The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1911-10-28

ture of civilization which Egypt, Tyre. |
Greece and Rome had reared in sue |
cessive stories in North Africa col |
lapsed, and Arabia had little to put in |
its place With its cities in ruins. its |
harbors choked with sand and its car |
AVIAN routes beset with robbers, the |
entire region soon collapsed into an
apathy Of barbarism. whose monotony
was broken only by war, that lasted !
almost twelve centuries. Even war
was little more than piracy in Tripoli,
the position of which kept IT apart
from the more important affairs Of the
world About the beginning Of the
fourteenth century. the Turk displaced
| the Arab as the chief Of the Noham-
medan world, but west of Egypt his
rule was little more than nominal,
and for some hundreds of years the
country knew no government except
the rules Of robber bands and pirate
nests.
| 1t was during this period that Tri-
| poll became one of what is known as
the Barbary states. These We're Tri-
poll, Tunis. Algeria and Morocco. All
but Morocco paid a nominal allegiance
| to the Turkish sultan at Constantine
pie. but the first named nation has
considered itself an empire apart since
the days of the Crusaders. What these
states did among themselves and with
| the Arabs of the interior is unknown,
but their ships preyed on the COM
merce of Christian nations for three
hundred years. Not only We're they
the terror of the Western Mediterran
can. but their vessels harried the
coasts of Spain, Portugal and France:
q few times they went as far as Eng
land, and once it is recorded that
squadron of Barbary corsairs plumber
ed a village of Iceland, right on the
Arctic Circle. All European nations
that had commerce in the Mediterran-
can paid them tribute at one time or
i another
About 1855, during the protectorate
of Cromwell, an English fleet under
Blake bombarded Algiers and compell
ed the dey to agree to let English
ships alone, but the other nations of
Europe continued to submit to the de-
. mands of the pirates. In 1911. the
United States. being DESTROYS both of
. putting an end to the depredations on
its commerce, and giving its young
navy some practice, sent a squadron
to the Mediterranean. The American
ships, well armed and manned, made
|
. some years of blockade and lombard
ment to bring the fortified cities to
terms. The two states the Americans
: warred upon were Tripoli and Algeria,
and the only serious loss to the Am
, orleans during the war was the loss
a of the frigate Philadelphia in the har-
\ Dor of Trpoli. Her recapture and
! burning under the guns of the Tripo-
2 Titan forts and fleets by Decatur and
= his men, one of the most famous ex-
ploits of the United States navy, is
/ we'll known to every American school
: boy. During this war an American
$ force under Captain William Eaton
landed on the Tripolitan coast, and CO.
\ operating with Hamet, an Arab chief
captured an important Tripolitan town
In 1885, the Turkish Sultan reassert-
+ ed his supremacy over Tripoli, blu,
aside from the recognition of him "a
n the Sheik of All Islam, his power iI
q the interior has been a mere shadow
+ In 1910, France attacked Algeria and
a after years of fighting reduced tina
q country to a province. Between Al
= geria and Tripoli lies Tunis, the ter
g ritory of ancient Carthage. and the
+ richest portion of the coast between
= Egypt and Morocco France had
: very good excuse for Selling Tunis
: and did so in 1881. In 1882. Great Brit
r ain occupied Egypt. leaving to Turke,
9 in all North Africa only comparativel,
f barren Tripoli
= Desolate a sthe country is, it offer:
promise of development. With goot
i government and irrigation, it can b.
restored to something like its old-tim'
4 prosperity. Italy cast a covetous eyt
8 on it thirty years ago. realizing tina
+ it offered the most convenient Quite
a for her swarming millions. With tn
q tacit approval of Great Britain ant
y France, and proba bly, of Russia, will
, tGermany's hands full of the Morocco,
. controversy, and Austria unable t
n move alone, her time came last month
: and she made the 1ong-wished TO
: move
4 Italy has taken the Tripolitan sea
O ports with very little trouble. there i
= not much doubt of her being able t
g soon establish her supremacy over tn
n strip of land lying between the Sc:
:. and the desert. AS for the Arab o
# the interior, he will probably go down
n before the constantly onrushing wave
. of white men just the Indian ha
gone down in America. Civilization
Ii will either assimilate or crush Inn, blu
q 1t will take quite a few years to d
o either.