DURING the whole time that Sir Sidney was performing the high and important duties of an Ambassador at the Porte, he never received the salary of one, nor, indeed, any remuneration whatever-which, without taking his situation as a mere Ambassador into consideration, the great services he rendered his country while in that capacity, and the very serious expenses incidental to the station, so justly entitled him to. On mentioning the disagreeable position he was placed in to Lord Castlereagh, when he went to Vienna, that unfortunate nobleman immediately acknowledged the claim, and satisfied it; but, to use Sir Sidney's own words-"As he thought proper to terminate his existence shortly afterwards, and neglected to leave an official memorandum of the transaction, Sir Sidney was obliged to refund the money; and up to the present moment, although he has been perpetually promised by the different Ministers that he should be indemnified and settled with, he has never received one farthing."

But to return to his visit to Lord Castlereagh. It was upon this occasion, in an interview with Prince Metternich, who happened to call upon his Lordship while Sir Sidney was with him, that the following incident occurred :

The Prince, no doubt thinking this a good opportunity for acquiring some particular information he wished to have respecting our policy in the East, turned the conversation upon one or two events in which Sir Sidney had acted a prominent part; and then, requesting to be favoured with an account of such-and-such a circumstance that he had heard of, he would very skilfully, as he thought, while Sir Sidney was telling it in one of those pleasant veins of humour for which he is so remarkable, take occasion carelessly to observe, that it was very singular So-and-So should have been of the party, by way of inducing Sir Sidney-who, he was sure, must have known that this So-and-So was not there, and why -to divulge the diplomatic secret Metternich knew he was acquainted with, while explaining how impossible it was this person could have been present. "His Highness baited his hook," said the Admiral, and cast it in two or three times with great tact; but he had not such a gudgeon to catch as he bargained for."

*

At length, in one instance, when Sir Sidney was relating

the wily statesman observed how strange it was that should have been there.

"I should think so," conceded Sir Sidney, inclining his head, and smiling "I should think so-it certainly must have been very strange: and, à propos, it brings to my recollection an anecdote that will perhaps amuse your Highness, which a merry, facetious, fat little fellow, called Hagi Baba, an Arabian, and Bash Ademeh (Chief of the Pages) to the Sultan, told me at a time when I was anchored close to the Seraglio walls for the protection of its inmates. I found him one day smoking his pipe, with a broad grin on his face, and looking as if something had

Continued from No. 112, p. 373.

just crossed his mind that tickled his fancy amazingly. I was merely upon a visit of curiosity; and as I entered the hall he arose and saluted me, with his cheeks prodigiously inflated with the desperate effort he was making to preserve his gravity; and this he was not long able to do, but burst out into a most unoriental roar of laughter,' and, taking me by the hand to some cushions, he again squatted down, and, bidding me follow his example-for my frequent intercourse with the Sultan had made us well acquainted-he told me he had been amused a few hours before with such a sly trick of the Sultan that he could not help laughing whenever he thought of it, and he was passing it over in his mind when I came in. It was this:His master, wishing to find out whether the Reis Effendi was one of the conspirators in the insurrection, had sounded an intimate friend of his, Sadi Ombank-but whether he was too deep, or that he really knew nothing of the matter, was not then known: certain it is that no information could be obtained from him in the slightest degree to implicate the Reis Effendi. The Sultan, however, still felt persuaded that Sadi could tell a different story if he liked, and he was half determined in his wrath to have him tied up in a sack and sent on a voyage of discovery down the Bosphorus: but, as this was not the way to obtain the secret from him, he called for his Vizier, and told him what he had done in his perplexity. His Chief Minister replied, with all deference and humility, that he had not gone the right way to work in sifting Sadi Ombank; and, as he had seen him in the gardens as he passed, he would summon him immediately; at the same time advising the Sultan to make him tell some story,- For be it known to you,' said Hagi Baba, that old Sadi is most unaccountably fond of telling long stories, and exciting the wonder and admiration of his auditors; and, although in other respects a man of good sense and discretion, this is his weak point: but not his weakest,' added Hagi, with peculiar emphasis, and, placing his fore-finger along his nose, and closing one eye as he spoke"(He was a comical dog, that Hagi Baba,' said Sir Sidney, in telling me this anecdote)" his weakest and most fatal fault,' continued Hagi, was that he would allow you to worm anything out of him you pleased while telling these stories."

6

Prince Metternich relaxed his features into a smile.

Sir Sidney, appearing not to notice it, proceeded:-" The Sultan, at the suggestion of his councillor, walked with him at once into the garden, where they found old Sadi indulging in a sweet reverie, and leaning against a tree near the pavilion, with his eyes fixed on a tender rose-bud that was gradually expanding beneath the genial influence of an eastern sun. I was in attendance, and heard all. Now he had not been dismissed in anger, and was, therefore, in his usual happy and serene state of mind, and felt highly flattered when the Sultan called him into the pavilion, and desired him to relate one of his best stories.

66

I will tell your Highness one which happened lately,' said Sadi; and began at once, in his pompous manner, to tell the very best he could have hit upon to favour the Sultan's plan, but the very worst for his own happiness; and it was his last-it was decreed to be so, and was written in the Lanh Almafondh*. Thrice has the light of the world

*The Book of Destinies. It is composed of two entirely distinct parts. The one, immutable, eternal like God, constitutes that which the Arabs call "The Mother of the Book," and define as "the Knowledge of God, in which the things

burst out in dazzling effulgence from behind yon minarets and domes since Aboulgâcîm, fearing thy impartial justice, departed for his pashalic; but ere he left these walls he cut off a parent flower resembling that which bends so affectionately over the young bud; and its lovely and beautifully-blooming offspring, in all the freshness of virginity and coloured with the richest blushes, would have been torn away by the same hand, and carried to his gilded chambers to gratify the burning desire of the moment, and, the brief enjoyment past, have been thrown aside to droop and exhale its delicious perfume, and wither and die neglected and uncared for; had not your'

"That affair has already reached us,' interrupted the Sultan; and Hassan Alattan assisted to lop off the flower that once blossomed in our own harem.'

"Pardon me, great Sir,' said the silly old fellow; 'Hassan Alattan was closetted at the time, and in high debate with the Reis Effendi.' "I very much doubt it,' rejoined the Sultan.

"Most true, nevertheless,' said Sadi; for it was just at the time that the Agar-but I think your Highness,' he observed, suddenly checking himself, has not heard my story before, and'

“I've heard enough,' replied the Sultan, quickly. By the tribe of Koraysch*, I have discovered the traitor!'

"Poor old Sadi saw that he had betrayed his friend, and he did not dare refuse now to reveal all he knew, after he recovered from the stupefaction into which his egregious folly had plunged him; and then he looked quite bewildered, and there was something so irresistibly ludicrous in his doleful aspect, that the Sultan, who was not in a bad humour, pardoned him his deception, and walked away, leaving him to the enjoyment of his own company-which, I suppose, was not very much to his taste just then, for he slipped away, and ran to warn the Reis Effendi, who rewarded him for the part he had been playing as he might have expected. The Sultan's messengers of death arrived at the Reis Effendi's nearly at the same moment as poor Sadi's head rolled at his feet: he knew what his own fate would be, and, while his arm was yet free, with a stroke of his scimitar he nearly severed his own head from his body."

"Very good, indeed-very good," remarked the Prince; "a lesson from you, Sir, would perhaps have put him more on his guard for the future. It conveys a moral which you yourself appear to have attended to," he added, with a smile; and, rising, invited Sir Sidney to go with

are unchangeable." The other part is susceptible of abrogation, in such wise that the decrees which are found inscribed at a certain epoch can be revoked or modified by God to a subsequent one. From this it arises that the Awliga (sing. Waly)that is to say, men who have attained the highest degree of sanctity-when the slave enters into the confidence of his Master (a), and can read in the book of "Destinies,"-sometimes make predictions which are never fulfilled, and which can only be accounted for by the decrees which have been revealed to the world having been afterwards revoked by the will of God. Such, at least, is the belief of the Arabs.-J. F.

* The tribe of Koraysch, to which Mahomet belonged, was the issue of Ishmael, the son of Abraham.

(a) The Mussulmans do not represent God as a Father of whom they are the children, but as a merciful Master of whom they are the slaves.

him to the King, which he did, as an audience had been requested and granted.

As Sir Sidney concluded, we arose from the table, delighted and entertained, as usual, with his versatile powers of conversation, that flows copiously and gracefully into any channel it may chance to be conducted, whatever the branches of knowledge to which it leads; and from such-like stories of his past life would he turn with easy transition to illustrate with the happiest perspicuity the leading facts and principles of knowledge and science, or describe the manners and pursuits of various nations, and the natural and artificial productions of other countries.

Colonel W, during dinner, touched upon the scheme of the French Government for conquering and colonizing the territory of Algiers, and expressed his surprise at the defeat of the French expedition at Constantine. Sir Sidney replied, that the French were little qualified to colonize barbarous or half-civilized countries; and gave many excellent reasons for their want of success, which I do not relate on account of their singular accordance with the arguments and opinions of Rozet, which he has given in his "Voyage dans la Régence d'Algér." A wealthy, and one of the most distinguished Poles that unhappy country can boast of numbering amongst her truest patriots (I forget his name, they are so awkward to remember) inquired if the Arabs did not sometimes procure large quantities of gold from some mountains in the adjacent countries; and Sir Sidney told him that they fetched it from the empire of Houssa, and the Wangara, or gold country, where it is found washed down from the Kong Mount: and thus discoursing, he was led to make some curious observations on the commerce between Northern and Central Africa, and those lands visited by the merchants and traders of Egypt, and, I believe, Phoenicia, and whither our modern enterprising travellers have hitherto failed to penetrate the substance of which will be found in this letter from Admiral Sir Sidney Smith to the Right Honourable Vesey FitzGerald, when President of the Board of Trade, and which will convey a slight idea of the vigorous, comprehensive, and ever-active mind of the accomplished writer:

“DEAR SIR,—It is desirable that the attention of the Board of Trade, and commercial cities where steam-vessels are in use, should be called to a part of Africa nearer Gibraltar, and more healthy, than Sierra Leone-consequently, offering facilities towards that extension of commerce in new channels, which Parliament professes to have so much at heart to provoke, excite, and support, in lieu of the inhuman slave-trade. The part in question is the southern slope of Atlas, accessible from each end by the Syrtis in the Mediterranean, and from the Atlantic Coast, opposite the Canary Islands, by Santa Cruz (Agadeer), Werdnou, and Arguin, at the south-west end of that immense chain inhabited by aborigines and descendants of the Phoenicians and Roman colonists, who have little intercourse with Morocco or the Barbary State, and who are systematically insulated by those Powers, and debarred from intercourse with Europeans, lest arms should be imported, and a combination made in their favour, such as would prevent these Saracen locusts from exacting contributions from them sword in hand, to a degree that impoverishes them so that they have less surplus wherewith to buy such European commodities as may find their way to them, They are not, however,

without the precious metals, in the form of massive ornaments, and hoards of Spanish dollars received from the Jews for corn supplied to the wine countries in the south of Europe. This new channel would, I am persuaded, afford a great vent for our muslins, calicoes, light woollens, cutlery, and earthenware-returning gold-dust and ingots, Morocco leather, gum, ostrich feathers, hard woods, raw silk, mohair, and raw materials of various kinds; also corn, to counterbalance our dependence on the Baltic and Black Sea. Commerce of this kind would operate favourably towards the abolition of the northern slavetrade, without which all our efforts to the westward of the Negro States operate but imperfectly towards the tranquillity and safety of the population.

"I visited Morocco in 1787-8, and the northern slope of this chain near the Atlantic; and was assured by travellers who came from the southward that they had had to pass ravines and beds of torrents like deep arms of a formerly-existing sea, the edges encrusted with salt, and having rolled pebbles and broken shells in the deeper channels, to which facts the narrative of shipwrecked persons furnish concurrent testimony. I was assured that anchors with four branches (the Phoenician form) were to be seen in these valleys; and the Arabic name of one, Wed-el-Marsa, the Valley of Anchorage' (though no longer used as such from the barred entrance), affords proof of the tradition of the natives as to the water formerly having been there open to the sea, if it has not been used as a port by them since their invasion. Arguin Island, in a bay behind the shoal sand-bank of that name (on which the ill-fated, ill-disciplined, ill-directed Medusa was wrecked), affords excellent anchorage. This was the first commercial establishment of the Portuguese on that coast, and was relinquished from the excessive heat of the evening sun reflected from the white shining sand-hills of the bay on the opposite coast, as in a focus.

"At present the only port of Arguin is Santa Cruz, called by the Moors Agadeer. It is shut up by an edict of the Emperor of Morocco, to favour his comparatively new establishment at Mogadore, from which he raises a certain revenue, and where he encourages European merchants and Gibraltar Jews to reside, whose intercourse with any other port is interdicted.

"Mr. Jackson, who resided at Santa Cruz twenty years, has published a detailed and interesting account of its commerce with Timbuctoo, where his partner resided. The pretended difficulties of the journey across the desert are all the inventions of the Jews, to preserve their present monopoly. Adam, in his account of his shipwreck, kept an itinerary, which is corroborated by other accounts published by Mr. Walkner, and the Hydrographical Society of Paris, of which I am one of the founders. The Arabs bring the gold of the Empire of Houssa and the Wangara, or gold country, where it is found washed down in very considerable quantities, across the desert to Soak Assa, a great mart, or Bledel-Moussa; so called from the tomb of an ancestor of the present Sheik being there situated, and is considered as a sanctuary. "The character of the present Sheik, Isidi Hishem, is well delineated

Being unaware of the indraught of the current, though well known to the ancients, and experienced sea officers of modern times.-J. F.