Mr. Treppass Says, The Present System Of The Court Is Resistance To All
Innovation, To All Strangers.
But the pressure of the French on the
Algerine frontier is agitating the internal state of this country.
Money, which in other countries goes a long way, will almost do every
thing with the Government of Morocco.
It will also effect much with the
people. Some fifty years ago, a Geneose merchant, resident in Mogador,
had the two provinces of Hhaha and Shedma under his control, and could
have made himself Sultan over them; this he effected solely by the
distribution of money. The Sultan of the time was in open war with a
pretender; his Imperial Highness begged for the assistance of the
all-powerful merchant. The merchant bought the affections and allegiance
of the people, and firmly established the Sultan on his throne.
The influence of the merchant was now prodigious, and the Sultan himself
became alarmed. Not being able to rest, and being in hourly dread of the
Genoese, the Sultan ordered his officers to seize the merchant secretly,
and put him on board a vessel then weighing anchor for Europe. When the
merchant was placed on board, this message was delivered to him - "Our
Sultan is extremely obliged to you, sir, for the great services you
rendered him, by establishing him on his throne! but our Sultan says,
'If you could place him on the throne, you could also pull him off
again.' Therefore you must leave our country. Our Sultan graciously
gives you a portion of your wealth to carry away with you!" The officers
then shipped several chests of money, jewels, and other valuables to be
placed to the account of the merchant, and the Sultan-making Genoese
quitted Morocco for ever.
The Moors reported to me that the French were building some factories,
with a fort, upon some unclaimed land along the coast, equidistant
between Aghadir and Wadnoun. It is probably near Fort Hillsboro of the
maps, and which Mr. Davidson calls Isgueder. A Moor was accused by the
authorities of Mogador of being mixed up with the transaction, and
immediately sent to the south, where he has not been heard of since.
Another report is that the French are only building a factory. The spot
of land has near it a small port and a good spring of water; quantities
of bricks and lime have been deposited there; French vessels of war from
the Senegal have been coasting and surveying up and down, touching at
the place.
The new port is called Yedoueesai. I inquired particularly respecting
this project; but Mr. Treppass stated positively, that the French had
wholly abandoned the idea of establishing commercial relations with the
Sheikh of Wadnoun, or any tribes thereabouts, whatever might have been
their original intentions. Vessels of war have frequently visited the
coast of Wadnoun, finding it the worst in all Africa. They, however, now
maintain friendly relations with the Sheikh, in the event of shipwrecks
or other disasters, happening to French vessels.
Nevertheless, it was at the particular request of the French Consul of
Mogador, that his Government broke off all communications with the
Sheikh, the Emperor having repeatedly complained to the Consul against
this intercourse assuming a commercial or diplomatic character. [34] The
whole coast, from the port of Mogador to the river Senegal, has been,
within the last few years, surveyed by the French vessels of war,
particularly by Captain E. Bouet; and there is sufficient evidence in
the reports of the people, and the remonstrances of the Maroquine
Government, to prove that the French did attempt a settlement on the
part of the coast above stated, but that it failed.
The French took the idea of the undertaking from Davidson, who proposed
to Lord Palmerston to enter into communication with the Sheikh of
Wadnoun, and establish a factory on the coast, somewhere about the river
Noun, just below Cape Noun. A British vessel of war was sent down with
presents for the Sheikh, and to ascertain the whereabout of the fine
harbour reported to exist there by the Sheikh and his people. This
attempt of our government was as fruitless as that of the French
afterwards. Indeed, at the very time an English brig of war was
searching about for this port, and seeking an interview with the Sheikh
of Wadnoun on the coast, Davidson was murdered on the southern frontier
just as he was penetrating the Sahara.
It is not improbable, however, that the knowledge of this recommendation
of Davidson, which, from the Sheikh's people themselves, would naturally
reach the court of Morocco, might have excited that jealous court to
compass in some way his death, or at any rate thwart his expedition to
Timbuctoo, for the Emperor is exceedingly jealous of any European
holding communication with the south. The Sheikh Barook is, in spite of
all this, very anxious to begin an intercourse with Europeans; and not
long ago, a messenger arrived with a bag of money for the Jew, Cohen,
telling him to take some out of it, and to go to the Sheikh who wished
to see him. But Cohen would not expose himself to the displeasure of the
Emperor, although he has English protection.
Wadnoun is a quasi-independent Sheikhdom of the empire. The Sheikh of
Wadnoun pays no tithes nor other imposts, and only sends an annual
present as a mark of vassal-homage to the Emperor. Sous, which adjoins
this province, is more immediately under the power of the Sultan of the
Shereefs, but the tithes are not so easily collected in the south as in
the north. Much depends on the ability of the governor, who rules the
whole of the district in the name of the Emperor. The imperial authority
is maintained principally by prompting disunion amongst the Sheikhs;
Sous being divided into numerous districts, each district having an
independent Sheikh.
By confusion and divisions among themselves, the Emperor rules all as
paramount-lord.
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