And Present Condition of Tripoli, with some accounts of the other
Barbary States.
No. I.
_Washington City, November, 1834_.
Agreeably to my promise, I send you the sheets containing _Sketches of
the History and present condition of Tripoli, with some account of the
other States of Barbary_ which may perhaps be found worthy of insertion
in the "SOUTHERN LITERARY MESSENGER." They are the fruits of researches
made for my amusement, into the history of those countries, and to
which I was led by information accidentally obtained respecting the
present condition of affairs in Tripoli.
The north of Africa has so long remained in comparative obscurity,
exercising little or no influence in the grand game of national
contests, which forms the subject of our most interesting modern
histories, that works relating to it are few in number, and generally
bear unequivocal marks of the ignorance or prejudice of the writers.
For this reason, it is difficult to obtain a correct statement of
facts, and almost always impossible to arrive at motives; persons
therefore who estimate the propriety of labor, by calculating the value
of its produce, would easily be diverted from such researches, although
they might not object to profit by their results.
I have endeavored to arrange into a regular series, the facts thus
collected, passing lightly over those which are the most generally
known, and introducing occasionally a few observations, which will not
I hope be considered obtrusive. Yet I fear that I shall not succeed in
communicating any interest to the pages of your periodical; the details
of selfish intrigue, murder and treachery, never relieved by incidents
springing from generous motives, which constitute the history of the
north African nations, are, I must confess, more likely to excite
disgust than pleasurable emotions; still they exhibit man as he is,
without the light of civilization, or the restraints of moral duty; and
may serve to attach us still more strongly to those social and
political institutions, without which a similar state of things might
exist among ourselves.