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.
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Title
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.
Author
E. M.
Publication
[London? :: s.n.,
1680?]
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Subject terms
Tangier (Morocco) -- History.
Link to this Item
http://name.umdl.umich.edu/A50741.0001.001
Cite this Item
"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." In the digital collection Early English Books Online. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/A50741.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed August 31, 2024.
Pages
descriptionPage 1
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
descriptionPage 2
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,
descriptionPage 3
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
descriptionPage 4
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.
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