he not stained it by a
succession of tyranny and cruelties, too shocking to dwell upon. He
died in 1727 at the advanced age of eighty-one, leaving behind him a
numerous offspring. This prince, in order to ensure his despotic and
arbitrary power, contrived to form a regular army of foreign soldiers,
which he effected, partly from the negro families, then settled in
Barbary, but principally from a vast number of blacks which he
obtained from the coast of Guinea.
_Muley-Achmet-Daiby_, one of the numerous sons of Ishmael, ascended
the throne of Morocco, and, after reigning two years, died of a
dropsy. His successor, _Muley Abdallah_, by far surpassed all his
predecessors in point of vices and cruelty. His conduct was so
flagrant, that he was deposed no less than six times, but as often
re-elected. Amidst civil wars, divisions, and devastations, the plague
again made its appearance, and committed the same dreadful ravages as
in the reign of _Ishmael_. Being reinstated for the sixth time,
_Abdallah_ took advantage of the troubles occasioned by this terrible
disease, to excite divisions among his negro soldiers, by whose power
alone he had suffered all his humiliations. Vast numbers of this
warlike race fell the victims of his treachery, and he succeeded in
reducing them so low, that they were no longer a subject of dread to
him. Having thus freed himself of all cause of restraint, he
recovered his power, and, if possible, plunged deeper than ever into
the gulf of iniquity; and each succeeding day was stained with crimes
of the blackest hue. The only sentiments with which he inspired his
unhappy people were those of terror and disgust. At length, worn out
with age, he died at Fez in 1757; and was succeeded by his son _Sidi
Mahomet_, who had begun to reform several abuses, during the latter
part of his father's reign, when he had been entrusted with the
government of Morocco.
This prince, the father of the present Emperor, was endowed with an
intelligent mind, and possessed nothing of the barbarian. His
political views, and excellent regulations, soon restored the order of
things. He directed all his care to the welfare of his people, both at
home and abroad; he concluded, and renewed, several advantageous
commercial treaties, with England, France, Spain, Portugal, Sweden,
Denmark, and Holland, with all of whom he maintained a good
understanding till 1777; when, gained over by the courts of France and
Spain, he broke the treaty with England, and refused to supply
Gibraltar with fresh provisions. He appointed officers of the
strictest integrity, and of moderate and resolute characters, to the
government of his provinces; and the whole period of his reign was
exempt from those horrible cruelties which had almost invariably
disgraced the sceptres of his predecessors. He died at an advanced
age, at _Rabat_, on the 11th of April 1790.
After the old Emperor's death, the states of Barbary became convulsed
by the civil discords, attended with great effusion of bloody
occasioned by Sidi Mahomet's numerous sons, who severally aspired to
the crown. The contest was for a long time doubtful and bloody; but at
length, Muley Yezid was proclaimed Emperor, by a powerful party. As
the whole country was up in arms, he had to combat with many
difficulties in establishing himself on the throne. He was no sooner
confirmed in his power, than he exercised it with uncommon cruelty
towards his captives. Under the idea of striking terror into the
minds of his subjects, by the force of example, and deterring them
from revolting again, he inflicted the most dreadful punishment on
those who had opposed his authority; some he caused to be hung up by
the feet, and suffered to perish for want of sustenance; others, to be
crucified at the gates of the city; and several high priests, and
officers of state, he deprived of the blessing of sight.
But his cruelty and inhumanity did not rest here. In the above
proceedings he might possibly urge in palliation a regard to his
personal safety, and the possession of a crown which he held by so
precarious a tenure as the caprice of a multitude, who might wrest it
from him with as little scruple as they had bestowed it, if not awed
by some terrible example; but where shall we seek an excuse for his
execrable barbarity to the poor Jews in his dominions, whom he ordered
to be massacred, without distinction? The carnage was most horrible;
and the property of this persecuted people was indiscriminately
plundered by their rapacious murderers. Six young Jewesses, who
ventured to intercede for their unhappy fathers and relations, were
burned alive. My blood runs cold at the idea of such depravity; and I
shrink, from the reflection that our own history will furnish us with
annals, almost or fully as replete with horror as the one I am now
relating.
It is not all surprising that such unjustifiable cruelty should kindle
disgust in the minds of those who were not totally divested of the
feelings of humanity.
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