And What Are Treaties Made For, If They Do
Not Bind Both Parties?
In illustration of the way in which British subjects have their disputes
sometimes settled, according to Articles VII and VIII, I take the
liberty of introducing the case of Mr. Saferty, a respectable Gibraltar
merchant, settled at Mogador.
A few months before my arrival in that
place, this gentleman was adjudged, in the presence of his Consul, Mr.
Willshire, and the Governor of Mogador, for repelling an insult offered
to him by a Moor, and sentenced to be imprisoned with felons and
cut-throats in a horrible dungeon. However, Mr. Saferty was attended by
a numerous body of his friends; so when the sentence was given, a cry of
indignation arose, a scuffle ensued, and the prisoner was rescued from
the Moorish police-officers. Mr. Willshire found the means of patching
up the business with the Moorish authorities, and the case was soon
forgotten. "All's well that ends well."
I do not say that the Moors are determinedly vindictive, or seek
quarrels with Europeans; on the contrary, I believe the cause of the
dispute frequently rests with the European, and the bona-fide agressor,
some adventurer whose conduct was so bad in his own country, that he
sought Barbary as a refuge from the pursuit of the minister of justice.
What I wish to lay stress on is, the enormous power given to the
Emperor, by a solemn treaty, in making him the final judge, and the
imminent exposure of British subjects to the barbarous punishments of a
semi-civilized people.
Article X is a most singular one. "Renegades from the English nation, or
subjects who change their religion to embrace the Moorish, they being of
unsound mind at the time of turning Moors, shall not be admitted as
Moors, and may again return to their former religion; but if they
afterwards resolve to be Moors, they must abide by their own decision,
and their excuses will not be accepted."
It was a wonderful discovery of our modern morale, that a renegade,
being a madman, should not be considered a renegade in earnest, or
responsible for his actions. Nevertheless, these unfortunate beings,
should they have better thoughts, or as mad-doctors have it, "a lucid
interval," and leave the profession of the Mahometan faith, and
afterwards again relapse into madness, and turn Mahometans once more,
are doomed to irretrievable slavery, or if they relapse, to death
itself; the Mahometan law, punishes relapsing renegades with death. This
curious clause says, "that though being madmen, they must abide their
decision (of unreason) and their excuses will not be accepted." This
said article was confirmed as late as the year 1824 by the
plenipotentiary of a nation, which boasts of being the most free and
civilized of Europe, and whose people spend annually millions for the
conversion of the heathen, and the extinction of the slave-trade.
The last clause of Article IV also demands our attention, viz. "And if
any English merchant should happen to have a vessel in or outside the
port, he may go on board himself, or any of his people, without being
liable to pay anything whatever."
Now in spite of this (but of course forgotten) stipulation, the
merchants of Mogador are not permitted to visit their own vessels, nor
those of other persons which may happen to be in or outside the port. It
is true, the authorities plead the reason of their refusal to be, "The
merchants are indebted to the Emperor:" neither will the authorities
take any security, and arbitrarily, and insolently prohibit, under any
circumstances, the merchants from visiting their vessels. I have said
enough to shew that our treaties (I beg the reader's pardon,
"capitulations") with the Emperor of Morocco, require immediate
revision, and to be amended with articles more suited to the spirit of
the age, and European civilization, as likewise more consistent with the
dignity of Great Britian.
The treaty for the supply of provisions, especially cattle, to the
garrison of Gibraltar is either a verbal one, or a secret arrangement,
for no mention is made of it in the published state paper documents. It
is probably a mere verbal unwritten understanding, but, neverthelesss is
more potent in its working than the written treaties. This is not the
first time that the unwritten has proved stronger than the written
engagement.
CHAPTER III.
The two different aspects by which the strength and resources of the
Empire of Morocco may be viewed or estimated. - Native appellation of
Morocco. - Geographical limits of this country. - Historical review of the
inhabitants of North Africa, and the manner in which this region was
successively peopled and conquered. - The distinct varieties of the human
race, as found in Morocco. - Nature of the soil and climate of this
country. - Derem, or the Atlas chain of mountains. - Natural
products. - The Shebbel, or Barbary salmon; different characters of
exports of the Northern and Southern provinces. - The Elaeonderron
Argan. - Various trees and plants. - Mines. - The Sherb-Errech, or
Desert-horse.
The empire of Morocco may be considered under two aspects, as to its
extent, and as to its influence. It may be greatly circumscribed or
expanded to an almost indefinite extent, according to the feelings, or
imagination, of the writer, or speaker. A resident here gave me a meagre
_tableau_, something like this,
The city of Morocco 50,000 souls.
" Fez 40,000 "
" Mequinez 25,000 "
- - - -
115,000 "
The maritime cities contain little more than 100,000 inhabitants, making
altogether about 220,000. Over the provinces of the south, Sous and
Wadnoun, the Sultan has no real power; so the south is cut off as an
integral portion of the empire. Over the Rif, or the northern Berber
provinces, the Sultan exercises a precarious sovereignty, every man's
gun or knife is there his law and authority. Fez contains a disaffected
population, teeming some years since with the adherents of Abd-el-Kader.
Then the Atlas is full of quasi-independent Berber tribes, who detest
equally the Arabs and the Moorish government; finally, Tafilett and the
provinces on the eastern side of the Atlas, are too remote to feel the
influence of the central government.
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