The present danger of Tangier, or, An account of its being attempted by a great army of the Moors by land, and under some apprehensions of the French at sea in a letter from Cadiz dated the 29th of July (old stile) 1679, to a friend in England.

THE Present Danger OF TANGIER: OR, An Account of its being Attempted By a great Army of the Moors by Land, And under some Apprehensions of The FRENCH at Sea.

In a LETTER from Cadiz, Dated the 29th of July (old stile) 1679. To a Friend in England.

WE are not a little afflicted to understand by the last News from England, of the Di∣stractions you labour under, by the di∣sturbances occasioned by Popish Trai∣tors, and the Insurrection in Scotland, which we trust by this time may be sub∣dued and allayed, from those good Encouragements your Letter gave us to hope so. But in return, I have no∣thing

to send you, but the like Tidings of more Disasters, and that is, of the great danger the Town and Garrison of Tangier seems to be in at this time; be∣ing, 'tis credibly reported here, under a Blockade, and in some Distress, for there are many thousand Moors lye a∣gainst it, some say Fifteen Thousand, others more; for indeed, they can bring down what Multitudes they list, at an hours warning upon them; but hitherto there have not passed many acts of Hostility between them; for they are now upon a Treaty of Sixty days; which is said to be politickly proposed and held on foot by the Town, in hopes that they may in that time re∣ceive some Supplies of Provision, Am∣munition, &c▪ from England; for they complain lamentably, That they are very ill furnisht in case of a Siege. Du∣ring this Treaty, they converse freely with the Moors, and some adventure to go amongst them, and return without damage; but the Sixty days are now near expiring, and we do not hear of any good Accommodation that is like to be concluded, nor any extraordina∣ry Succours come to the Garrison; but on the contrary, since we came here,

the Moors have been assisted from some English, (as 'tis confidently related) with 1500 Barrels of Powder, Landed at Tan∣gier, and so from thence, clandestine∣ly, and by Roguery, sold at very dear rates, and conveyed to them. Thus 'tis too often the Custom of our Nation, to give away their Swords to their Ene∣mies, and then fight with their Teeth, and furnish our Foes with means to Cut our Throats. What a cursed thing is this private Self-Interest! how many brave Kingdoms hath it destroyed! Whilst every one is much for himself, the Devil fools us all. There are Men in the World, that would sell their King, their Countrey, their Religion, their Souls and all, to Pope or Turk, or any other Chapman, for ready Money. Let the Ship I sail in perish, provided out of the Wrack I may get a Pleasure-Boat for my self. So a Villain gets an Estate, what cares he how many poor Souls suffer by his Fraud, Treachery, or Op∣pression? I cannot think of these base Dregs of Mankind, that are Betrayers of their Countries Safety, Honour, Wealth, and Reputation, without just Resentment, and some Emotion of Spi∣rit. We all here are upon this news, in

a great deal of Pain and Trouble, con∣cerning Tangiers Circumstances; for you know of what considerable Impor∣tance 'tis to our Streights-Trade; and should it be lost, our Merchants might in effect, take their leave of the Medi∣terranean, especially if it should fall into some peoples Hands.

The French have now 40 sail of Gallies lying at Gibraltar, on what designe we cannot learn; which causes some apprehensions as if there might be some Correspondence held by them with the Moors, to the prejudice of the place beforementioned: But this is only a Suspition amongst them who think it prudence to provide for the worst. We hope they may be sufficiently reliev'd in time, to put them in a condition able to dispel all these Fears.

Yours to Command, E. M.

From on board the Hopewel, Abraham Roavens Master. Directed to Will. Ellis, at the three Pidgeons in Creed∣lane; who received the same on Wednesday the 13th of Aug. 1679.

FINIS.