ever, destined to. enjoy his good fortune long, for the princess died a
short time before our arrival at Tripoly, and with her highness
departed that portion of influence which Bey Halil through her
means had obtained. The profits arising from the government of
Bengazi would have been sufficient to, enrich its possessor, had he
been allowed to enjoy them ; but the demands which were continually
made upon him by the Bashaw became so heavy after the death of his
wife, that the surplus was very inconsiderable. Besides this, the
collection of the tribute from the Bedouin tribes in the neighbourhood
was often attended with difficulty*. and must have made the
receipts uncertain ; but no allowance is made in Mahometan
countries for casualties of this description ; the will of a superior is: a
law, and his demands must be punctually complied with, (whatever
may be the means of satisfying t h e m , i f the office* and, often the
life of thè person upon whom they may be made, are valued by him.
The consequence is, that extortion in the heads of departments is the
cause of extortion in subalterns ; and he who has no power to: avail
himself of tyranny, is. generally doomed to be the sufferer himself,
for not being able to do more than his resources will allow him to
accomplish. Many a well-meaning man who would have acted; with
propriety, had the alternative been- less severe* is thus obliged to
commit acts of cruelty and injustice which his nature would not have
inclined him to * the force of hahit and example at length; subdues
his better feelings*, and necessity is so often made the; excuse for
tyrannical conduct, that it not only becomes aiplea where i t actually
obtains, but is ùrged as such eventually On occasions where no necessity
really exists, to justify private acts of caprice and oppression,
which have themselves only resulted from the long-indulged
habit of executing similar outrages for others.
The Bey having been officially apprized of our arrival, and that
we were desirous of paying our respects to him, appointed a day to
receive u s ; and when the time arrived we proceeded to the castle,
accompanied by Signor Rossoni, the British vice-consul at Bengazi,
and his brother, Mr. Giacomo Rossoni. We found the Bey in a
plain whitewashed room of unimposing dimensions, but cool and
tolerably clean, seated upon cushions spread round a niche which
had been formed in the wall for the purpose. On each side of this
recess, or alcove, were ranged the principal officers of the household,
the chaouses, and several shekhs; other parts of the room were occupied
by slaves and persons of inferior condition. There was much
less ceremony in the court of Bey Halil than in that of the Bashaw
at Tripoly, and the conversation appeared to have been pretty general
before we entered the apartment in which he received us. *
The hum of voices subsided all at once as we made our appearance,
and every person’s eyes seemed determined to exert themselves
in proportion as his tongue was laid under restraint; for the
steady gaze of all present was fixed upon our party as we took up
our stations near the Bey. We found his excellency a good-looking,
well-formed man, who, apparently from inactivity and good living,
had attained to that state of dignified embonpoint at which persons
of inferior consideration in Mahometan countries are very seldom
destined to arrive. A Georgian by ,birth, Bey Halil possessed
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