No. 29.
Mr. Mathews to Mr. Fish.
Tangier, July 9, 1874. (Received August 31.)
Sir: Referring to the last paragraph of my dispatch No. 134, I beg to inform you that on the 26th ultimo the mountaineers of the Tangier district revolted against the newly appointed pasha, (a brother of the late governor of this district.) They descended in force into the plains in the neighborhood of Tangier, and threatened to destroy the crops of the neighborhood of this place, as well as those of the inhabitants who form the militia of the district, unless they joined the mountaineers on demand. They declared that they would not injure Christians or Jews, but that they would prevent, and actually prevented, provisions and other supplies from entering the town, unless the pasha is dismissed.
The chiefs of the insurrection sent messages to all the chiefs of the villages around Tangier declaring that, if any attempt was made to resist their authority, or to support the governor of Tangier, their villages and standing corn would be burned and their cattle carried off. The tribes then were marching in considerable force upon Tangier and a blockade of this city was expected. All necessary precautions have been taken for the protection of foreign citizens and subjects.
On the 29th the chiefs of the insurrection entered Tangier under a guarantee of safe-conduct given through the foreign representatives; a conference was had and they submitted their grievances to the Moorish minister for foreign affairs, who has engaged to forward them to the Sultan.
On the following morning the usual supplies were brought in from the neighborhood, and the Loko was well stocked with cattle and other country produce. Order at present is restored and Tangier is perfectly [Page 42] quiet; provisions are allowed to pass freely into the town, but the affair is not yet over.
The newly appointed Spanish envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary for Morocco, Don Adolfo Patxot y Achával, arrived at this place on the 3d instant on board the Spanish government steamer Ciudad de Cadiz, and landed at 5 o’clock p.m.
The United States corvette Alaska, Commander Carter, arrived in this harbor on the 17th June, and left this port for Algiers on the 19 th.
The British man-of-war steamer “Pigeon” anchored in this port on the 27th ultimo, and on the 30th the Portuguese corvette Bartholomeo Dias also arrived at this port, and last week the Spanish frigate Navas de Tolosa, Italian iron-clad frigate San Martino, and the French steam-sloop Forfait, arrived at this anchorage respectively, and are still in port watching the interests of their respective subjects and citizens.
I have, &c.,