[Extracts.]
Mr. McMath to Mr.
Seward
No. 9.]
Consulate of the United States of
America, Tangier,
April 12, 1863.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the
receipt of your circular letter dated the 9th of March last; also copy
of “concurrent resolutions of Congress concerning foreign intervention
in the existing rebellion,” accompanying the same, which came to hand on
the 10th instant.
I have taken the earliest opportunity to have an interview with the
Moorish minister for foreign affairs upon the subject of foreign
intervention, as set forth in the resolutions of Congress.
He informed my interpreter that he would receive me at his official
residence on the 11th instant, at 12 m. At the appointed hour I called,
and was very kindly received; and having my interpreter with me, I
caused him to read to his excellency, in the Arabic language, the
resolutions of Congress. After the reading and some verbal explanations
by me, he stated (what he has frequently said to me before) that his
Majesty’s government had for a great many years been the sincere friend
of the American nation, (the name by which the United States is called
by the Moors;) that his Majesty regretted much the state of affairs in
my country, but confidently hoped that in a short time we should be able
to subdue the insurgents; that his feelings have been all the while with
the federal government, and that he would do nothing in the least to aid
or give countenance to the insurgents. He also informed me that the
policy of the nation, as embodied in the resolutions of Congress just
read, had ever been the policy of his Majesty’s government; and in the
event of a rebellion in this empire, his Majesty would expect that our
government, as well as others, would not in any way encourage the
insurgents.
* * * * * * * *
I also explained to him “that the resolutions were entirely in harmony
with the principles and policy by which all the President’s proceedings
in regard to the question involved have been and will continue in every
emergency to be regulated.”
I also informed him that if he desired a copy of the resolutions in the
Arabic tongue, I would furnish it. He replied that he did not, as the
policy of my government and of his Majesty’s government was the same,
and was clearly understood by his Majesty and his ministers, and which
policy would not be changed, as it was traditional and sanctified as the
policy of the Sultans of this empire for many generations past.
I reassured him of the unfaltering purpose of the United States
government to crush the rebellion at all hazards and at any cost, and
stated its purpose to adopt whatever measures may be found necessary to
accomplish that object. He replied that he hoped for a speedy
termination of the rebellion, and had no doubt of the ability and
strength of our government to conquer the insurgents.
[Page 1221]
Here our interview ended. I may have gone too much into detail, but I
wish to show you the feelings of this government.
Your circular letter No. 32, dated the 8th of February last, in
duplicate, was also received on the 10th instant.
As there are no newspapers printed in this empire, I find it difficult to
bring to public notice any information the department may wish to make
known here. However, I will adopt the usual mode, by causing a synopsis
of the facts contained in the circular to be written in Spanish and
posted in the market place.
I herewith enclose an article from the “Gibraltar Chronicle.” I am
advised, on reliable authority from Casablanca, that no danger is to be
apprehended from the Moors to the lives and property of Christians in
that town.
The simple fact is, the Medioona tribe have refused to pay their annual
tribute to the Sultan. He ordered his general to coerce them. They live
outside the walls of the town, and are defying his authority. Hence the
wool trade of the interior is diverted from that port to the port of
Mozagow, about twenty miles further south; and the English merchants of
Casablanca (wool dealers) seeing their “craft in danger,” of course must
interpose between the Sultan and his subjects. Up to the date of the
letter referred to no one had been killed. “The field of battle must have presented a singular appearance,”
indeed. I make the above statements because it is probable the English
press may enlarge upon what is presented, to show how powerful the
English nation is in Morocco.
I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, &c.
[From the Gibraltar Chronicle.]
We have been favored with the perusal of a very interesting private
letter from Dar-el-Baida (Casablanca) of the 2d April, which enables
us to lay before our readers a more circumstantial account than we
gave the other day of the events that are taking place in the
vicinity of that town, and occasioning much anxiety to its European
inhabitants.
In the hostilities that have been for some time carried on between
the tribes, there are ranged on one side the three tribes of Zeeyda,
Tenata, and Wolidzian, and on the other the tribe Medioona. The
three first-named tribes are under the orders of Benniasheesh. One
account says that the cause of hostilities was the refusal of the
Medioona tribe to pay the heavy contribution imposed on them by the
Sultan. Whether this was so, or whether the fighting originated in a
private quarrel amongst the tribes, it is certain that now the
Medioonese are treated as enemies in revolt against the Sultan’s
authority, and the three tribes fighting against them have the
Sultan’s warrant for their act, his officer, Boabeeb Sherghee, who
was sent down to arrange the matter, being in the camp and acting in
concert with the united tribes under Benniasheesh. To understand the
position of the inhabitants of Dar-el-Baida, it must be mentioned
that the Medioona tribe, being in the immediate vicinity of the
town, has furnished the chief portion of its Moorish inhabitants.
The sympathies of these are naturally strongly excited in behalf of
their tribe, which has been maintaining a contest against odds, and
has been driven under the very walls of the town. On the 28th of
March a contest took place just outside the walls. The movements on
both sides could be seen from the flat-roofed houses. About twelve
hundred were [Page 1222] engaged on
this occasion, and the Medioona tribe succeeded in driving off their
assailants. On the 30th the inhabitants of Dar-el-Baida were again
alarmed by seeing all the neighboring hills covered with horsemen,
clustered as thick as bees. The poor Medioonese were given up as
lost, as it seemed impossible they could resist the host mustered
against them. The attack was made with great fury. The excitement in
the town was at the highest pitch. The native inhabitants, from the
cause we have mentioned, are all sympathizers with the Medioonese;
and men and women crowded the walls, cheering on their tribe and
waiving handkerchiefs and rags. The field of battle must have
presented a singular appearance. The wives of the persecuted tribe
followed their husbands up to the enemy, with their babies slung
over their backs, and beating tomtoms to keep the warlike fury of
their husbands at the proper point of excitement. The belief that
the Medioonese must be overpowered became so general that their
friends inside got pickaxes, and were preparing to make a hole in
the wall on the side where the battle raged, in order to let in the
fugitives one by one, without the danger of their pursuers following
and taking the town by a rush. The prospect of having two thousand
or three thousand wild Arabs in the town, even if their pursuers
were kept out and the fight was not renewed in the streets,
degenerating into indiscriminate plunder and bloodshed, was
sufficiently alarming; but fortunately the repeated cavalry charges
were successfully resisted, and the day ended by the assailants
retreating to the hills. As each succeeding attack seemed to press
the Medioonese more severely, and the danger to the town was only
averted for the time, but not removed, the British vice-consul, Mr.
Wooldridge, volunteered to seek an interview with the Sultan’s
officer, Boabeeb, and urge him to postpone all further proceedings
against the offending tribe until the result of a representation to
the Sultan should be known. A letter was accordingly despatched to
Boabeeb, appointing a place of meeting at a small river between the
two hostile camps; and on the 31st, at six in the morning, the
vice-consul proceeded to the spot, under an escort of four soldiers
provided by the kaid. The conference was a hurried one, and not
unattended by danger, for when Boabeeb, with thirty cavalry, was
seen descending to the place of meeting, the Medioonese, construing
the movement into a hostile one, sent out a body of cavalry to meet
him. Boabeeb therefore halted at some distance from the place of
meeting, and despatched a soldier to inquire the object of the party
which had followed the vice-consul. The Medioona cavalry consented
to retire out of range; but the hostile Arabs remained still in
sight of each other, and Haggi Boabeeb expressed his fears that
unless the conference was a short one he should not be able to
restrain the Wolidzian from coming on. On the return of the British
vice-consul to the town, the representatives of the other European
powers hastened to learn the result of the interview. It was
understood that Boabeeb had declined at first to grant any delay in
executing the orders of the Sultan to chastise the Medioona. But
upon its being urged upon him that he was not authorized, in the
execution of those orders, to endanger the safety of one of the
Sultan’s towns, and the lives and property of the Christians and
Europeans in it, thereby embroiling his master with foreign
governments, and that he should delay operations till further orders
from the Sultan, Boabeeb said he would take time to consider and
consult with Benniasheesh, and send in the reply in the afternoon.
The reply was duly received and made known to the Europeans in
Dar-el-Baida. It was from Benniasheesh, whose authority appears to
be superior to that of Boabeeb. The spirit of the reply, as might be
expected, reflects the savage cruelty of Mahommedan despotism; but
in point of form it is a favorable specimen of a clear, terse,
official style, and we therefore insert a copy of it: “The Sultan
has given me orders to slay, chase, exterminate, and [Page 1223] eat up the Medioonese, and I will
slay, chase, exterminate, and eat up the Medioonese until none
remain, no matter what are the consequences. I will not stop until I
receive counter orders from the Sultan.” Up to the 4th of April no
further attack had been made, but it was asserted that Benniasheesh
was collecting his forces for another fight. A formal protest by the
consuls had been sent to him, and his reply had been received. He
had offered to suspend hostilities on certain conditions, which the
consuls could not accept. In the mean time representations have been
made to Sir John Hay, who is now at Morocco transacting business
with the Sultan, and his intervention will no doubt lead to the
requisite orders being sent to respect the safety of Dar-el-Baida.
Practically the same object has been already attained by the
presence of her Majesty’s steam-sloop Trident, and probably other
vessels-of-war, from which men would be landed, in case of
necessity, to man the walls and keep out the barbarous tribes.
