Alexandria gazette, commercial and political. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1812-1817, 1813-04-22
GOVERNMENT OF JUDEA.
r FROM ChateaubYiand.

Ne6tT uSIlVC SySSCH "''hoas - 80 -
and, as it were, instinctivsly pursued Dy
,hc Turks. Cut off from Damascussy
mountains, and still more the ARABS,
who infest the deserts, Jerusalem can.
not always prefer its complaints to the
pacha when oppressed by Its governors.
1t would be much more natural to make
it dependant on the pachalik OF Acre.
which lies uearit; the Franks and the
Latin fathers might then place them Z.
selves under the protection Of the con-
suls residing in the ports OF SYRIA and
the Greeks and Turks would be able 10
make known their grievances. Bat this
is tue very thing that their governors
are DESTROYS of preventing; they would
have a mute slavery. and not lnsoient
wretches who dare complain of the hand
that Expresses them.
Jerusalem is therefore at the mercy
of an almost independent governor: ne
may do with IMMUNITY all the mischief he
pleases, if he be not Afterwards called to
account for it by the pacha. It's well
known that in Turkey every superior
has right to delegate his authority to
an Interior; and this authority extends
both to property and life. For few
purses janissary may become a petty
aga, and Ibis aga may, at his good plea
sure, either take away your life or per-
NIT you to redeemn. Thus execution
srs are multiplied in every town of Ju-
dea, The only thing ever heard In this
country, the only justice ever thought
of, is: Let him toy ten, .twfnfy, thirty
tursss-Gipe him five hundred strokes
Of the 6astinado-Cut off his head. One
act of injustice renders it necessary to
commit a still greater. If one OF these
petty tyrsnts plumbers peasant, he Is
absolutely obliged to plumber bis neigh
Dor also for, to escape the hypscntlcsi
integrity OF the pacha, he must procure
by a second crime sufficient to purchase
impunity for the fret.
1t may, perhaps, be imagined that the
pacha, when he visits his government,
corrects these evils and avenses the
wrongs of the people SO far from this,
however, the pacha is himself the great
est scourge of the inhabitants Of Jeru-
salem. His coming is dreaded like that
OF hostile chief. The shops are shut
up; the people conceal themselves IL
cellars; they feign to be at the point OF
death on their mats, or Withdraw to the
mountains.
The truth of these facts am able to
attest, since ] happened to be at Jeru-
salem at the time of the pacha's visit
AbdaIlah is serdidly avaricious, like al
most all the Mussulmans : in the capa-
city of commander of the caravan Of
Mecca, and under the pretext of raising
money for the better protection OF the
pilgrims, he thinks that he has right
to multiply his extortions and he is al
ways devising new ways Of fleeing the
people. One of the methods which he
most frequently employs, is to fix We.
ry low maximum for all kinds of proyi-
sions. The people are delighted, but
the dealers shut up their shops. A
scarcity commences the pacha enters
into secret negotiation with the shop
keepers, and for certain number OF
purses, grants them permission to sell
at any price they please. These mcn
arc of course DESTROYS to recover the,
sums which they have isen the pacha:
they raise the price Of necessaries to on
extraordinary height, and the Peop'e,
diving a second time for want, are objig-
cd to part with their last rag to keep
themselves from starving.
have seen this same Abdallah prac-
tice still more ingenious vexaton.
have observed that he sent his cavalry
to pllage the Arabian farmers beyond
the Jordan. These poor people, who
had paid the n,iri, and who knew that
they were not at war, were surprised IN
the midst of their tents s oftheir flocks.
Thev were robbed of two Thousand two
hundred sheep and goats, ninety-tour
calves, a thousand asses, and six mares
of the purest blood the camels alone
escaped, having followed sheick who
called them at distance. These faith,
full children of the desert carried their
milk to their masters in the mountains,
as if they had known that these masters
were bereft of every othe: species Of
nourishment.
An European could scarcely guess
what the pacha did with his booty. He
put more than twice as high price up.
on each animal as it was worth, rating
each goa. and sheep at 90 piastres, and
each calf at eighty. The beasts thus
appraised we're sent to the butchers and
differen, persons in Jerusalem, and to
the chiefs of the nsighboring villages,
who were obliged to take them and
pay for them at the pacha's price upan
pain Of death. ! must confess that, had
not been an eyewitness of this dsu-
bic iniquity, ! should have thought il
absolutely incredible AZ to the ssses
u 4 he NJ