As to exploring the empire of Morocco, or making it the way of communication with Soudan or Central Negroland, this is now altogether impracticable.  The difficulties of Europeans travelling the Maroquine States, always great and perilous, are now become nearly insuperable.  This suspicious distrust, or ill-feeling has communicated itself contagiously to the tribes of the South as far as the Desert, and has infected other parts of Barbary.  The Engleez, once the cherished friends of the Moors, are looked upon more or less as the abettors of French aggressions in North Africa, if not as the sharers with them of the spoil.  In the language of the more plain-spoken Moors, “We always thought all Christians alike, though we often excepted the English from the number of our enemies, now we are certain we were wrong; the English are become as much our enemies as the French and the Spaniards.”  The future alone can disclose what will be the particular result of this unfavourable feeling; both with respect to France and England, and to other European nations.  However, we may look forward without misgiving.  Islamism will wear itself out—­the Crescent must wane.

In these preliminary observations, the commercial system of the Maroquine Court deserves especial mention.  The great object of Muley Abd Errahman [3] is—­nay, the pursuit of his whole life has been—­to get the whole of the trade of the empire into his own hands.  In fact, he has by this time virtually succeeded, though the thing is less ostentatiously done than by the Egyptian viceroy, that equally celebrated prince-merchant.  In order to effect this, his Shereefian Majesty seeks to involve in debt all the merchants, natives, or foreigners, tempting them by the offer of profuse credit.  As many of them as are needy and speculative, this imperial boon is without scruple greedily accepted.  The Emperor likewise provides them with commodious houses and stores; gives them at once ten or twenty thousand dollars worth of credit, and is content to receive in return monthly instalments.  These instalments never are, never can be regularly paid up.  The debt progressively and indefinitely increases; and whilst they live like so many merchant-princes, carrying on an immense trade, they are in reality beggars and slaves of the Emperor.  They are, however, styled imperial merchants, and wear their golden chains with ostentatious pride.

This credit costs his Shereetian Highness nothing; he gives no goods, advances no moneys, whilst he most effectually impoverishes and reduces to servitude the foreign merchant resident in his empire, never allowing him to visit his native country without the guarantee of leaving his wife and family behind as hostages for his return.  The native merchant is, in all cases, absolutely at the mercy of his imperial lord.  On the bombardment of Mogador, all the native and resident traders, not excepting the English merchants, were found overwhelmed with debt, and, therefore, were not allowed to leave the country; and they were only saved from the pillage and massacre of the ferocious Berber tribes by a miracle of good luck.