ALL our preparations being completed, we embarked, with our two Maltese
servants, on board H.M.’s Gunboat _Boxer_, 2nd Master Gulliver
commanding, and left Malta for Tripoli, Nov. 19, 1860. Our object in
going there was to have our Firman presented to the Pacha or Governor-
general of Barbary, who resides at Tripoli, and has subordinate
Kaimakams, or Lieutenant-governors at Mourzouk and Benghazi. After a
stormy passage, we reached Tripoli on the evening of the 21st, where we
were most kindly welcomed by Colonel Herman, H.M.’s Consul-general,
whose liberal hospitality we enjoyed during our stay. He had already
presented the Firman, and seen that the most favourable orders regarding
us had been forwarded to the Kaimakam of Benghazi. The evening before
our departure, he entertained the Pacha at dinner, on which occasion we
had the opportunity of becoming personally acquainted with His
Excellency, who knew a little French, took his wine freely, played a
fair game of billiards, and in every respect was quite unlike the ideal
Osmanli.
Eastern towns bear such a resemblance to each other that it is difficult
to give a distinctive description of one in particular. The houses,
streets, and bazaars of Tripoli might be part of Constantinople or
Smyrna. The inhabitants, however, are very different; instead of the
slow gait and placid expression of the Turks, they have an unpleasantly
wild and active appearance not at all reassuring to the traveller.
Besides the Arabs, who form the great bulk of the population, there are
a considerable number of Jews and Maltese.
The most prominent feature of Tripoli is the Meshiah or date-gardens,
which occupy some six or eight square miles along the shore to the
eastward of the town. Throughout their extent, they are so thickly
planted, that the ground is almost completely shaded by the dense
foliage of the date-palms. After traversing the Meshiah, one is much
struck with its abrupt termination. From a luxuriant garden, the
visitor, without warning, suddenly finds himself in the desert,—a bare
undulating expanse of sand, stretching away to a range of distant hills.
The most conspicuous building in the city is the Pacha’s harem, close to
the Eastern gate. By a strange freak of a former Pacha, part of it has
been painted a bright red, which gives it an odd appearance in the midst
of the surrounding mass of whitewashed walls. This building was the
residence of the Karamanli Beys before Barbary was taken possession of
by the Turks; and shortly before the fall of that dynasty, it was the
scene of the murder of his brother by Yusuf Bey, in the presence of
their mother—one of those domestic tragedies so common in the houses of
Eastern rulers.
The government of Barbary and Fezzan is now similar to that of other
Turkish provinces, being administered by a Pacha appointed by the Porte.
As is the case with most Turkish governors, his tenure of office is
usually very short, seldom, in fact, exceeding a year.
In the western part of the town, near the shore, stands the Castle, an
irregular old building very much in need of repair. It contains the
Medjlis or council chamber and the other public rooms of the Pacha, and
is garrisoned by two or three battalions of regular infantry. A few
years ago, the town was thrown into a state of consternation by the
mutiny of the troops composing the garrison, who besieged the Castle,
and threatened the town with destruction, if their arrears of pay were
not settled and some other demands complied with. The firmness of the
Pacha, and a few timely concessions, with difficulty restored
subordination.
[Illustration: Pl. 2.
TRIPOLI
E. A. Porcher, delt., T. Picken, lith.
London. Published July 1st. 1864 by Day & Son, Lithographers to the
Queen &c., Gate Street Lincoln’s Inn Fields.
Day & Son, Lithrs. to the Queen]
Besides the Infantry in the Castle, there is a considerable force of
Artillery and Cavalry quartered in the Meshiah. When we told the General
that we should like to see their barracks, he sent one of his aides-de-
camp to show us over them. The two barracks (Artillery and Cavalry) are
very pleasantly situated near each other, about a mile and a half from
the town. We found them remarkably clean and well kept, and the stores
of arms, clothing, &c., in perfect order.
In addition to the regular troops, many of the native Arabs are retained
by the Government as irregular cavalry, called Koralié. They are similar
to the Bashi Bozouks of other parts of Turkey, and are employed
principally in the collection of the tribute.
During the late Russian war, an attempt was made to overthrow the
Turkish government, and restore the rule of the Karamanlis. The head of
the rebellion was a descendant of one of the last Beys, a chief named
Ghomer, who had been kept a prisoner for some years at Constantinople,
but had either escaped or been released. So many of the native tribes
were in his favour, that for some time he was powerful enough to set the
government at defiance. He seems, besides, to have been a man eminently
well fitted for carrying on irregular warfare. Several expeditions sent
against him ended in failure and disaster; but his army was at last
completely defeated by a force under the immediate command of the Pacha,
who on that occasion was accompanied by Colonel Herman, to whose
judicious counsel he was much indebted for its fortunate result. After
his defeat, Ghomer wandered as a fugitive, with a price set on his head,
until, at last, he fell into the hands of some of the Pacha’s followers,
by whom he was slain. One of his most active partisans was an
Englishman, who, on the suppression of the rebellion, was taken prisoner
and sent for trial to Constantinople; but on reaching the Dardanelles,
he was quietly released by order of the Sultan.
The following quaint sketch of the history of Tripoli is given in a work
published in 1670, entitled “Africa; being an Accurate Description of
the Regions of Egypt, Barbary, Libya, and Billedulgerid, the Land of
Negroes, Guinee, Æthiopia, and the Abyssines, &c. &c., by John Ogilby,
Esquire, Master of His Majesty’s Revels in the Kingdom of Ireland.”
“This city and State (Tripoli) hath from the beginning had Lords of
greatest eminency; as first the Romans, to whom it did Homage and
Fealty, when they were Masters of Africa; but as their strength and
glory declined, shrouded themselves under the protection of the Kings of
Morocco, Fez, and Tunis, which have possessed it by right of Birth: but
when the Inhabitants saw themselves oppressed by the Tyranny of Mukamur,
Son of Hesen, King of Tunis, they threw the yoke off their Necks, first
by a general Revolt, then expelling the King’s Lieutenant, and all other
his officers, and at last electing from among themselves one whom they
made their Ruler or Magistrate, putting all the Revenue and Support of
the State into his hands. In the beginning this new Lord ruled with all
gentleness; but afterwards degenerating into all sorts of Tyranny, his
brother in law revenged the cause of the City by killing him. Freed from
this Viper of their own breeding, they impowered a courtier of Prince
Abubacer, who had been a Recluse or Hermit who held the command a few
months, till Ferdinand, King of Arragon and Castile, sent Don Pedro de
Navarre thither with an Army, who surprized the city, made all the
Inhabitants Slaves, and brought them away; together with their Governour
and his Son, whom he sent first to Messina, from thence to Palermo,
where the Emperor Charles V. set him at liberty, dismissing him home to
Tripoli, which the Christians, as we said, had dismantled and made
untenable in all parts except the castle, which they furnished with a
brave wall, whereon they planted divers great Cannon.
“The young Prince being come to Tripoli, repeopled it, in the name and
on the behalf of the Emperor Charles; but in the year 1533, together
with Tunis, Byserta, Susa, Monaster, and the Island of Zerby, was
regained by Barberossa, who was scarcely warm in it before the Emperor
Charles reassaulted and took it, forthwith making a Present of it to the
Knights of Malta, who possessed it till the year 1551, when, under the
reign of Solyman the Magnificent, Sinan Bashaw came and besieged
Tripoli; to whom after a short time it was delivered upon honourable
articles; among which one was, That the garrison should march out with
Bag and Baggage, and be provided of convenient shipping to Malta by
Sinan; but, contrary to the conditions, most of them were plundered of
their Goods: two hundred of the Moors, who had served the Maltese, were
put to the Sword, and most of the Knights of Malta sent to the galleys,
and the rest the Bashaw took and made slaves.
“After this victory Sinan appointed Morat Aga to be Viceroy, and ever
since the Grand Seignior sends from Constantinople every three years a
Beglerbeg or Bashaw thither to support his Conquests.
“About the year 1598, Sidi Haga, a Marabout, or Priest, designing to
make himself a Master of the city and kingdom, with the assistance of
the meaner sort, began a notable Rebellion; upon the first intelligence
whereof, Assam Bassa, Admiral at Sea, sailed thither with sixty galleys
and some soldiers, from Tunis and Algier, on a sudden fell into the
Marabout’s Quarters, whose own men, finding their error, in some measure
to mitigate the fury against themselves, set an end to their mutiny by
presenting their Captain’s head to Sinan, who sent it to the Grand
Seignior.
“In this condition Tripoli continued until about the year 1600, when the
authority of the Bashaw was diminished by the soldiers and their
commanders, in the same manner as Kara Osman did at Tunis, since which
time Mahomet Bey, a Grecian Renegado, of the ancient house of the
Justinians, hath so laid his business, that having got the Banner of
Tripolis from the Grand Seignior, after he became Master of the Castle,
would not endure the Bashaw any longer, but began to rule with full
authority, yet still pretending a subjection to the Turk; and to
preserve his favour, as an acknowledgement and homage, he frequently
sends over many costly presents, and slaves: But at length this Bey
became so powerful, that nothing was done but by his peculiar command.
For he took soldiers at his pleasure, without the knowledge of the
Divan, or Militia, and placed them in the Castle, for the security of
his own person, that he might not be trepanned into his Ruin by the
Policies of the Great Turk: and in this posture of Government it
remained and doth still; only in 1667, the Moors made a dangerous
Insurrection; but it proved only to the loss of their own heads.”