He Has Steadily Withstood The Wrath Of The Meccan
Sharif, And Taught Him To Respect The British Name.
The Abbe Hamilton
ascribed the attentions of the Prince to “the infinite respect which the
Arabs entertain for Mr. Cole’s straightforward way of doing business,—it
was a delicate flattery addressed to him.” And the writer was right;
honesty of purpose is never thrown away amongst these people.
The
general contrast between our Consular proceedings at Cairo and Jeddah
is another proof of the advisability of selecting Indian officials to
fill offices of trust at Oriental courts. They have lived amongst
Easterns, and they know one Asiatic language, with many Asiatic
customs; and, chief merit of all, they have learned to assume a tone of
command, without which, whatever may be thought of it in England, it is
impossible to take the lead in the East. The “home-bred” diplomate is not
only unconscious of the thousand traps everywhere laid for him, he even
plays into the hands of his crafty antagonists by a ceremonious
politeness, which they interpret—taking ample care that the
interpretation should spread—to be the effect of fear or of fraud.
Jeddah[FN#8] has been often described by modern pens.
[p.268] Burckhardt (in A.D. 18[14]) devoted a hundred pages of his two
volumes to the unhappy capital of the Tihamat al-Hijaz, the lowlands of
the mountain region. Later still, MM. Mari and Chedufau wrote upon the
subject; and two other French travellers, MM.
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