The Sun.
London, England, 1844-08-29 00:00:00

MOGADORE.

We extract the following description from the De.
bats :

" Mogadore is comparatively a new town, having been
founded by the Sultan Muley Mohammed in 1760, in
order to have a port at the nearest point from Morocco,
from which city it is distant about forty-eight leagues.
Saffi, or Asfi, is the chief town of the province, only
thirty-eight leagues from Morocco, seated in a bay, but
has been abandoned as a port on account of its inconve-
nience and insecurity, from its being open to the westerly
gales. The population of Mogadore may be estimated
at about 12,000, of which 1,300 are Jews, and not more
than 15 or 20 Europeans. It is the most commercial
port of the empire, and returns a customs revenue of
nearly 1,000,0001. Saffi produces only between 50,000 f.
and 60,000 f., and the twin towns of Rabat and Salee,
whose united population amounts to 52,000 souls, and
are next in commercial importance to Mogadore, pro-.
duce no more than 380,000. The town is called
Souerah by the Moroccomen, it being to the isldnd alone
that they give the name of Mogadore, after a saint called
Sidi Mogodoul, whose tomb is to be seen on the
coast opposite Souerah, and, with its chapel, is an-
terior to the foundation of the town. On the island
alone, which is two English miles in circumfe-
rance, there was formerly a small fort built
by the Portuguese, of whom memorials are to be
found all along the coast from Tangiers to the country
of Sous-el -Acsa, opposite the Canary Islands. The con-
struction of the town of Mogadore must have been at-
tended with great difficulties, particularly the south-west
rampart, facing the island, which is raised on several
rocks, against which the sea breaks with great violence,
and which are united by two curtained works. The
whole of the north wall, against which the sea also beats
with equal violence, could not have been erected without
much labour and skill beyond the science and strength
of the natives. The plan was laid down by European
engineers, and among them by a Frenchman named Cor-
nut. Masons and other artisans were brought from
Europe, and some Frenchmen who had been made slaves
were also employed as labourers. Cornut served the
King of Morocco for ten years, but was so badly re-
warded, that he came back to France as poor as when
he left it. Muley Mohammed transferred to Mogadore
the inhabitants of Agadir (Santa Cruz), and forced the
richest Moors to come in from the surrounding provinces
and build houses. European merchants were encou-
raged to come and settle there by being offered facilities
for trading, and thus the new town was not only built
but peopled within the space of ten or twelve years. But
in a few years more the heavy taxes and duties and rigid
prohibitions paralysed the course of trade, and drove
three-fourths of the merchants away, and the popula-
tion, which had amounted to 25,000, has gradually
dwindled to less than one-half. The site of Mogadore
presents at a distance that picturesque aspect which
gained it the name of Souerah, which means a picture.
The minarets, which rise to a great height above the
ramparts bristling with cannon, certainly present from
afar an interesting and beautiful sight ; but the interior
of the town does not realise this promise, although its
streets are regular, and it has some very fine buildings.
The port is formed by the island, on the eastern side of
which the trading vessels are moored, sheltered from
the west and north winds, but exposed to those from
the south-west, which frequently blow with great force,
and cause severe losses. On the island are four batte-
ries of masonry, and the most considerable portion of
the fortifications can play upon the island and the moor-
ing place with good effect, being at only about 1,500
yards distance, It would be impossible to occupy the
port, without having previously ruined all the defences
which thus protect it. Mogadore has never before been
bombarded by a European squadron, buthas been twice
besieged on the land side. It was gained possession of
by the Chellous and Arabs after the death of Muly Mo-
hammed, during a war for the succession to the throne at
the end of the short reign of Yezid. From 3,000 to 4,000
assailants got into the Cabash by scaling the walls in the
night, but the next day they were driven out again by the
garrison and the inhabitants with great loss, and the re-
bel army was compelled to raise the siege. During the
flourishing times of the commerce of Mogadore, it ex-
ported to Lisbon, Cadiz, Marseilles, Gibraltar, and even
to New York, large quantities of corn and wool, gum, al-
monds, olive oil, figs, wax, leather, goat-skins, aniseed,
orange-peel, and many medicinal drugs ; and to the coast
of Guinea were shipped bents, small mantles of whole
wool, and other light articles in woollen and cotton, and
other manufactures of the country used by the blacks.
The imports consisted of bar iron, steel, cutlery, and
hardware of all kinds, cloths, cottonades, silk handker-
chiefs, ornaments of gold and silver, pearl, amber and
coral necklaces, looking-glasses, sugar, and spices. At
that time there were 34 Christian houses of commerce
established in the town, forming a small colony of about
100 Europeans. The Sultans of Morocco, in spite of
their avarice and its gratification from the money the
customs duties brought into their treasury, are secretly
enemies to commerce, not only from their religion, but
from policy. In order to deprive their subjects of the
means of rebellion, they keep them poor, because rebel-
lion cannot be excited and maintained without money,
and an army cannot be kept long together in that coun-
try without pay and the hope of plunder. A Govern-
ment has little to fear from a people divided into diffe-
rent races, where no man is rich or powerful enough to
form a party. But the free exportation of corn and
wool with which the country abounds, and all extensive
commerce with Europe and America might create large
fortunes, and give to families, and even to towns, suffi-
cient influence and strength to cause umbrage to a Go-
vernment ever jealous and alarmed. The Emperor Muley
Soliman, the pudecessor of the present Emperor, deeply
impressed with these ideas, began to bring them
into action by closing the gates of Rabat, Amazor, Dar
Beide, Mazagan, Saffi, and Santa Cruz, ordering the
foreign merchants who resided there to remove to Mo-
gadore, with promises of protection and favour. Some
time after he prohibited the exportation of wool, wheat,
and oil, and laid enormously heavy export duties on
other articles. The people of the town murmured, those
of the country threatened revolt—the Government re-
presented it to be a sin to carry on commerce with in-
fidels. The present Sultan, without making any funda-
mental change in this system, felt the necessity of giving
some protection to commerce in order to restore his trea-
sury. Having been for a long time Pacha of Mogadore
before his accession, he had gained some insight into
commercial affairs, and as far as a Mussulman can, ac-
quired some notions of civilisation. He at least compre-
hended how closely it was connected with his own pecu-
niary interests, w:Ciout troubling his mind about those
of his subjects, and in the end transformed the adminis-
tration of the empire into one great undertaking for his
own personal profit. His predecessor had treated all
commerce with Christians as scandalous and impious,
being denounced by the Koran. Abderrahman, to recruit
his treasury, conceived an ingenious device for meeting
the prohibitions of the law of the Prophet, and contrived
to gain the assent of the devotees and teachers of the
doctrines of Islamism to the following sophistry :—The
law forbids us to sell to infidels any food or clothing, but
the law commands us to make war upon them,
and for this we must have gunpowder ; there-
fore, by exacting from them a contribution of
gunpowder for each sale we make to them,
we turn commerce to the maintenance and advantage
of the true faith. This being admitted as unanswer-
able logic, gunpowder, the manufacture of which in
Morocco is very inferior, was received from the bands of
the Christians by the chief of the true believers, on pay-
ment of export duties. At first, one pound of powder
and 15f. was imposed upon the export of each quintal of