Let us, however, suppose, that the present action of France and Spain
should result in the subversion of the atrocious system of Government
practised in Morocco: a guarantee from the conquerors that our existing
commercial privileges should be respected, would alone be required to
ensure the protection of our interests, and what an extended field would
the facilities for penetrating into the interior open to us! We must
also remember that Napoleon III. in heart, is a free-trader; and, should
Destiny ever appoint him the arbiter of Morocco, the protectionist
pressure of a certain deluded class in France would be impotent against
his policy in Western Barbary, a country perhaps more hostile to the
European than China. Sailors and others, who have had the misfortune to
be cast on the inhospitable shore of Northern Africa, have been sent far
inland into slavery to drag out a miserable existence; and, at this
moment, there are many white Christian slaves in the southern and
eastern provinces of the Empire.
Should the war not result in conquest, the least we have a right to
expect, is that toleration should be forced upon the Moors, and that
European capital and labour should be allowed a free development
throughout their Empire. A flourishing trade would soon spring up,
nature having blessed Barbary with an excellent soil and climate,
besides vast mineral wealth in its mountains; lead, copper, and antimony
are found in them. The plains produce corn, rice, and indigo; the
forests of cedar, ilex, cork, and olive-trees are scattered over a vast
extent, and contain antelopes, wild bears, and other species of game;
Barbary also possesses an excellent breed of horses. The principal
manufactures are leather, shawls and carpets.
England has, but a short time since, succeeded in emancipating her
Jewish brethren from their few remaining disabilities; an opportunity
may now be at hand, of ameliorating the condition of those in the Empire
of Morocco, who are forced to submit to a grinding persecution, and are
merely tolerated because they are useful. They supply many wants of the
Moorish population; are the best, and in many handicrafts, the only
artificers, and are much employed by the government in financial
occupations. They are compelled to occupy a distinct quarter of the town
they inhabit; are permitted only to wear black garments, are forbidden
to ride, the horse being considered too noble an animal to carry a Jew,
and are forced to take off their shoes on passing a mosque. Even the
little Moorish boys strike and ill-treat them in various ways, and the
slightest attempt at retaliation was formerly punished with death, and
would now be visited with the bastinado. They are more heavily taxed
than any other class, and special contributions are often levied on
them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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