The Pasha,
However, Who Was At Mekka When She Touched At Djidda, In Direct
Violation Of His Engagements, Stopped The
Ship, prohibited her
proceeding to Suez, compelled the captain to sell the cargo at a loss,
while the plague was
Raging in the town, and exacted the same duties as
are taken on country ships, in contravention of the stipulations
existing between Great Britain and the Porte. This affair, which created
great disgust amongst the Europeans in Egypt, might easily have been
remedied by retaliation upon the Pasha's ships trading to Malta, which
would have taught him to respect the British flag wherever he might meet
it. The British officers, however, from an erroneous conception perhaps
of his power and
[p.21] importance, and from a wish to remain upon a friendly footing
with him, instead of evincing any displeasure, preferred submitting
silently to the outrage; forgetting that the favour of a Turkish ruler
can never be bought by conciliation, but can only be obtained by an
attitude of defiance. In consequence of all this, the merchants were
obliged to make a second treaty with the Pasha, which was formally
ratified. His first demand was, that the ships should pay at Suez the
joint customs of that port and Djidda, which would have been equivalent
to about 12 per cent.; but he contented himself, at last, with a promise
of 9 per cent. upon all imports into Suez from India, which was six per
cent. more than the usual duty paid by European merchants in the ports
of the Grand Signior. This arrangement, it is supposed, will lead to the
opening of an active trade. The Pasha himself is disposed to speculate
on his own account; and the first adventure he sent to Bombay, in the
spring of 1816, was to bring him, in return, a richly caparisoned
elephant, destined as a present to his sovereign at Constantinople.
Still, however, I am afraid he will as little respect the second treaty
as he did the first; for his avarice, if not effectually checked, knows
no bounds, and he can at any time exact additional imposts, as far as
the profits of this new commercial route can bear them, by threatening
the security of the road from Suez to Cairo, the Bedouins of the
neighbouring Desert being completely at his command.
The former master of Djidda, Sherif Ghaleb, was actively engaged in the
Indian trade; he had two ships, of four hundred tons each, employed in
it, besides many smaller vessels in the coffee trade to Yemen; indeed,
he was a shrewd speculator in all branches of the Red Sea trade. He
oppressed the merchants of Djidda by heavy duties and his own powerful
competition; but he was never known to practise extortion upon them. If
he borrowed money, he repaid it at the stipulated time, and never
ventured to levy extraordinary contributions from individuals, although
he did [p.22] it from the whole community, by increasing the duties in
an arbitrary manner.
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