CEUTA.--BOMBARDMENT OF TANGIER.
Turning the corner of a street, I saw a Moor walking familiarly along,
as if he were quite at home. I was just as much surprised as if I had
seen a wolf sauntering in the midst of a sheep-fold, or a sheep in
the midst of a flock of wolves. I saluted him, and he replied in pure
Castilian. I found it was the Imaum of a community of--I suppose I must
call them--Saracens, who having been settled at Oran when it was under
the Spanish government had, on the abandonment of that place, fifty-two
years ago, been transferred to Ceuta. He proposed to me to come in the
evening and take tea with his wife and daughters. He conducted me into
a _meson corral_, that is, a court or enclosure, which may be described
either as the centre of one house or as a court common to several.
This was the quarter of the Moors, who amounted to five families. They
have all a small pension from the government, and the men are in the
military service. He led me into his own house, which was a strange
mixture of Africa and Europe, but orderly and clean to fastidiousness.
The women were in Spanish dresses, with head and neck bare.
This was the first time I had seen a Mussulman community resident
for a period of time in the midst of a Christian people; so that, of
course, I was soon engaged in a minute investigation of their social,
religious, and domestic habits. Under this scrutiny the Imaum soon
began to wince, and the women affected--but very awkwardly--to laugh.
The glibness with which they had commenced the conversation had
vanished before I suspected the cause,--they took me for a Mussulman in
disguise, who had come to pry into the nakedness of the land. They do
practise the Abdest. They profess to keep the Ramazan (it is at this
moment Ramazan). They have no bath and no mosque; but maintained that
the mosque at the Moorish head-quarters, to which they sometimes go, is
within the prescribed distance. One native practice they had preserved
in its pristine vigour, and that was the _kouskouson_, with which they
presented me, and to which we all did justice. When I had succeeded in
convincing them that I was no Mussulman, their hilarity returned, and
they were much amused at the description of my surprise at finding in
Europe, Christian women muffled up, and meeting in Africa, Mussulman
women with naked shoulders.
The Imaum then gave me the detail of a dispute about the neutral
ground, which raged at the very moment of the French bombardment of
Tangier, and which had been adjusted through the intervention of
England--by leaving things exactly where they were! An act of greater
insanity there could not be than our interference in any such matter.
It is impossible to preserve Gibraltar without the goodwill either of
Spain or of Morocco, because our subsistence must be drawn either from
the one or the other country. When we are with Spain the Moors are
against us; but then we do not need them: when we are against Spain,
then we are sure to have the Moors with us.
This is the meaning of Lord Nelson’s words,--“Should Great Britain be
at war with any European maritime state, Morocco must be friendly to
us, or else we must obtain possession of Tangier.” Lord Nelson did
not, however, see that the measure he proposed for obtaining that aid,
would have had the opposite effect. If you seized Tangier you would
place yourselves in the same position in respect to Morocco that Spain
is at Ceuta, and be under a total inability of gaining the means of
subsistence either from Morocco or Spain, for Tangier or Gibraltar.
This judgment of Lord Nelson, thus reduced to its true application, is
of the greatest importance.
The old man was loud in praise of Mr. Hay’s proficiency in Arabic, and
he smiled and winked when I said that I could wish nothing better for
England than that its servants should be dumb. The Algerine government
lately assigned this very reason,--proficiency in the Arabic--for
appointing one of their creatures as consul at Tangier: a member of the
home government answered that that was the very reason why he was the
person least qualified. But Algiers has triumphed over Paris.
The wind seemed settled from the westward, so I determined to return
to Gibraltar to catch the steamer from England, and on the following
morning bade adieu to this fancy warehouse of guns and convicts--this
military toy-shop and Utopian penal settlement.
Just as we were getting into the current, we sprung our gaff, and were
fortunately yet near enough to the African shore to regain it. We
anchored and repaired the damage out of musket-shot. Had this accident
happened an hour afterwards, we should probably not have seen Gibraltar
for a week.
As soon as we got put to rights and had the Rock “on again,” three
points under our lee-bow, I asked one of the idlers to read something
out of Mr. Hay’s “Barbary,” and he commenced with this passage. “And
that famous Rock has always been a hotbed for engendering mischievous
reports which, if connected in any way with Morocco, are sure to find
their way over the Straits and thence to the court at Morocco in an
exaggerated and distorted form.”[63]
There is no escape from this Rock, which, like that of the Arabian
Nights, is ever attracting and wrecking you. The first thing I heard of
at the beginning of this excursion, was the exasperation produced in
Spain by the sinking of their cruiser, and the subsequent discussion
respecting the rebuilding of the forts of St. Philip and St. Barbara.
I had learnt these circumstances through official persons, I was now
come to the other side of the water. Here again from an official
person, and this time in a published book, breaks out the disgust and
irritation engendered in Morocco.
Common fame represents the governor of Gibraltar as having been engaged
without measure or disguise, in embroiling the French and the Moors. He
and the ambassador from Madrid took the extraordinary step of landing
in Morocco at the moment when the appearance of any intermeddling on
their part was exactly the thing to drive matters to extremity: they
publicly held out encouragement to the Moors. The government at home
has declared itself most formally in an opposite sense, and the foreign
minister is a man whose word no one ever doubted. The only conclusion,
therefore, is that the cabinet is not in the confidence of its agents.
It stands to reason that in affairs carried on in secret, the acting
hand will be the one which is not seen.
Former governors of this place have managed their own garrison and
fort without distracting Spain or Morocco; this governor, then, must
have been selected for the work he has performed. The qualifications
and antecedents required are those of a soldier. Out of all the army,
one only could be selected on whom had been inflicted the penalty
of professional disgrace for heading a mob against his sovereign’s
troops:--that one was selected. The selection was the subject of
astonishment, and it was felt by the service to be an insult. It was
indeed inconceivable that a man who had been in his own person guilty
of the greatest outrage upon discipline, should have been chosen for
the command of the most military garrison in Europe, so as to exhibit
to every youth who commences his military career in the garrison,--and
every regiment takes its turn,--that mutiny is compatible with the
highest honours, and is even the road to preferment. This outrage upon
discipline was perpetrated by the head of the British army, and the
strictest of disciplinarians.
In 1817 there was a pamphlet published which, with equal ability and
foresight, exposed the great error which had been committed at the
congress of Vienna, in looking to France as the power from which future
danger would emanate. In that pamphlet it was shown that by an undue
depression of France the future peace of Europe was placed in jeopardy:
its text and conclusion was, “_Alexander has inherited Europe from
Napoleon_.”
The author of this pamphlet had henceforth to be classed amongst the
men peculiarly deserving the attention of the Russian cabinet. He
is that governor, selected, in defiance of all decency, to send to
Gibraltar, and there overstepping the limits of his functions, he
nearly embroils England and France.
A Russian steam-vessel of war was admitted to the quay of her Majesty’s
vessels to get coal, which was furnished her from the royal stores,
while French men-of-war were allowed no such indulgence; on departing
she _was saluted by the fortress, with twenty-one guns_![64] This I
witnessed with my own eyes and heard with my own ears. The assembled
crowd said, “Es loco,”--“He is mad.” A foreign consul, the next day,
used these words, “Now this appointment is explained.”[65]
I may here set down some matters connected with the recent land and sea
raid of the French in Morocco; but, like the father of history, I will
give what I have heard without vouching for it.
BOMBARDMENT OF TANGIER.
On the 2d of August, 1844, Mr. Hay received the submission of the
Sultan to the demands of France. On the 5th, the intelligence arrived
at Tangier. A telegraphic despatch dated that day, reached Paris on the
11th, and the peace with Morocco was officially announced. But five
days before--that is, on the 6th--Tangier had been bombarded!
So far the dates. The change of dispositions between the 5th and
6th, was brought about by the arrival of letters from Paris after the
intelligence from Tangier had been despatched. The commanders of the
squadron, to their great disappointment, were informed on the 5th,
that they would presently receive orders to make sail for Toulon, and
had repaired on board their respective ships, when the smoke of a
steamer was perceived coming through the Straits. It was successively
made out that she was standing in for Tangier, that she was French, a
man-of-war, and the bearer of despatches. The negotiations with Morocco
had been in the hands of M. de Nion, who had acted in concert with Mr.
Hay. It was in consequence of an agreement entered into, reduced to
writing and signed between them, that Mr. Hay proceeded to Fez, and had
there settled the matter between France and Morocco.[66] The Prince de
Joinville, irritated by the interference of the English authorities
(the ambassador from Madrid, and the Governor from Gibraltar), was
prevented from breaking up the settlement only by want of powers, M.
de Nion being charged with the diplomatic post. The steamer brought
three despatches, one from the King, one from the Minister of Foreign
Affairs, and one from the Minister of Marine. The first had no
reference to the business in hand; the second left it just where it
was; the third was upon a simple matter of administration (_Anglicè_,
detail of service); but there was a postscript in these terms:--
“I suppose, if _you_ have not been satisfied with the answer, _you will
have bombarded_.”
The Prince declared the question to be now in his hands. This letter
was addressed to _him_, not to M. de Nion. _He_ had to be satisfied,
and if not, might bombard--he was not satisfied, and would bombard. M.
de Nion objected the engagement with Mr. Hay, the peace made, &c. The
Prince replied that the Caid of Tangier had not answered his letter! In
a word, the affair was fixed to come off next morning.
The Prince selected the _Jemappe_ as the most powerful vessel to
place before the batteries, expecting that it would have to bear the
whole fire of the place, while the other vessels were taking up their
stations. Not a shot, however, was fired by the Moors until the French
were in order and had opened their fire. It was just as at Navarino.
At Tangier, of course, on the night of the 5th, all anxiety had
ceased; peace was considered concluded, and three boat-loads of fresh
provisions had been sent off to the squadron by the Caid.[67]
THE BATTLE OF ISLY.
The son of the Emperor had exchanged letters with Marshal Bugeaud
during the first days of August: both spoke of peace, and only of
peace. Letters from the Emperor of a prior date to the 2d--afterwards
taken--breathe nothing but peace; they announce that peace is about
to be made, and he enjoins his son not to leave till all is finally
settled, and to do everything that could be agreeable to the French.
On the 11th, the intelligence arrived that peace had been concluded:
then arrived an aide-de-camp of Marshal Soult at the French camp with
letters from the government in Paris, enjoining the Marshal to abstain
from all offensive measures, and inclosing a letter from Lord Aberdeen
to M. Guizot, which stated that in that event he could not answer for
the consequences. The Marshal threw the letter upon the ground and
stamped upon it, and taking the aide-de-camp by the arm, said “M. de V.
vous en serez.”
On the 14th the son of the Sultan is awakened by an alarm, “_The French
army is in sight_.” He tells his people the Marshal is coming to pay
him a visit before his departure, and after giving orders for a tent to
be pitched, and coffee--which he knew the French liked--to be sought
for and prepared, he again assumed, to use the phraseology of Antar,
“the attitude of repose.” He is again awakened--“_The French are on
us_”--and the French _were_ on them--found _the coffee ready_, and
instead of drinking, spilt it. The loss of the Moors was eight hundred
men by _suffocation_.
While the Emperor had every wish to make peace, and every dread of war,
the troops had no disposition to fight. The Ai Tata (fifteen thousand)
and several other tribes, their best cavalry, had drawn apart, having
come to observe, not to act. They had formally announced to the Sultan,
that if he prosecuted his present system of intercourse with Europeans,
and of commercial monopoly, they would reserve their strength to defend
their own mountains.
The French government, in like manner, had every disposition to make
peace, and every reason to avoid war. Its dread was not Morocco,
but Algiers: its interests were bound up with Morocco against the
military colonial usurpation that defied the power of the cabinet,
and threatened the institutions of the country. Consequently, after
intelligence received of the victory of Isly, of the bombardment of
Tangier,[68] and with the certainty that Mogadore was at the time also
bombarded, the instructions were despatched for the treaty signed at
Tangier on the 10th September, by which nothing was demanded more than
had been settled before.[69]
FOOTNOTES:
[63] “Western Barbary,” p. 165.
[64] In answer to the comments to which the circumstance gave rise,
it was stated “from the Convent,” that the reason why the Russian was
saluted first, was that as it was near sunset, the fort would not have
had time to return the salute, if it had waited till she had saluted
first.
[65] Since the above was written, Sir R. Wilson has disappeared from
this scene. I do not on that account suppress what I have written, as
I have not brought any charge against him; and his acts here commented
upon, are viewed merely as illustrative of the system of government by
secrecy and intrigue.
[66] The days of Mr. Hay are said to have been shortened by the
vexation to which these transactions exposed him.
[67] I afterwards ascertained at Paris that the Prince had paid the Jew
interpreter for these provisions!
[68] These events are recorded in a composition which itself is worthy
of a place in history.
“The Governor of all the French lands in the Pacific Sea, grand Speaker
of the King of the French near the King-Lady of the Isles of the
Society.
“To all the chiefs and all the men of all the lands of the Society.
FRIENDS,
“Health to you all! Here is the word which I say to all. Two grand
battles were gained by the arms of the King Louis Philippe, the
protector of you all and the sovereign of us; the one on land and the
other below on sea. In the battle on land forty thousand soldiers of
the kingdom of Morocco were beaten by ten thousand French soldiers;
the son of the King of this land of Morocco was the grand chief of all
his soldiers.
“At the other battle two cities were ravaged by the cannonade of
the French vessels of war commanded by the son of the King Louis
Philippe, Prince Henry de Joinville, French Admiral. And in the great
consternation of the enemy, peace was asked for by him. Eight hundred
men of Morocco were killed, and two thousand and above that, wounded,
and the enemy lost all their land-guns (cannons) which were taken. And
a glorious treaty for the French was concluded immediately after on
this land.
“Here is another word.
“The King Lady of Britain came to France some moons ago.
“And after that our King, the Protector of you all, went into Britain
to visit Victoria.
“There were great honours done to those Kings in France and in
Britain; and the two governments breathe well--the one for the other.
“That is the true word which I make known to you all, that you may not
be deceived by lying words.
“BRUAT.”
“Papaeta, 11th March, 1845.
[69] A very singular _dénouement_ well nigh occurred;--that of
referring the whole matter to the Emperor of Russia: this was prevented
by an accident. When I asked who had suggested this idea, I was
answered “_It came from Gibraltar._”