We are agreeably surprised with the information. that the emigrants who have returned, have imported with them so much of the taste of our country, as to be distinguished among their neighbours. "Ecures is a village situated on a plain, which in its verdure, and in the fanciful disposition of some trees and groves, reminded me very strongly of an English park. This similitude was increased by a house on the further extremity of the village. It was situated in a lawn, and entirely girt around by walnut trees except where it fronted the road, upon which it opened by a neat palisadoed gate. I have no doubt, though I had no means of verifying my opinion, that the possessor of this estate had been in England. The lawn was freshly mown, and the flowers, the fresh painted seats, the windows extending from the ceiling to the ground, and even the circumstance of the poultry being kept on the common, and prevented by a net-work from getting on the lawnall these were so perfectly in the English taste, that I offered M. Younge any wager that the possessor had travelled. 'He is most probably a returned emigrant,' said Mr. Younge; it is conceivable how much this description of men have done for France. The government, indeed, begins to understand their value, and the list of the proscribed is daily diminishing" But we must not close our account of this volume without in'roducing our readers to the court of the man who now holds the sovereignty over this nation: a nation once ardent for liberty, and, for a moment, vociferous in its demands of Eng ish liberty: happy had they understood what they desired, and know how to obtain and to prize it!* and It is a singular circumstance, perhaps unknown to the generality of our readers, that in the early part of the French revolution two accredited agents were sent from Paris to London expressly for the purpose of taking plans of our house of commons, that their Salle des Séances might be like it; and so particular were they in their proceedings that they measured with the greatest exactness the speaker's chair, that M. le Président de PAssemblée Nationale might have one exactly similar. However, we must do them the justice to mention, that they were astonished at our manner of conducting "I had resolved not to leave Paris with out seeing the emperou,' says Mr. P. "and being informed that he was to hold an audience on the following day, I applied to Mr. Younge to procure my formal introduction. With this purpose we waited upon general Armstrong, who sent my name to the grand chamberlain with the necessary formalities. This formality is a certificate under the hand of the ambas sadour, that the person soliciting the introduction has been introduced at his own court, or that, according to the best knowledge of the Ambassadour, he is not a merchant-a Négociant actuel. It may be briefly observed, however, that the French Négociant answers better to the English mechanick, than to the honourable appellation, merchant. General Armstrong promised me a very interesting spectacle in the Imperial audience. It's the most splendid court in Europe,' said he. The court of London, and even of Vienna, will not bear a comparison with it.' Every one agreed in the justice of this remark, and my curiosity was strongly excited. "On the appointed day, about 3 o'clock, Mr. Younge accompanied me to the palace, where we were immediately conduc.ed to a splendid saloon, which is termed the Ambassadours' Hall. Refreshments were here handed round to the company, which was very numerous, and amongst them many German princes in their grand court dress. The conversation became very general; those who had seen Buonaparte, describing him to those who were about to be introduced. Every one agreed that he was the most extraordinary man that Europe had produced in many centuries, and that even his appearance was in no slight degree indicative of his character. 'He possesses an eye,' in which Lavater said one gentleman, might have understood a hero.' Younge confirmed this observation, and prepared me to regard him with more than common attention. Mr. "The doors of the saloon were at length thrown open, and some of the officers of the grand chamberlain, with white wands and embroidered robes and scarfs, bowing business, and when they were told how much service was gratuitously done the country by the respective members' attendance on committees, &c. &c. &c. (which, like many of our own countrymen, they had not the most distant idea of) they frequently shrugged up their shoul ders, and exclaimed, quel désintéressement! mon Dieu! quelle nation-en vérité, c'est une grande nation!—Tachons-nous de faire la meme chose?-Edit. Pan. low to the company, invited us, by waving their staves, to follow them up the grand staircase. Every one now arranged themselves in pairs, behind their respective ambassadours, and followed the ushers in procession, according to the precedence of their respective countries, the Imperial, Spanish, and Neapolitan ambassadours forming the van. The staircase was lined on both sides with grenadiers of the le gion of honour, most of whom, privates as well as officers, were arrayed in the order. The officers, as we passed, exchanged salutes with the ambassadours; and as the imperial ambassadour who led the procession, reached the door of the antiohamber, two trumpeters on each side played a congratulatory flourish. The ushers who had led us so far, now took their stations on each side the door, and others, in more splendid habits, succeeded them in the office of conducting us. "We now entered the anti-chamber, in which was stationed the regular guard of the palace. We were here saluted both by privates and officers, the imperial guard being considered as part of the household. From the anti-chamber we passed onwards through nearly a dozen most splendid apartments, and at length reached the presence-chamber. "My eyes were instantly in search of the emperour, who was at the farther extremity, surrounded by a numerous circle of officers and counsellors. The circle opened on our arrival, and withdrew be. bind the emperour. The whole of our Company now ranged themselves, the ambassadours in front, and their several countrymen behind their respective ministers. "Buonaparte now advanced to the Imperial ambassadour, with whom, when present, he always begins the audience. I had now an opportunity to regard him attentively. His person is below the middle size, but well composed; his features regular, but in their tout ensemble stern and commanding; his complexion sallow, and his general mien military. He was dressed very splendidly in purple velvet, the coat and waistcoat embroidered with gold bees, and with the grand star of the legion of honour worked into the coat. "He passed no one without notice, and to all the ambassadours he spoke once or twice. When he reached general Armstrong, he asked him, Whether America could not live without foreign commerce as well as France? and then added, without waiting for his answer, "THERE IS ONE NATION IN THE WORLD, WHICH MUST BE TAUGHT BY EXPERIENCE, THAT HER MERCHANTS ARE NOT NECESSARY TO THE EXISTENCE OF ALL OTHER NATIONS, AND THAT SHE CANNOT HOLD US ALL IN COMMERCIAL SLAVERY > ENGLAND IS ONLY SENSIBLE IN HER COMPTERS."* We have extracted the more freely from this work, because the writer cannot be suspected of an undue bias toward Britain. The result of his observations is indeed very strongly in favour of our native island; and the manners, conveniences, enjoyments which it offers, are rendered more grateful to a rational mind by contrast with the frivolities-not of that portion of the French nation which thinks of thinking, but-of the bulk of the people of France. We frankly acknowledge our obligations to him for his communications, avow with readiness that we have derived entertainment and gratification from his work; as indeed might be inferred from the copious extracts in which we have indulged ourselves. • Comptoirs-Counting houses. 1 FROM THE LONDON REVIEW. An Account of the Empire of Marocco, and the District of Suse; compiled from Miscellaneous Observations, made during a long Residence in, and various Journeys through these Countries. To which is added, an Accurate and Interesting Account of Timbuctoo,* the great Emporium of central Africa. By James Gray Jackson, Esq.-Review by Mr. Cumberland. London, 1809. AS this had appeared to me to be a very interesting publication, in volving many curious and some truly important particulars, I held it to be Either the author or the reviewer has chosen, in several particulars to depart from the usual orthography, by writing Marocco instead of Morocco, Timbuctoo instead of Tombuctoo. We have in this instance, adopted the alterations without knowing the reason for which they are made. Ed. Select Reviews. a duty, which I owed both to my readers and myself, to employ every means in my power for tracing certain matters, which seemed to rest upon simple affirmation, to their true and genuine sources of authority, before I set my name to a review of Mr Jackson's volume. He informs us in his preface, that it has been "compiled from various notes and observations, made during a residence of sixteen years in different parts of the empire of Marocco." This is a claim, which very few of our travelled authors have to prefer, and certain it is, that the Englishman, who for sixteen years has voluntarily devoted himself to the hazard and horrour of living under the dominion of a Moorish despot, has fairly, and to a certain extent, earned a title, to be believed, when he is describing what he has seen and known and learned of the country: yet if he tells of things altogether new and strange, and such as it is hard to credit, there should be something more than mere assertion on his part to ensure our faith, and reconcile us to the tale of wonder. When, for instance, in the chapter that treats of zoology, we are told of the swiftness and abstemiousness of the desert horse, possessing such extraordinary powers, and refusing all sustenance but that of camel's milk, and above all of the heirie, or camel called tasayee, which in traversing the desert, performs the length of nine days journies in one, with a swiftness, which seems to elude all description except that of a telegraph; we assuredly want something more solid than mere narration to support the fact, and keep our faith from staggering. When in the region about Timbuctoo, as yet unvisited by any English, and I might say any European traveller, we are informed of a river, which would convey us to Grand Cairo through a tract as thickly strowed with populous towns as China; and that this river is, in fact, a western branch of the Nile itself, to be traced from its source in the Jibbel Kumra, or Mountains of the Moon, so called, to its junction with the eastern or Egyptian streams; the geographer is startled by intelligence so new, and would naturally urge those questions, which I have anticipated, and require that explanation which I have sought for and obtained. When a traveller makes notes of his own adventures, with a pre-determined purpose to impart them to the publick, and enjoy the luxury of writing a book, he makes himself the hero of his story, and of course must make the story worthy of its hero. This certainly was not in the contemplation of Mr. Jackson; the engagement that occasioned him to make so long a residence in a Mohammedan country, and to perfect himself in a language, that is spoken in all parts wheresoever Mohammedans are, were of a political as well as a commercial sort. In that character he was appointed by the old government of Holland, agent to the states general, and, having negotiated with the emperour Muley Yezzid, hoisted their flag at Agadeer or Santa Cruz, and opened that port to foreign commerce. Here he established himself in trade, till he was obliged to leave Santa Cruz, when the present emperour, jealous, perhaps, of the natural strength of the place, situated at the extremity of the Atlas Mountains, ordered it to be evacuated. This measure, dictated in the suspicious. character of Marocco policy, obliged Mr. Jackson to Mountains with the prince's army, and repair to the emperour, who then held his court at Marocco. This inland capital was no station for our author's purpose, and he was permitted to go to Mogodor on the coast at the distance of about a hundred miles, where he again established a house of commerce, under the firm cross the Atlas of James Jackson and Co. when upon the death of Mr Layton the partnership being dissolved, the surviver came to England, and having no other object but to render his communications useful to the African association, after several interviews with them, was induced by the liberal suggestions of the earl of Moira to publish those remarks, and that body of information, which are to be found in the volume now under my review. Thus it came to pass, that Mr. Jackson, without courting the fame of an author, has become the unob trusive narrator of his own observations, and these he has committed to the publick with less parade of dictation, and more modest avoidance of egotism than I can recollect to have observed in any other writers of the same description, whether their scale of travel has been great or small, foreign or domestick. For it shall sometimes happen that the passenger in a stage coach between Bath and London, shall blow as loud a trumpet to puff his pennyworth of adventures, as if he had penetrated into unexplored latitudes, and added newly discovered countries to the map of earth. Travellers of this sort have been successfully exposed of late by some, who seem to have a way of getting at their pocket-books, and yet keep ing clear of the penalties of the law. Of Barbary it may be said, that no Country on the globe, of which so much has been written, is so little known. In the mean time its natural fertility entitles it to be considered as the garden of the world. In its products it possesses every thing that can invite the trader to its coasts, in its government much, that may discourage him from resorting to them. By referring to the eleventh chapter of this volume [p. 193.] where a statement is given of exports and imports, accurately transcribed from the original Arabick books of the custom house at Mogodor, a correc idea may be formed of the trade carried on in that port. In the list of exports will be found almost every article. that is in request either for luxury or for general use; the advantages that our traders might de rive from the vast abundance of raw materials, that would be bartered in exchange for manufactured goods, are in a manner incalculable; yet such is the wretched state of this neglected trade, that "with the exception of two or three houses, there is, at present, no European establishment of any consequence at Mogodor," and it is to be feared that Mr. Jackson is too well founded in his remark, “that with consuls, who are equally unac quainted with the language of the country, and the manners, politicks, and complexion of the court, we must not expect that the British merchant will be sufficiently encouraged to make considerable adventures to West Barbary," Still it should appear from the opinion of this well informed wri ter, that means are in our power, by prudent regulations, and intelligent, well chosen agents, to revive this languishing, but important branch of trade. "A close connexion," he observes, “with the empire of Marocco is of the greatest importance to Great Britain, both in a po litical and commercial point of view; for besides the various articles of trade al ready enumerated, it affords ample supplies of provisions; and if a friendly in tercourse between the two nations were firmly established, we should never have any difficulty in victualling not only Gibraltar, but also all our different fleets which cruise in the Mediterranean, and on the northern coast of Africa; a resource, which, in the present state of things, certainly merits the serious attention of this country. The advantages of a trade with this empire must be evident, from what has been detailed in the preceding pages, where it will be seen that nearly the whole of the exports to Marocco consists of manufuctured goods, and that the returns før these are entirely raw materials, many of which are essentially necessary in our maBufacture." Greater advantages in point of trade than these, no country can hold forth; and it is Mr. Jackson's opinion: "That we have it in our power, by proper representations and a judicious nego. tiation, to supply, through this channel, a great part of the interiour of Africa with our superfluous manufactures, while we might receive in return many very valua ble and useful articles; such as oil of olives, hides, skins, almonds, gums, wax, silver, and gold; in addition to which may be mentioned, oranges and lemons, of which a greater quantity might be procured from two ports [Tetuan and Rabat] in the empire, than is afforded both by Spain and Portugal. The oranges of Tetuan" he says "are the finest in the world, and are sold for eight drahims, or about Se. 6d. per thousand. In short, nothing is wanting to secure a most extensive and lucrative trade with Marocco, but an established friendship between the two nations, strengthened by a mutual return of good offices and attentions. Indeed," he adds, "the present emperour, Muley Soliman, may be said to have made overtures of this nature." The fact I find to be as follows. Muley Soliman, the reigning monarch, who is better versed in the laws of the Koran, than any man in his empire, and in his nature more merciful than any of the antecedent sovereigns of Marocco, wrote a letter with his own hand to his majesty our king, which after being sent to the universities for interpretation, was rendered into English by the author of this volume, and we presume has been answered. In this imperial letter, Muley Soliman, addressing his majesty by the sacred title of sultan, pays him the highest respect that ever was offered by a Mooselman to a Christian king. In the twenty-four first pages of this work, the author gives a geographical account of the four grand divisions of the empire of Marocco, viz. northern, central, southern, and eastern. In the northern division, we find the towns of Fez, Mequinas, Tetuan, Tangier, and many others, whose names are not so familiar to us. This VOL. IJ. province extends along the shores of the Mediterranean sea, and abounds in corr. and cattle. The vicinity of dy observed) the most delicious Tetuan produces (as has been alrea oranges in the world; figs, grapes, melons, apricots, plums, strawber ries, apples, pears, pomegranates, citrons, lemons, limes, and the refreshing fruit of the opuntia, or prickly pear. It has forests of oak, cork, and other valuable trees of large growth. Hemp, cotton of a superiour quality, honey, wax, gum Arabick, and the tobacco called Mequinasi, so much esteemed for making snuff. In the central division are the towns of Marocco, Saffee, and the port of Mogodor. This fine province abounds in horses and horned cattle. The horses of Abda are of the most select breed in the country. The goats are innumerable, and their skins form a principal article of exportation from the port of Mogodor. The mountains of Haha produce the famous wood called Arar, new to this country, which is proof against rot or the worm. In the southern district, Suse is considered as the most extensive, and, excepting in grain, the richest province of the empire. The olive, almond, date, orange, grape, and all the other fruits of the northern provinces abound here, particularly about Terodant, the capital of Suse; and according to our author's account, there is not, perhaps, a finer climatein the world than that of Suse, in which province he resided at Agadeer or Santa Cruz. The sugar-cane grows spontaneously about Terodant; cotton, indigo, gum, and various kinds of medicinal herbs are produced, and the stick liquorice in pro. fusion. Wax in great quantity, the gums euphorbium, sandrac and amarad, wild thyme, worm-seed, orriss root, orchilla weed, and coloquinth; antimony, saltpetre of a superiour quality, copper, and silver are here found; the two latter in abundanc about Elala and in Shtuka |