According To The Orders Of The Sultan, Whose Nominal Supremacy Over The
Hedjaz Was Recognised Until The Last Wahaby Conquest,
The revenue
arising from the customs collected at Djidda should have been divided
equally between the Pasha and the sherif
Of Mekka, while the former was
to have exclusively the command of the town. When the Turks began to
subdue Asia, the sherif received only one third of this revenue, and it
was not until the year of the Hedjira 1042 that he obtained the
half. [Vide Asami, History of the Hedjaz.] Subsequently,
[p.47] however, the sherif not only usurped the government of Djidda,
but also applied the customs wholly to his own use, the Pasha being
rendered altogether dependent upon his bounty.
Soon after the death of Sherif Pasha, the Sherif Ghaleb was obliged to
surrender Mekka to the Wahabys, having been besieged, the preceding
year, in Djidda, by Saoud. He then openly declared himself a proselyte
to the Wahaby faith, and a subject of the Wahaby chief, though he still
retained full possession of Djidda and the produce of its customs, which
formed the principal part of his income. The Wahabys did not enter the
town, which ostensibly declared in favour of their doctrines. The
Turkish soldiers were now obliged to retire towards Egypt, or elsewhere;
and from that period till 1811 all Turkish authority was entirely
excluded from the Hedjaz.
In 1811, Mohammed Aly Pasha commenced his operations against the
Wahabys, by sending a body of troops under the command of his son
Tousoun Bey, who was defeated in the passes between Yembo and Medina. A
second, in 1812, was more successful: while Tousoun, in September of
that year, took Medina, Mustafa Bey, the Pasha's brother-in-law,
proceeded directly with the cavalry under his command to Djidda, Mekka,
and Tayf; all which surrendered, almost without bloodshed. The Sherif
Ghaleb, who, from the moment he began to apprehend the probable success
of Aly's expedition, had entered into a secret correspondence with
Egypt, now openly declared himself a friend to the Turks, who entered
Djidda as friends. The title of Pasha of Djidda was soon after conferred
by the Porte upon Tousoun, as a reward for his services. The details of
this war will be given in another place; I shall, therefore, only
mention here, that after the Osmanlys, or Turks, entered Djidda, a
quarrel arose between the Pasha and the sherif respecting the customs,
which were to be divided between them, but which the Pasha, being now
superior in power, kept wholly to himself. He sent the sherif as
prisoner to Turkey, and
[p.48] since that event, the town has continued wholly at his disposal,
the new sherif, Yahya, being a servant in the pay of Tousoun.
Djidda, in the time of Sherif Ghaleb, was governed either by himself,
when he resided there, or, during his absence, by an officer called
Vizir, under whose orders the police of the town was placed; while the
collection of the customs (gumruk) was entrusted to another officer,
called the gumrukdjy; and the police of the harbour to the Emir el
Bahhr, or the "Chief of the Sea," a title equivalent to "harbour-
master." In later times the vizir was a black slave of Ghaleb, and much
detested for his pride and despotic conduct. Ghaleb seldom resided in
Djidda, his continual intrigues with the Bedouins, and his schemes
against the Wahaby tribes, requiring his presence in the more central
position of Mekka.
The form of government which existed under Ghaleb has not been changed
by the Osmanlys. It happened that Tousoun Pasha could seldom reside in
his capital, being placed under the command of his father, who received
from the Porte the entire direction of the Hedjaz war, and the disposal
of all the resources of that country. Tousoun was more usefully employed
in moving about with the troops under his command, till he returned to
Cairo in the autumn of 1815. Since the year 1812, a military commander
has always resided in the town, with a garrison of two or three hundred
men, which the Pasha takes care to change every three or four months.
The collection of the customs, the entire regulation of civil affairs,
the correspondence with Cairo and Mekka, the conveyance of troops,
stores, and government merchandize between Egypt and Djidda, and the
Pasha's treasury, are in the hands of this commander, whose name is Seyd
Ali Odjakly. His father was from Asia Minor, and belonged to the corps
of Janissaries (Odjak), whence his son takes the epithet of Odjakly. He
is disliked by the merchants of Djidda, because they remember his
selling nuts in the streets about twenty years ago. In the time of
Sherif Ghaleb,
[p.49] he was employed by him in his private commercial affairs; and as
he possesses great talents and activity, joined to a good knowledge of
the Turkish language, Mohammed Ali could with difficulty have pitched
upon a person more competent to fill the post which he now holds.
The public revenue of Djidda arises almost exclusively from the customs,
called here ashour, or tithes. This ought legally to be, as I was
informed, ten per cent. upon all imported goods; but, in consequence of
abuses which have been long practised, some articles of merchandize are
charged much higher, while others pay less. During the latter period of
the sherif's power, coffee was charged at five dollars the quintal,
which may be computed as fifteen to twenty per cent. Spices pay somewhat
less than ten per cent.; India piece-goods something more. Great
irregularity, therefore, exists in levying the customs; and it is in the
power of the officer of customs to favour his friends without incurring
any responsibility.
After the sherif had embraced the Wahabi doctrine, his income was
greatly diminished; because Saoud, the chief of the Wahabis, insisted
that the goods of all his followers should pass duty-free, and thus the
greater part of the coffee trade became exempt.
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