And Present Condition of Tripoli, with some accounts of the other
Barbary States.
No. VI.
In the last number of these sketches, it was stated that Hamet "went
to Derne in 1809, where he passed the remainder of his life in quiet,
as Bey of the two Eastern Provinces." This has been since discovered
to be incorrect; within two years afterwards, he was again expelled by
the Pasha, for some cause or pretence, and obliged to fly with his
family to Egypt, where he died. In October, 1832, a man appeared at
the American Consulate in Alexandria, who declared himself to be
Mahommed Bey, eldest son of Hamet Caramalli; he stated that his
father's family were living in great indigence at Cairo, and his
object was to ascertain whether any relief could be expected for them
from the United States.
The conduct of the Bey of Tunis during the early part of the war
between Tripoli and the United States, has been already exposed. He
continued to observe the subsequent occurrences with great
attention,--manifesting the utmost anxiety with regard to the result.
He saw with dismay the increase of the American forces in the
Mediterranean, and the distressed condition to which Yusuf was reduced
by the determined manner in which they had been employed; and he
rightly conceived that by thus unveiling the weakness of one of the
Barbary States, the system which they were all interested in
preserving, was placed in jeopardy. With a view to avert the
apprehended danger, he made frequent offers of mediation, which having
been declined, he determined if possible to force a conclusion
favorable to his interests, by a display of hostile intentions against
the United States.
For this he soon found an excuse in the blockade of Tripoli. We have
seen that he at first refused to acknowledge this blockade, on the
just grounds that it was not maintained by a competent force; when
that force was increased so as effectually to close the port, he
insisted, that being at peace with the United States, his vessels had
the right of proceeding to any place without interruption by them, and
that the passport granted by the American Consul ought always to
afford them protection from the armed forces of his nation. The
passports granted by the Consuls of Christian powers in the Barbary
states, are merely certificates that the vessel is owned in the
country where the Consul resides, with a statement of her class, her
name and that of her captain, and other particulars requisite to
identify her; it protects the vessel from detention or capture by the
armed ships of the nation in whose name it is issued, for one year
after its date. The Consul in vain represented this to the Bey, and
endeavored to explain the principles of blockade; shewing that an
attempt to enter Tripoli would be a hostile act on the part of the
vessel making it, but on her part only, and should not necessarily
create any unfriendly feelings between the two governments; and that
the vessels of several Christian nations had been taken by the
American squadron, while they were thus endeavoring to force the
blockade, and condemned without any complaints having been made by
their governments.--To these representations, the Bey refused to
listen, contending that Christian laws and usages were not applicable
to affairs in which Oriental States were concerned; and declaring that
the capture of a Tunisian vessel by the Americans would be followed by
a declaration of war against them.
The question was at length brought to a direct issue. On the 24th of
May, an armed vessel under Tunisian colors, with two prizes, attempted
to enter the port of Tripoli, and were taken by the frigate
Constitution. On examination, it appeared that the cruiser
corresponded in no point with the description in the passport
exhibited by her captain, which must therefore have been improperly
obtained; and other circumstances led to the belief, that she was
Tripoline property and manned by Tripolines, although commanded by a
Tunisian subject. She was of course condemned, and sent with her
prizes to the United States.
The rage of the Bey on being informed of this seizure was violent and
unrestrained; he insisted that the Consul should cause the vessels to
be immediately restored, and ample satisfaction to be made for the
injury and insult committed against him and his subjects. Mr. Davis
replied, that having no power himself, he could only state the demand
to the Commodore, but he had no expectation that it would be complied
with. The Bey, according to the usual policy of the Barbary Princes,
would not admit of this reference to an authority over which he could
have no control or influence; and endeavored by threats of war and of
personal violence, to extort from the Consul a promise that the
vessels should be restored, in order that he might afterwards allege
such promise, as the solemn act of the American government. Davis
however remained firm, and transmitted a statement of the whole affair
to Mr. Lear, which reached him off Tripoli, immediately after the
conclusion of the peace with Yusuf.
In consequence of this communication, the Commodore wrote a letter to
Hamouda, declaring his demands inadmissible, and despatched a frigate
and a brig to watch his movements. This letter increased the rage of
the Bey; he told the Consul that negotiation was impossible; that he
would be forced into a war by the conduct of the Americans, who had
been the first to capture one of his cruisers in time of peace; and
that if hostilities should commence, they would not end while he had a
soldier to fire a gun. After such indications of his disposition,
Rodgers considered that no time was to be lost, he accordingly sailed
for Tunis, and arrived in the gulf on the 1st of August; his force
then amounted to five frigates, two brigs, a sloop of war, two
schooners, and several gun-boats.
A letter was immediately despatched to the Bey, requiring an
explanation of his intentions, and stating that unless he declared
them to be friendly within thirty-six hours, hostilities would be
commenced against him. To this demand Hamouda evaded giving a direct
answer; he informed the Consul that he had no wish to make war, until
he had heard from the President of the United States respecting his
vessels which had been captured; but that in the meantime, any attempt
on the part of the Americans to stop his cruisers, or to interrupt his
commerce, would be considered by him as a commencement of hostilities.
The Commodore knew too well the worthlesness of such verbal
assurances; and determined to have some stronger guaranty for their
performance. He therefore despatched Captain Stephen Decatur, who then
commanded the frigate Congress, to Tunis, with a letter requiring of
the Bey a written declaration of his pacific intentions, to be
witnessed by the English and French Consuls. Hamouda refused to see
Decatur, and showed so little disposition to come to terms, that the
Consul retired with his family on board the squadron.
Shortly after this, a Tunisian vessel attempting to put to sea, was
fired on by the Americans, and forced to return into port. This
circumstance created great consternation in Tunis; business was
suspended, the people became dissatisfied, and the Bey discovered that
he must yield. He in consequence wrote a letter to Rodgers, disavowing
his threats, declaring his willingness to remain at peace, and
inviting Mr. Lear, with whom he had hitherto refused to communicate,
to come on shore and treat with him on the subject of the existing
difficulties. Mr. Lear complied with this invitation, and several
conferences were held, in which the African Prince sustained his
character for shrewdness, exhibiting however a degree of suavity and
apparent frankness, which excited the admiration of the American
Commissioner. Supported by the oaths and attestations of his worthy
minister the Sapatapa, Hamouda gravely and solemnly denied having ever
uttered threats of hostilities against the United States, or of
violence towards their Consul, or of having made any unreasonable
demands; insisting that all the difficulties had been occasioned by
Mr. Davis, whom he indeed believed to be a good man, incapable of any
wilful misrepresentation, but who had most strangely interpreted some
of his expressions in a sense totally different from that intended,
and forgotten others. He had indeed asked for a frigate from the
United States; but that was a request such as one friend might make of
another, and the refusal of which should give rise to no difference
between them. The subject of blockades he could not understand; his
vessels had been taken in time of peace, and he would send an
Ambassador to the United States to demand their restitution, although
he would prefer having that business settled on the spot; in the
meantime, he was ready to give the strongest guaranties of his pacific
intentions. Nothing more could be demanded. A new Consul was presented
in place of Mr. Davis, who refused to return; and the frigate Congress
having been sent to the United States, to convey the Ambassador Sidi
Soliman Melle-Melle, the rest of the squadron quitted the Gulf of
Tunis about the 1st of September.
The Tunisian Ambassador arrived with his retinue at Washington, where
he excited great curiosity and attention.[1] He soon made a formal
demand, in his master's name, for the restoration of the vessels, or
their value, which was complied with from a desire to conciliate the
Bey; but this compliance encouraged the Ambassador to require a supply
of naval stores, as the price of peace for the succeeding three years,
which having been positively refused, he quitted the United States
without retracting the demand. His master however was at that time
engaged in a war with Algiers, and did not think proper to proceed
farther in his exactions; and although attempts were afterwards made
by him and his successor to force the Americans to pay tribute, they
proved always unsuccessful, and no actual interruption of peace
between the United States and Tunis has occurred since the termination
of the difference above stated.
[Footnote 1: Melle-Melle is still remembered in Washington, where his
dresses, his presents, his prayers, his Arabian horses, his refusing
to eat from sunrise to sunset during a particular time of the year,
(the Ramadan or Mahometan Lent,) and other of his Oriental customs and
peculiarities, form the subjects of many anecdotes. Among his
attendants was a passionate fellow named Hadji Mohammed, who having
had a quarrel with a barber in the city, threatened to kill him. The
barber complained to Mr. Madison, then Secretary of State, who sent
Mr. B----, a highly respected gentleman of his Department, to call on
Melle-Melle, and request him to curb the impetuosity of his follower.
The Ambassador received Mr. B---- with the usual Oriental forms of
politeness, and having heard the complaint, said a few words in Arabic
to one of his attendants, who went out, and presently re-appeared with
poor Hadji Mohammed, guarded by four men with drawn swords. This
apparition somewhat astounded Mr. B----, who is the most mild and
amiable of men; and he was still more shocked when Melle-Melle, in the
most courteous manner expressing his desire to do all in his power to
please the American government, offered to have the culprit's head
taken off immediately, and sent to the Secretary of State, unless he
or the President might prefer seeing it done themselves. Mr. B---- of
course declined such a demonstration of the Ambassador's good feeling
toward the United States, and hastened to assure him that no such mode
of reparation was demanded; it being only necessary to enjoin upon his
attendant to refrain from any acts of violence. This fact was related
to the writer by Mr. B---- himself.]
From Tunis the American squadron proceeded to Algiers, where Mr. Lear
landed, and was received with great respect by the government. At this
time it would doubtless have been easy to have relieved the United
States from the annual tribute of naval stores and munitions to the
value of twenty-one thousand dollars, which they were bound to pay to
that Regency by the treaty of 1795; but the Algerines had not
committed any notable infraction of the terms of that treaty, and
there was no cause of quarrel. In 1807 the government of the United
States, in anticipation of an immediate war with Great Britain,
recalled its naval forces from the Mediterranean, which sea was not
again visited by an American armed vessel until 1815. The peace with
Tripoli and Tunis has, however, continued without any absolute
interruption to this time; with Algiers it was broken in 1812, when
the Dey, emboldened by the absence of the American ships of war, and
instigated, as we shall show, by the British government, thought
proper to commence hostilities against the United States, for which a
signal retribution was exacted in 1815.
The occurrences of the war between Tunis and Algiers would be devoid
of interest, however faithfully related. Algiers had long maintained a
degree of arrogant influence over Tunis, which was very galling to the
sovereigns of the latter country. This was effected partly by
superiority in military and naval forces, partly by the aid of the
Ottoman Porte, which very naturally sided with Algiers against a state
scarcely acknowledging its dependance on the Sultan, but principally
by bribes to the high officers of the Tunisian government. To free his
kingdom from this nightmare had been the incessant endeavor of
Hamouda, and was the object of the war; its results were favorable to
the Tunisians, both at sea and on land; peace was made in September,
1808, and the influence of Algiers appears never since to have been
felt in the councils of Tunis.
From 1807 to 1815, the Mediterranean was navigated by few vessels
except those of Great Britain, which were forbidden fruit to the
Barbary cruisers; almost their only prey being the miserable
inhabitants of Sicily, Sardinia, and even of the Greek Islands,
although the latter were subject to the Sultan. One circumstance here
shows that the government of Great Britain still cherished the system
of encouraging piracy in the Mediterranean, as a means of excluding
other nations from its commerce. Sicily remained during the whole of
the period above mentioned, absolutely in possession of the British,
the authority of the king being nearly nominal. Yet, although its
vessels were daily attacked, and its inhabitants carried off from the
coasts to slavery in Africa, a truce negotiated with Algiers in 1810,
and an occasional remonstrance to the other two powers, which was
never attended to, were the only measures adopted to remedy the evil,
by those who styled themselves the protectors of the island. To the
honor of the Americans, it can be said with truth, that in their
Consuls the unhappy captives found friends, and that through the
active intercession of these agents, many of them were restored to
their homes.
The Pasha of Tripoli, as soon as he was relieved from the presence of
the American forces, began with great industry to restore tranquillity
in his dominions, and to repair his finances which had been exhausted
by the war. As he was almost shut out from the sea, he resolved to
establish and extend his authority on land. The fixed population of
this regency is small, and almost entirely confined to the few fertile
spots on the coast; the interior being principally desert or
mountainous, is inhabited by Arabs, who wander with their flocks from
pasture to pasture, or are engaged in the transportation of
merchandize, or live by plundering their more industrious neighbors.
The allegiance of these wanderers is always doubtful; the revenue
derived from taxing them is small, and is never obtained without
considerable difficulty. Whenever the Pasha is known to be in trouble
at home, they become refractory, refuse to pay their tribute, and
attack the caravans or towns on the coast; seldom indeed does a year
pass in which the sovereign of Tripoli is not engaged in war with some
of their tribes. Of these tribes, one called the Waled Suleiman had
long been formidable for its numbers and its rebellious disposition;
under a daring and sagacious chief the Sheik Safanissa, it had set at
defiance the power of the Pasha, and had frequently pushed its inroads
to the gates of the capital. Safanissa at length died; although his
descendants were brave and trained to war, and his tribe continued to
be powerful and influential, yet the magic of his presence was
wanting, to maintain that supremacy which it had so long boasted.
Yusuf saw this, and determined if possible to exterminate these
insolent foes. He began by gaining over to his side another powerful
tribe called the Waled Magarra, the hereditary rivals and enemies of
the Suleimans; and when he had sufficiently secured their fidelity, he
struck a blow which proved perfectly successful, and by which he
gained another object long considered important by the sovereigns of
Tripoli.
In the Desert south of this regency, is a large tract of habitable
country called Fezzan. The greater part of its surface is indeed a
sterile waste of sand, but there are many small spots containing clay
enough to render them capable of producing dates and some other
articles for the support of men and beasts. The labor of cultivation
is however very great, as it seldom or never rains, and there being
neither springs nor rivers, the water necessary for moistening the
earth can only be procured from wells. Almost the only articles of
export are dates and salt, which latter is procured in great
quantities from the borders of stagnant pools, and carried to the
coast of the Mediterranean, and to the negro countries south of the
desert. It is inhabited principally by a black race, differing in
feature however from the negroes; there are also many Arabs and some
Moors, making in all perhaps seventy thousand of the poorest and most
miserable of the human species. The sovereignty had long been
hereditary in a family originally from Morocco, which acknowledged its
dependance on Tripoli; but the Sultan of Fezzan, like the Arabs,
seldom paid his tribute when he could avoid it; and the expense of
collecting, had indeed of late years, amounted to more than the sum
obtained. Such a territory and such inhabitants would scarcely seem to
offer any inducements to conquest; but the position of Fezzan renders
it important to Tripoli, as through it passes the principal route from
the coast to the interior of the continent; and Yusuf was well assured
that the Sultan obtained a large revenue by exactions from his
subjects, and from the numerous caravans which traversed his
dominions. He was therefore anxious to have his share, and was the
more enraged at the insolence of this Prince in withholding it, as he
was supported and encouraged in so doing by an alliance with the Waled
Suleiman. At length in 1811, Yusuf seized a moment when the Suleimans
were absent on a foray in the Egyptian territory, and sent an army of
Tripolines and Magarra Arabs to Fezzan, under one of his most attached
and experienced generals, named Mahomet el Mukni, who was well
acquainted with the country, from having visited it several times to
receive the tribute. These troops rapidly passed the Gharian
mountains, which separate Tripoli from Fezzan, and appeared
unexpectedly before Morzouk, the capital of the latter kingdom; this
town, built of mud, and defended only by a wall and castle of the same
material, was easily taken, the Sultan and his family, with many of
the principal inhabitants, were put to death, the rest submitted to
the invaders, and the whole country was soon in their possession. The
neighboring Arabs overawed by this success, flocked to Mukni's
standard, and having received a reinforcement of Tripoline troops, he
marched to intercept the Waled Suleimans on their return from Egypt;
they were met, defeated, and almost exterminated. Abdi Zaleel, one of
the grandsons of Safanissa, was made prisoner, and retained for some
time by the Pasha as a hostage for the fidelity of the few whose lives
were spared. As a reward for the generalship displayed by Mukni, Yusuf
appointed him Governor of Fezzan, with the title of Sultan while in
that territory; he was required however, to transmit a large amount of
tribute, and also to make an annual inroad into the negro countries
lying south of the Desert, for the purpose of bringing away slaves,
who were afterwards sent to Tripoli, and thence to the markets of
Smyrna and Constantinople.
By these means the power of the Pasha was much strengthened, and his
revenues increased; but his sons grew up to manhood, and he began to
receive from them the same ungrateful treatment which he had displayed
towards his own father. His eldest, Mohammed, who as heir to the
crown, bore the title of Bey, and commanded the troops, is universally
represented as one of the most complete monsters which even Africa has
produced. He first excited the jealousy of his father in 1816, by the
purchase of a large number of muskets, which were probably intended
for the purpose of arming his followers and dethroning the Pasha; for
this he was ordered to go to Bengazi, and there take the command of
some troops destined to act against a tribe of refractory Arabs. In
this expedition he was entirely successful; that is to say, he
exterminated the rebellious tribes, laid waste the country which they
had infested, and sent a number of heads, of both friends and enemies,
to adorn the gates of his father's castle. On his return to Tripoli,
he probably considered these eminent services as entitling him to the
immediate possession of the throne, and with that view he made an
attempt on Yusuf's life; it failed, and he was again sent to the
Eastern Provinces, to act against another tribe who had refused to pay
tribute. Mohammed however, immediately on his arrival, joined the
rebels, and plundered the country which he was ordered to defend.
Yusuf was therefore obliged to send an army against him under his
second son Ahmed, who dispersed his brother's forces and drove him
into Egypt. The instances of treachery and cruelty practised on each
side during this war, are too shocking to be related. The principal
inhabitants of whole towns were murdered; hostages were beheaded at
the moment stipulated for their return; promises of pardon confirmed
by appeals to the common faith of both parties were shamelessly
broken, and those who trusted to them sacrificed in cold blood. The
result of the whole was the promotion of Ahmed to the situation of
Bey, and the establishment of the rebellious Mohammed as Governor of
Derne.
Notwithstanding these proofs of Yusuf's perfidy and ferocity, he
became popular with Europeans; and those who were introduced to him,
generally came away favorably impressed with regard to his character,
and were inclined to attribute his excesses more to his situation than
to his disposition. He spoke Italian fluently, and seemed to be well
acquainted with what was going on in the world: his court was
splendid; his apartments furnished with elegance and taste; he drank
the best champaigne which France produced, and his manners are said to
have been such as to entitle him to be considered a gentleman any
where. The celebrated Portuguese, Badia Castilho, whose travels and
adventures under the name of Ali Bey, are so well known, seems to have
been charmed by the frankness and amenity of the Pasha of Tripoli.
Captain Beechy, who was sent by the British Admiralty in 1822, to
survey the shores of the great Syrtis, speaks with gratitude of the
readiness with which facilities were afforded him for the prosecution
of the work. Lyon, Denham and Clapperton, although they all
experienced many vexations in their journey through the Tripoline
dominions, yet seemed to ascribe them rather to the malignity and
knavery of the officers of the government, than to any ill intentions
on the part of the chief. To those who were not his subjects, the
"good old-gentlemanly vice" of avarice seems to have been his
principal failing. His own habits were expensive, and his sons, by
their prodigality, kept his coffers always empty.
To the American officers and Consuls, he has been most scrupulously
attentive, and has several times shewn his anxiety to prevent any
difficulties from arising with the government of the United States. On
all public occasions, there has been a struggle for precedence between
the British and French Consuls; those of other European nations not
venturing to advance any claims for themselves. The United States have
been fortunately represented in Tripoli by determined men, who, while
they ridiculed the etiquette in the abstract, determined to admit no
inferiority in a country where it was considered as essentially
important; they have therefore uniformly maintained their rights, the
Pasha shewing a disposition to aid them as far as he could.
A serious affair, however, occurred in September, 1818, which was very
near producing a rupture between Tripoli and the United States. Mr. R.
B. Jones, the American Consul, while on a shooting excursion in the
vicinity of the city, was attacked by two negroes, and beaten. The
negroes were discovered to be the slaves of Morat Rais the Admiral,
and there was reason to believe that they had been set on by the
Scotch renegade, who always remained the bitter enemy of the United
States. Investigations were made, by the results of which this
suspicion was confirmed, and Morat finding himself in danger, sought
an asylum in the British Consulate. Mr. Jones demanded the public
punishment of the slaves, and the banishment of the Admiral from the
Regency, during the pleasure of the President of the United States.
Yusuf made every endeavor to evade the latter, offering instead to
bastinado the slaves as long as Mr. Jones might please, or to strike
off their heads if that were required. He urged that the British
Consul was entitled to protect all fugitives, by the immemorial custom
of the place, and that to drag him from his asylum would be to involve
Tripoli in a war with Great Britain. The British Consul, on his part,
insisted that Morat was a subject of Great Britain, and as such,
liable only to be tried by him. Mr. Jones refused to listen to any of
these representations, and was preparing to leave the place with his
family, when Yusuf yielded. The slaves were publicly bastinadoed, and
their master banished from Tripoli for life. Three years after,
however, Mr. Jones was induced by the representations of the Pasha, to
request that the President would permit him to return, which was in
consequence granted.
Many changes had in the mean time taken place in Tunis. In the month
of September, 1813, Hamouda Bey, while taking a cup of coffee, after a
long day's fast in the Ramadan, fell down and expired. It has been
already stated, that he was not the rightful heir to the throne,
according to the European laws of succession, for Mahmoud and Ismael,
the sons of Mahmed an elder brother of his father, were still alive,
retained as state prisoners in the palace. On the death of Hamouda,
his brother Othman assumed the crown, and held it for nearly two
years; but he had a powerful enemy in the Sapatapa Sidi Yusuf, who was
anxious to govern himself, and considered that the aged Mahmoud would
be a more convenient representative of royalty. The troops were
accordingly corrupted, and on the 19th of January, 1815, Othman was
murdered by the hand of Mahmoud himself, who, having also despatched
Othman's two sons, assumed the title and power of Bey, without
opposition. The Sapatapa, the contriver of this last revolution, soon
received the just reward of his villainy: he was anxious to enjoy the
title, as well as the power of a sovereign of Tunis, and prepared to
dispose of Mahmoud and his family. His plans were, however, revealed,
and on the night on which they were to have been executed, he was
himself murdered as he was retiring to his apartment in the palace of
Bardo, after having spent the evening in business with the Bey, and in
playing chess with his eldest son Hassan. His immense property was
confiscated, and his body was dragged by the infuriated populace
through the streets, with every mark of indignity. Mahmoud held the
throne without any serious difficulty until his death, in 1824. His
brother Ismael had no children, and was not a person likely to give
him any apprehension. He is represented as having been a merry
inoffensive old gentleman, fond of punning, a great lover and judge of
wine which he called vinegar, out of respect for the Koran, and an
inveterate newspaper politician. It is difficult to imagine an African
Prince of this character. On the death of Mahmoud, his eldest son,
Hassan, succeeded, who is the present Bey.
For the Southern Literary Messenger.