If
There Was A Small Island In The Mouth Of It, To Break Off The
Force Of The Waves, When The Wind Is Southerly, It Would Be One
Of The Finest Harbours In The World; For The Ground Is Exceeding
Good For Anchorage:
There is a sufficient depth of water, and
room enough for the whole navy of England.
On the right hand, as
you enter the port, there is an elegant fanal, or lighthouse,
kept in good repair: but in all the charts of this coast which I
have seen, this lanthorn is laid down to the westward of the
harbour; an error equally absurd and dangerous, as it may mislead
the navigator, and induce him to run his ship among the rocks, to
the eastward of the lighthouse, where it would undoubtedly
perish. Opposite to the mouth of the harbour is the fort, which
can be of no service, but in defending the shipping and the town
by sea; for, by land, it is commanded by Montalban, and all the
hills in the neighbourhood. In the war of 1744, it was taken and
retaken. At present, it is in tolerable good repair. On the left
of the fort, is the basin for the gallies, with a kind of dock,
in which they are built, and occasionally laid up to be refitted.
This basin is formed by a pretty stone mole; and here his
Sardinian majesty's two gallies lie perfectly secure, moored with
their sterns close to the jette. I went on board one of these
vessels, and saw about two hundred miserable wretches, chained to
the banks on which they sit and row, when the galley is at sea.
This is a sight which a British subject, sensible of the blessing
he enjoys, cannot behold without horror and compassion. Not but
that if we consider the nature of the case, with coolness and
deliberation, we must acknowledge the justice, and even sagacity,
of employing for the service of the public, those malefactors who
have forfeited their title to the privileges of the community.
Among the slaves at Ville Franche is a Piedmontese count,
condemned to the gallies for life, in consequence of having been
convicted of forgery. He is permitted to live on shore; and gets
money by employing the other slaves to knit stockings for sale.
He appears always in the Turkish habit, and is in a fair way of
raising a better fortune than that which he has forfeited.
It is a great pity, however, and a manifest outrage against the
law of nations, as well as of humanity, to mix with those
banditti, the Moorish and Turkish prisoners who are taken in the
prosecution of open war. It is certainly no justification of this
barbarous practice, that the Christian prisoners are treated as
cruelly at Tunis and Algiers. It would be for the honour of
Christendom, to set an example of generosity to the Turks; and,
if they would not follow it, to join their naval forces, and
extirpate at once those nests of pirates, who have so long
infested the Mediterranean. Certainly, nothing can be more
shameful, than the treaties which France and the Maritime Powers
have concluded with those barbarians. They supply them with
artillery, arms, and ammunition, to disturb their neighbours.
They even pay them a sort of tribute, under the denomination of
presents; and often put up with insults tamely, for the sordid
consideration of a little gain in the way of commerce. They know
that Spain, Sardinia, and almost all the Catholic powers in the
Mediterranean, Adriatic, and Levant, are at perpetual war with
those Mahometans; that while Algiers, Tunis, and Sallee, maintain
armed cruisers at sea, those Christian powers will not run the
risque of trading in their own bottoms, but rather employ as
carriers the maritime nations, who are at peace with the
infidels. It is for our share of this advantage, that we
cultivate the piratical States of Barbary, and meanly purchase
passports of them, thus acknowledging them masters of the
Mediterranean.
The Sardinian gallies are mounted each with five-and-twenty oars,
and six guns, six-pounders, of a side, and a large piece of
artillery amidships, pointing ahead, which (so far as I am able
to judge) can never be used point-blank, without demolishing the
head or prow of the galley. The accommodation on board for the
officers is wretched. There is a paltry cabin in the poop for the
commander; but all the other officers lie below the slaves, in a
dungeon, where they have neither light, air, nor any degree of
quiet; half suffocated by the heat of the place; tormented by
fleas, bugs, and lice; and disturbed by the incessant noise over
head. The slaves lie upon the naked banks, without any other
covering than a tilt. This, however, is no great hardship, in a
climate where there is scarce any winter. They are fed with a
very scanty allowance of bread, and about fourteen beans a day
and twice a week they have a little rice, or cheese, but most of
them, while they are in harbour knit stockings, or do some other
kind of work, which enables them to make some addition to this
wretched allowance. When they happen to be at sea in bad weather,
their situation is truly deplorable. Every wave breaks over the
vessel, and not only keeps them continually wet, but comes with
such force, that they are dashed against the banks with
surprising violence: sometimes their limbs are broke, and
sometimes their brains dashed out. It is impossible (they say) to
keep such a number of desperate people under any regular command,
without exercising such severities as must shock humanity. It is
almost equally impossible to maintain any tolerable degree of
cleanliness, where such a number of wretches are crouded together
without conveniences, or even the necessaries of life. They are
ordered twice a week to strip, clean, and bathe themselves in the
sea:
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