islamic-jihad-legacy-of-forced-conversion-imperialism-slavery

Islamic SlaveryDisheartened by the failure of the negotiation, the King lost interest in the Tangier garrison, which had failedto stop the depredations of the corsairs, and evacuated the post in the following year. 920British citizens continued to be captured and suffer in Sultan Moulay Ismail’s dungeons through therest of the King’s reign. King Charles III, who ascended the throne in 1685, was very concerned and eager tohave the captives released. After a protracted bargain lasting five years, the sultan agreed to free the captivesat the exorbitant price of £15,000 and 1,200 barrels of gunpowder. ‘‘The ship was so full of powder that wewere in continual fear of her blowing up,’’ wrote Captain George Delaval, who transported the ransom toMorocco. But the sultan started disputing the terms of the treaty after Delaval’s arrival. Delaval refused tohandover the money until he was sure that the captives would be released. At length, the sultan released 194British slaves, keeping thirty of them in his custody. Later on, when Queen Anne ascended the throne in 1702and hinted at joining a Moroccan attack on the Spanish enclave at Ceuta, the remaining captives weresuddenly released. Moroccan palace was empty of British captives for the first time in 150 years. Soonafterwards, the corsairs of Salé went on the offensive, when Queen Anne showed reluctance to join thesultan’s offensive against the Spaniards; British captives started streaming in. 921Another truce was signed between Sultan Moulay Ismail and Queen Anne in 1714 on the promise ofhuge gifts. As the Queen’s death in the summer of the same year delayed the delivery of the gift, the sultansent his slave-hunters back into the sea. King George I, the German-born ruler of Hanover, was given thethrone after the death of childless Queen Anne. He showed little interest in the miserable plight of Britishcaptives held in Morocco. In 1717, the wives and widows of the enslaved mariners wrote a desperate andemotionally-charged petition to the King, pleading for securing the release of their enslaved husbands. TheKing remained unmoved by it and the Secretary of State, Joseph Addison, took up the difficult cause. Just afew months earlier, Admiral Charles Cornwall had returned from the sultan’s palace empty-handed as thesultan was reluctant to sign a lasting peace-treaty and release the captives.After a long deliberation in a crisis meeting in May 1717, a high level delegation, led by CaptainConinsby Norbury, was sent to Morocco. Angered by the continued illegal capture of British mariners andbreach of every peace-treaty signed, Norbury was too haughty for such a delicate negotiation and showed anair of defiance and disdain of the sultan. When Sultan Moulay Ismail first met him rather courteously hopingto receive the huge gift from England, Norbury ‘‘demanded the slave, saying that without them, he’d make nopeace, and would blockade all their sea-ports and destroy their commerce, with other threats of that kind.’’ 922In the habit of treating foreign dignitaries with contempt, the sultan was obviously unprepared for the snuband nothing came out of Norbury’s mission. But the sultan agreed to the posting of a British consul inMorocco. Merchant Anthony Hatfeild, chosen for the post, made diligent efforts over the years to release thecaptives, but failed to achieve anything.Hatfeild gathered intelligence about the activities of the corsairs, which had increased since 1717,and kept London informed about it. Alarmed by the intelligence, another diplomatic mission, led byCommodore Charles Stewart, was sent in 1720. Stewart possessed all the diplomatic niceties and skills fornegotiation with the unpredictable and haughty ruler of Morocco. He signed a treaty first with Basha Hamet,the sultan’s governor of Tetouan in Northern Morocco. Thereafter, he proceeded to the sultan’s court, wherehis delegation was received with great hospitality. After protracted negotiations, a treaty was eventuallysigned in exchange of large gifts for the sultan. The slaves, 293 of them, from both England and colonialAmerica, were released. 923920. Ibid, p. 39–41921. Ibid, p. 49–50922. Ibid, p. 116923. Ibid, p. 172–95260