Book-bot.com - read famous books online for free

Travels in Morocco, Volume 2. by James Richardson
page 36 of 181 (19%)
cut-throats in a horrible dungeon. However, Mr. Saferty was attended by
a numerous body of his friends; so when the sentence was given, a cry of
indignation arose, a scuffle ensued, and the prisoner was rescued from
the Moorish police-officers. Mr. Willshire found the means of patching
up the business with the Moorish authorities, and the case was soon
forgotten. "All's well that ends well."

I do not say that the Moors are determinedly vindictive, or seek
quarrels with Europeans; on the contrary, I believe the cause of the
dispute frequently rests with the European, and the bonĂ¢-fide agressor,
some adventurer whose conduct was so bad in his own country, that he
sought Barbary as a refuge from the pursuit of the minister of justice.
What I wish to lay stress on is, the enormous power given to the
Emperor, by a solemn treaty, in making him the final judge, and the
imminent exposure of British subjects to the barbarous punishments of a
semi-civilized people.

Article X is a most singular one. "Renegades from the English nation, or
subjects who change their religion to embrace the Moorish, they being of
unsound mind at the time of turning Moors, shall not be admitted as
Moors, and may again return to their former religion; but if they
afterwards resolve to be Moors, they must abide by their own decision,
and their excuses will not be accepted."

It was a wonderful discovery of our modern morale, that a renegade,
being a madman, should not be considered a renegade in earnest, or
responsible for his actions. Nevertheless, these unfortunate beings,
should they have better thoughts, or as mad-doctors have it, "a lucid
interval," and leave the profession of the Mahometan faith, and
afterwards again relapse into madness, and turn Mahometans once more,
DigitalOcean Referral Badge