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.
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