When The Ship Had Completed Her Water, Signals Were Made To
Strike The Tent, And Every One To Repair On Board.
It has always been customary for English men of war going to water
there, to make the commanding officer a present of a cartridge of
powder, which compliment was duly paid by the second Lieutenant of the
Swiftsure; but the Moorish Captain, not contented with one cartridge,
insisted upon having two.
The Lieutenant refused to comply with this
new and extraordinary demand; upon which he was immediately seized by
a party of soldiers, who, after knocking him down, pinioned him, and
in this degrading manner marched him up to Tetuan, under a strong
escort.
Captain Rutherford (who commands the Swiftsure), on hearing of this
daring outrage, could with difficulty refrain from making instant
reprisals: but unwilling to embroil the two nations, he sailed without
delay, and arrived in the course of a few hours in this bay. Two days
after Mr. Wickes, the Lieutenant, joined the Swiftsure. He reports,
that, after a most painful march, he was taken before Governor
Ash-Ash, who released him, immediately, and promised to punish the
Captain of the fort for the insult; a promise which, I am pretty
confident, he never performed.
Such an act will naturally inspire you with horror, and induce you to
consider the Moors as a ferocious, barbarous set of people: but,
believe me, it could only have been perpetrated under the government
of _Ash-Ash_. At any other port of Barbary, a British officer will
meet with a most kind and hospitable reception, and every mark of
respect due to him.
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