-when we consider that our
garrison of Gibraltar is in its vicinage, and but a few hours' sail
from it, we are naturally astonished that our communication with
this country is so limited. That we have less commercial
communication with Barbary, than we have with countries that do not
open to us any thing like the commercial advantages that this
country offers, though they are thousands of miles from us. It
appears relevant, therefore, to inquire, whence originates this
impeded intercourse? There are two great impediments to our free
intercourse with Sudan through Marocco: viz., a general ignorance
of the Arabic language, as spoken in the latter country; and the
repugnancy of the Muhamedan religion to that of Christ. With
respect to the first of these impediments, it is remarkable that
this learned language is so little known in Europe,--this language,
267 the most prevalent in the world, a language which is spoken or
understood almost without intermission from the western shores of
Africa on the Atlantic ocean, to the confines of China,--a language
understood, wherever Muhamedans are to be found, throughout all the
populous and commercial regions of Africa, from the Western Ocean
to the Red Sea, and from the Mediterranean to the country of
Kaffers,[178] in the vicinage of the Cape of Good Hope. With
respect to the second of these impediments, the repugnancy of the
Muhamedan religion to that of Christ, it may justly be observed,
that this is not really so great as we are apt to imagine; the
moral principles of Muhamedans being not unlike those of the former
Christians, being in fact a composition of Hebrew and Christian
morality. They acknowledge Jesus Christ to be a prophet, and tell
us, that, in this respect, they are on the safe side, as we impute
no Divine authority to Muhamed. But a most violent repugnance to
Christians has been propagated by the (_Fakeers_) Muselmen saints,
or holy men. They have industriously circulated the belief of an
old superstitious prediction which they have on record, viz. that
the Christians will invade the Muhamedan countries, take their
268 cities and towns, and establish the Christian religion on the ruins
of that of Muhamed, and take possession of the country. These
reports, propagated, as before observed, by the (_Fakeers_