Having Laid This Before His
Excellency, I Was So Fortunate As To Prevail On Him To Request The
Emperor To Renew It, And To Grant An Increase Of Fresh Provisions,
During The War, To The Fleet Off Cadiz, And To The Garrison Of
Gibraltar.
It is impossible to doubt for a moment, at at whose instigation it was
that Ash-Ash behaved in this infamous manner.
It is certainly the
interest of the French nation to prevent, if possible, our receiving
supplies from Barbary; consequently we cannot wonder that every means
should be employed to accomplish this end, and Ash-Ash is certainly
the fittest instrument, from his hatred to the English: fortunately,
however, he is not a free agent. My friend, and the friend of the
English, the good Governor of this place, referred the whole to the
Emperor, who has very satisfactorily adjusted every thing to our
advantage, and the mortification of the French Consul, and his tool.
At the same time that His Excellency received the answer from the
Emperor to the above-mentioned application, a letter arrived,
requiring his immediate attendance at Fez; from which place you shall
again hear from me.
LETTER X.
_Depart from Larache with a little Army - Moorish military
Salute - Numerous Villages - Customary Procession of the
Inhabitants - Judicial Arrangements - River Beth resembles the Po - Herds
of Camels - Arrive at Mequinez - French Falsehood again put
down - Excellent Road from Mequinez - Fertility and Luxuriance of the
adjacent Country - Procession to the Sanctuary of Sidy
Edris - Multiplicity of Saints - Ceremony demonstrative of the Emperor's
Favour - Take possession of my new Residence._
Fez, - - 1806.
In consequence of the dispatches received from the Emperor, we left
Larache the same day. The Governor commands a territory of two hundred
English miles. He put himself at the head of his troops, which
amounted to six thousand cavalry, divided into squadrons,
distinguished by their respective standards. There were in his train,
besides, a prodigious number of mules, some carrying field equipage
and provisions, others the treasures, consisting of the collected
taxes, and presents for the Emperor.
This little army moved on in tolerably good order and discipline. It
was preceded by an officer at the head of a small corps, doing the
duty of a Quarter-master-general. We were met on our way by several
officers, with small detachments of soldiers, under the government of
His Excellency. The Moorish mode of saluting attracted my attention;
when on a level in point of rank, the officers embrace each other, and
then kiss the back of their own hand; but in saluting a superior, they
kiss the hem of his garment; upon which he presents his hand, and they
salute it. I assure you, they do all this with considerable grace.
In passing through villages (which in this part are very numerous, and
formed of a much greater collection of tents than those described in a
former letter), we were received by a great concourse of men, women,
and children, shouting, and making a noise exactly resembling the
whoop of the North American savages.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 28 of 76
Words from 14031 to 14543
of 39195
