Here and there a graceful palm, a dark
olive, or the black bushy kharoub, and all denned sharply and clearly in
the goodly prospect. But these Barbary towns had lost much of their
freshness or novelty to me, and novelty is the greatest ingredient of
our pleasure in foreign travel. I had also just travelled through Spain,
and the south of this country is still, as to its aspect, part and
parcel of Morocco, though it is severed by the Straits. In the ancient
Moorish city of Cordova, I had even saluted the turban. I met two Moors
strolling along, with halting steps and triste mien, through the
streets, whom I instinctively addressed.
"_Wein mashe. Ash tomel_. Where are you going? What are you doing?"
The Moors (greatly pleased to hear the sound of their own mother-tongue
in the land of their pilgrimage). - "_Net jerrej_. We are enjoying
ourselves."
Traveller. - "What do you think of the country (Cordova)?"
The Moors. - "This is the land of our fathers."
Traveller. - "Well, what then? Are you going to possess it again?"
The Moors. - "Of what country are you?"
Traveller. - "Engleez."
The Moors (brightening up). - "That is good. Yes, we are very glad. We
thought you might be a Spaniard, or a Frenchman. Now we'll tell you all;
we don't fear. God will give us this country again, when Seedna Aisa [4]
comes to deliver us from these curse-smitten dogs of Spaniards." [5]
Traveller. - "Well, never mind the Spaniards. Have you seen anything you
like here?"
The Moors. - "Look at this knife; it is rusty; it should not be so."
Traveller. - "How!"
The Moors. - "We read in our books and commentators that in Andalous
(Spain) there is no rust, and that nothing rusts here." [6]
Traveller. - "Nonsense; have you seen the hundred pillars of your
mosque?" (Now converted into a cathedral.)
The Moors. - "Ah, we have seen them," with a deep sigh; "and the pillars
will stand till to-morrow." (End of the world.)
I was obliged to say farewell to these poor pilgrims, wandering in the
land of their fathers, and worshipping at the threshold of the noble
remains of Moresco-Spanish antiquity, for the _diligencia_ was starting
off to Seville.
To return from my digression. I soon found myself at home in Tangier
amongst my old friends, the Moors, and coming from Spain, could easily
recognise many things connecting the one country with the other.
The success attending the various measures of the Bey of Tunis for the
abolition of slavery in North Africa, and the favourable manner in which
this prince had received me, when I had charge of a memorial from the
inhabitants of Malta, to congratulate his Highness on his great work on
philanthropy, induced the Committee of the Anti-Slavery Society to
confide to me an address to the Emperor of Morocco, praying him to
enfranchise the negro race of his imperial dominions.
We were fully prepared to encounter the strongest opposition from the
Shereefian Court; but, at the same time, we thought there could be no
insuperable obstacle in our way.
The Maroquines had the same religion and form of government as the
Tuniseens, and by perseverance in this, as well as any other enterprise,
something might at last be effected. Even the agitation of the question
in the empire of Morocco, amongst its various tribes, was a thing not to
be neglected; for the agitation of public opinion in a despotic country
like Morocco, as well as in a constitutional state like England,
admirably prepares the way for great measures of reform and
philanthropy; and, besides the business of an abolitionnist is
agitation; agitation unceasing; agitation in season and out of season.
On my arrival at Tangier, I called upon Mr. Drummond Hay, the British
Consul-General, stating to him my object, and asking his assistance. The
English Government had instructed the Consul to address the Emperor on
this interesting subject, not long before I arrived, but it was with the
greatest difficulty that any sort of answer could be obtained to the
communication.
Mr. Hay, therefore, gave me but small encouragement, and was not a
little surprised when I told him I expected a letter of introduction
from Her Majesty's Government. He could not understand this reiterated
assault on the Shereefs for the abolition of slavery, not comprehending
the absolute necessity of continued agitation on such a difficult
matter, as exciting from a despotic and semi-barbarous prince, fortified
by the prejudices of ages and generally sanctioned in his conduct by his
religion, the emancipation of a degraded and enslaved portion of the
human race. [7] However, Mr. Hay was polite, and set about arranging
matters for proceeding with a confessedly disagreeable subject for any
consul to handle under like circumstances. He made a copy of the address
of the Anti-Slavery Society, and sent it to the English Government,
requesting instructions. I expected an address from the Institut
d'Afrique of Paris; but, after waiting some time, the Secretary, Mr.
Hippolyte de St. Anthoine, wrote me a letter, in which he stated that,
on account of the ill-will manifested by the Emperor to the
establishment of the French in Algeria, the Institut had come to the
painful conclusion of not addressing him for the abolition of the
slave-trade in his imperial states.
Soon after my arrival at Tangier, the English letter-boat, Carreo
Ingles, master, Matteo Attalya, brought twelve eunuch slaves, African
youths, from Gibraltar. They are a present from the Viceroy of Egypt to
the Emperor of Morocco. The Correo is the weekly bearer of letters and
despatches to and from Morocco. The slaves were not entered upon the
bill of health, thus infringing upon the maritime laws of Gibraltar and
Tangier.
