residing in, and wishing to engage in
commercial speculations in Morocco. These privileges are, on the whole,
also explicitly stated. Afterwards follows two articles on "disputes,"
which clauses were amended and explained in January 1824, when the
treaty was confirmed. These are:--
"VII. Disputes between Moorish subjects and English subjects, shall be
decided in the presence of the English Consuls, provided the decision be
comformable to the Moorish law, in which case the English subject shall
not go before the Kady or Hakem, as the Consul's decision shall suffice.
"VIII. Should any dispute occur between English subjects and Moors, and
that dispute should occasion a complaint from either of the parties, the
Emperor of Morocco shall only decide the matter. If the English subject
be guilty, he shall not be punished with more severity than a Moor would
be; should he escape, no other subject of the English nation shall be
arrested in his stead, and if the escape be made after the decision, in
order to avoid punishment, he shall be sentenced as a Moor would be who
had committed the same crime. Should any dispute occur in the English
territories, between a Moor and an English subject, it shall be decided
by an equal number of the Moors residing there and of Christians,
according to the custom of the place, if not contrary to the Moorish
law."
In the amended clause of Article VIII. We have for any complaint,
substituted serious personal injury, and I cannot but observe that the
making of the Emperor the final judge, in such case, is a stretch of too
great confidence in Moorish justice.
Not that a Sultan of Morocco is necessarily bad or worse than an
European Sovereign, but because a personage of such power and character,
armed with unbounded attributes of despotism over his own subjects, who
are considered his Abeed, or slaves, whilst feebly aided by the
perception of the common rights of men, and imperfectly acquainted with
European civilization, can never, unless, indeed by accident or miracle,
justly decide upon the case of an Englishman, or upon a dispute between
his own and a foreign subject; for besides the ideas and education of
the Emperor, there is the necessity which his Imperial Highness feels,
despot as he is, of exhibiting himself before his people as their
undoubted friend and partial judge.
So strongly have Sultans of Morocco felt this, that many anecdotes might
be cited where the Emperor has indemnifi
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