At The
Instance Of The Prime Minister, Ben Dris, They Were Pardoned; But,
Instead Of Receiving Gratefully This Imperial Mercy, The Troops Broke
Out Afresh In Rebellion, Which, With Great Difficulty, Was Quelled By
The Sultan.
This, however, being accomplished, he called the prime
minister before him, and thus addressed the amazed vizier.
"Now, Sir, receive four hundred bastinadoes for your pains, and pay me
30,000 ducats; you will then take care in future how you give me
advice." Nevertheless, Ben Dris still remained vizier, and continued so
till his death. Bastinadoing a minister in Morocco is, however, much the
same as a forced resignation, or the dismissal of a minister in Europe.
Doubtless Ben Dris thought himself surprisingly lucky that the Emperor
did not cut off his head.
It was the late Mr. Hay's opinion, that Muley Abd Errahman was a good
man, but surrounded with bad advisers. The probability seems rather,
that he took all the credit of the good acts of his advisers, and flung
on them the odium of all the bad acts committed by himself, as many
other despotic sovereigns have often done before him.
With regard to the disaffection of the people, as alleged by Mr. Cohen,
its verification is of great importance to us, and our appreciation of
it equally so.
We might be counting upon the resistance of the Maroquines against an
invasion of the French, and find, to our astonishment, the invaders
received as deliverers from the exactions and tyrannies of the
Shereefian oppressor.
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