[22] See Appendix at end of Vol. II.
[23] Muley Abd Errahman is averse to treating his governors with extreme
rigour. Mr. Hay gives an appalling account of private individuals
arrested on suspicion of possessing great wealth - "The most horrible
tortures are freely resorted to for forcing confessions of hidden
wealth. The victim is put in a slow oven, or kept standing for weeks in
a wooden dress; splinters are forced between the flesh and the nail of
the fingers; two fierce cats are put alive into his wide trousers, and
the breasts of his women are twisted with pincers. Young children have
sometimes been squeezed to death under the arms of a powerful man,
before the eyes of their parents."
A wealthy merchant at Tangier, whose _auri sacra fames_ had led him to
resist for a long time the cruel tortures that had been, employed
against him, yielded at length to the following trial. "He was placed in
a corner of the room, wherein a hungry lion was chained in such a manner
as to be able to reach him with his claws, unless he held himself in a
most unnatural position." This reads very much like a description of the
torments of the Inquisition. The Moors may have imported this system of
torture from Spain. Similar barbarities were said to have been inflicted
by King Otho on prisoners in Greece, even on British Ionian subjects! I
recollect particularly the sewing up of fierce cats in the petticoats of
women. My experience in Morocco does not permit me to authenticate Mr.
Hay's horrible picture.
[24] "To his Imperial Majesty the Emperor of Morocco, Sidi Muley Abd
Errahman.
"May it please your Majesty,
"A Society in England, having for its object the Abolition of Slavery
and the Slave Trade throughout the world, and denominated the British
and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, being informed of the pacific
intentions and friendly disposition of your Majesty towards our
Sovereign Queen and Government, and being informed likewise, that your
Majesty, in diplomatic relations with other Foreign Princes and States,
has universally manifested the greatest desire to preserve peace amongst
nations, and, of necessary consequence, the happiness of the human race,
are encouraged to approach your Majesty, and to plead on behalf of a
numerous and important class of your subjects, the negro and other black
slaves.
"These are a people always faithful to their friends and protectors (a
most conspicuous and immediate proof of which is seen in your Majesty's
Imperial Guard, formed principally of this class of your faithful
subjects,) and exhibiting under suffering and oppression the greatest
patience and fortitude, yet, during the long course of bygone centuries,
they have been subjected to horrid cruelties and barbarities, in order
to pander to the vices and to satiate the avarice of their oppressors.
