nd political opposition, were deliberately executed at his
command. The prince of Kheibar, after being subjected to inhuman torture
for the purpose of discovering the treasures of his tribe, was, with his
cousin, put to death on the pretext of having treacherously concealed
them; and his wife was led away captive to the tent of the conqueror.
Sentence of exile was enforced by Mahomet with rigorous severity on two
whole Jewish tribes at Medina; and of a third like his neighbours, the
women and children were sold into distant captivity, while the men
amounting to several hundreds were butchered in cold blood before his
eyes.

"In his youth Mahomet earned among his fellows the honourable title of
'the Faithful.' But in later years, however much sincerity and good
faith may have guided his conduct in respect of his friends, craft and
deception were certainly not wanting towards his foes. The perfidious
attack at Nakhla, where the first blood in the internecine war with the
Coreish was shed, although at first disavowed by Mahomet, for its
scandalous breach of the sacred usages of Arabia, was eventually
justified by a pretended revelation. Abu Basir, the freebooter, was
countenanced by the Prophet in a manner scarcely consistent with the
letter, and certainly opposed to the spirit, of the truce of Hodeibia.
The surprise which secured the easy conquest of Mecca was designed with
craftiness, if not with duplicity. The pretext on which the Bani Nadhir
were besieged and expatriated (namely, that Gabriel had revealed their
design against the prophet's life), was feeble and unworthy of an honest
cause. When Medina was beleaguered by the confederate army, Mahomet
sought the services of Nueim, a traitor, and employed him to sow
distrust among the enemy by false and treacherous reports; 'for,' said
he, 'what else is war but a game at deception?' In his prophetical
career, political and personal ends were frequently compassed by the
flagrant pretence of _Divine_ revelations, which a candid examination
would have shewn him to be nothing more than the counterpart of his own
wishes. The Jewish and Christian systems, at first adopted honestly as
the basis of his own religion, had no sooner served the purpose of
establishing a firm authority, than they were ignored, if not disowned.
And what is perhaps worst of all, the dastardly assassination of
political and religious opponents, countenanced and frequently directed
as they were in all the