more likely to succeed in, than in this. Because they have not succeeded all at once, according to their wishes, they have drawn perhaps too unfavourable and hasty conclusions. Other accounts exhibit a more pleasing appearance.

However, to insure any tolerable hope of success, it is certain it requires time and no small degree of exertion, perhaps a greater share of both than what many are aware of, or are willing to bestow.

Doubtless the unhappy disagreement at present subsisting between the two countries (I wish that legis lators and managers of public affairs would, by the awful appearance of the times, be instructed and learn to act more wisely,) renders it more difficult to many to procure employment than otherwise it might be, were matters on a peaceable footing, and a free commercial intercourse allowed.

Many on going to America, suffer their minds to be so buoyed up with the prospect of obtaining comfortable settlements on easier terms than they have been accustomed to here, and are much disappointed if they do not speedily meet with all they had in idea on their first arrival; being discouraged as to their own future prospects, they are ready to pronounce the country unfavourable to the views of the new adventurer. Exertion is necessary there as well as here, and without it we need not expect that any thing valuable will succeed.

On considering the state of this country, and the subject of emigration to America, I am rather a friend to the latter than otherwise. The population of this country appears to be such as to well afford a consider able drain of its inhabitants, and I think there is a stronger probability of obtaining in America, by industry and patient perseverance, a more

comfortable independence (without industry and perseverance, indepen. dence is unattainable in any country, the idle and extravagant are sure of it no where) than what the same degree of exertion is likely to insure here. But I fear that many embrace the measure with too sanguine hopes of success, and with the chimerical idea that they shall there enjoy, without much labour, a large share of ease and opulence. It is therefore no wonder they should be disappointed on finding matters so different from what their fond fancies had pictured.

Considering the state to which this country is reduced, and the great difficulty many find in procuring, with all the care and exertion of which they are capable, a decent competency for themselves and their families, it is not to be wondered at, if they should think of endeavouring to better their situation, by emigrating to a country which they have been always accustomed to hear extolled for freedom, and possessing advantages superior in many points of view to this.

us

Our inclinations naturally bend towards the place that gave birth, what is it then in the constitution of this country and the management of its public affairs, and in the conduct of the great towards those they have in their power, that estranges the hearts of so many of its inhabitants from their native soil, and induces them to seek in a foreign land, that honest independence which a variety of causes renders it so difficult to obtain in their own? What is it in the policy of America, its laws, and form of the government that invites so many to seek an asylum within her boundaries? to me to be a subject affording much room to our legislators for reflection, and investigation into the causes why the hearts of the people are so

This appears

alienated. Surely something must be essentialy wanting to insure their affections, and to wean them from the desire so prevalent of leaving their native country.

The people may justly charge the legislators with many grievous and important errors sufficiently strong and numerous to sink to the lowest pitch of embarrassment, a state already bending, seemingly to its fall, through a long succession of unwise measures, in opposition to sound policy, and fatal to the welfare of the country. To support these measures, and the cruel purposes of a most destructive and iniquitous war, wherein the lives of thousands are sported with, to a degree of unfeeling barbarity, the laud is burdened with enormous taxes, more than it is able to bear, and the faces of the poor are, as it were, ground to contribute in supporting a system, fraught with oppression and injustice. Yet the people themselves are justly chargeable with many glaring inconsistencies, contributing full as much to their own inconvenience, and loss of real comfort, as the errors and blunders of legislators. Both added together, exhibit no cheering prospect to the view of those who are willing care fully to examine into the nature of right and wrong, and their very dif ferent effects.

It is certain many might, if they would, better their situation without going into a foreign land, by forsakng wrong practices and evil habits, and turning to a regular line of conduct, whereby there would be a probability, notwithstanding the difficulty of the times, of procuring to themselves a virtuous independence, which it is not likely they will ever arrive at either here or elsewhere, as long as they continue in the state they are, and remain the slaves to corrupt customs.

The observations of Benjamin

Franklin, are worthy of the closest inquiry, how far they are applicable to ourselves. "The taxes," says he, "are indeed very heavy, but if those laid on by government, were the only ones we had to pay, we might more easily discharge them, but we have many others, and much more grievous to some of us, we are taxed twice as much by our idleness, three times as much by our pride, and four times as much by our folly, and from these taxes the government cannot deliver us." But it is in our own power, in a great measure, to deliver ourselves, by reforming our conduct, and renouncing many of the extravagant and slavish customs; the foolish and expensive habits to which we voluntarily submit, at the expense of an honest independence, and a conscientious dis charge of our several duties, and which, were they imposed on us by the government, we would think an intolerable burden.

The times are indeed difficult, but as difficulties increase, we should en deavour to retrench some of our un necessary expenses, and learn to confine our desires to as few wants as are consistent with what we feel of the pressure of the times. N. S.

For the Belfast Monthly Magazine.

A History of the Wahabites, from their origin to the close of the year 1809, by L. A***** has lately been published at Paris. As the author, who resided at Aleppo a few years ago, appears to have had opportunities of acquiring au thentic information respecting a sect, of whom but little was known, though it is difficult to say of what importance it may prove to the followers of Mohammed in general, and thus to the general face of affairs in the East, a full account of these people will probably gratify

many of our readers.-It has been transmitted to us by our correspondent in London, who communicates the account of Foreign Literature. THE HE foundations of this sect were laid about fifty years ago by Mohammed, son of Abd el Wahab, and grandson of Solyman, a poor Arab of the tribe of Negedi. It is said, that Solyman dreamed a flame issued from his body, that consumed both the tents of the desert, and the houses of the city: and that the Sheiks, to whom he related it, predicted, that his son, Abd el Wahab, would be the founder of a new reli gion, to which all the Arabs would submit. From this son the sect derived its name, though the prediction was not accomplished by him, but by the grandson of Solyman. Sheik Mohammed adopted the Koran as the basis of his doctrine, rejecting however the tradition and glosses of its commentators, and reducing the Mohammedan religion to pure deism. Hle declared all those who paid any devotion to Mohammed, and dared to give God a companion, blasphemers and idolaters; forbade the addressing of prayers to saints or prophets; and enjoined all Mussulmen to be put to death, who persisted in their idolatry. These new and intolerant principles were not very favourably received in the towns. Expelled from Mecca, Damascus, Bagdad, and Bussorah, he addressed himself to Ebn Seoud, prince of Dreyeh, in Yemen, and found in him a partisan capable of rendering his doctrine triumphant. This chief, ambitious, brave, able, and wary, saw in them the means of accomplishing his desire of aggrandizement. He assumed the title of general of the Wahabites, and Mohammed that of pontiff'; and the sovereignity thus participated, they incessantly laboured, to make proselytes, and extend their con

quests. From Dreyeh, their capital, surrounded by sands, Ebn Seoud sent out parties to subjugate the neighbouring tribes; and the rapidity of their marches, and the impracticability of attacking them in the great desert, ensured their success.

But it was reserved for his son Abdelazis to render the standard of the Wahabites triumphant, throughout the peninsula. His practice was to send the Koran to any tribe he wished to subjugate and convert, with a letter to the following purport: "Abdelazis to the Arabs of the tribe

of

men. These

were mounted every two of them on a dromedary; and armed with sabres, lances, darts, and bucklers. Some of them had match-lock muskets. A skin filled with water, and another with barley-meal, sufficed for the subsistence of two Arabs, and their dromedary, twenty days. Of ficers and soldiers were equally abstemious. Abdelazis went so far as to prohibit coffee, and the use of the pipe; and the Wahabites obeyed. Following the traces of their enemies to take them by surprize, and retire without fighting when they were pursued, they harrassed and destroyed them without any loss. When they captured a town, they destroyed the, minarets and domes of

the mosques, overturned the tombs, that were objects of the greatest veneration to the Mussulmen, and seized all the treasure, and all the spoil, they could find in the temples or private houses.

As Abdelazis succeeded his father Ebn Seoud in the post of Generalissimo, Sheik Hussein, the eldest son of the reformer Mohammed, succeeded. him as head of the law; and these two dignities have continued heredi tary in their families. The intole rance of these sectaries towards the Mussulmen is greater than towards Christians or Jews: a circumstance for which the author accounts on the principle, that the animosity between sects is greater, in proportion as their creeds approach each other. When these reformers captured the town of Emaun Hussein, fifteen miles from Bagdad, they put to death every person they found, man, woman, and child, to the number of three thousand. Vast treasures were taken from the tomb of the Emaun, and two hundred camels were loaded with the spoil.

It was not till 1798, that the Porte paid any serious attention to the increase of the Wahabites. The Bashaw of Bagdad was then directed to send an army against them: but the expedition did not take place, as Abdelazis bribed his enemies by presents. Enriched by the capture of Emaun Hussein, Abdelazis was next tempted by the wealth of Mecca, the holy city, that contains the tomb of Abraham. Availing himself of a dispute between the sherif and his brother, he ordered the former to resign his office, which was by birth the right of his brother; and on his refusal he sent against him his eldest son Seoud, at the head of a hundred thousand men. Seoud, having defeated the troops of the sherif, was preparing to enter Mecca, when the caravan appeared. It was with difficulty the

Ameer Hadgy, or chief of the pilgrims, obtained permission to enter, and remain there three days; after which the army of Seoud seized on the city. The Cady and twenty Sheiks were put to death, for refusing to embrace the new doctrines; the rest became converts. The Caaba was not destroyed, but the rich tapestry of the tomb of Abraham was taken away, and a mat of palm leaves substituted in its place. All the other tombs were destroyed. Seoud then went against Jidda and Medina, but not with equal success. The resistance of the inhabitants, and the breaking out of the plague among his troops, obliged him to return to Dreyeh.

At the very moment that the Wahabites were triumphing in the pos session of Mecca, their generalissi mo was assassinated by a dervise, who had escaped from the massacre at Emaun Hussein. Abdelazis was the first who established the power of the Wahabites on a solid basis, by important victories. He had introduced a certain degree of discipline among tribes jealous of their liberty, and compelled them to an implicit obedience. Brave, strict, patient, indefatigable, bold in his projects, and plain and frugal in his habits as hisArabs, notwithstanding the trea sures he had amassed, he left at his death a post difficult to fill; and accordingly his death removed for a time the apprehensions of the Porte. But Seoud proved no unworthy suc cessor of his father. So early as 1803, he sent some troops against Bagdad; but on this attack he set little stress, as its object was solely to ravage the country. A more important design he entertained, was that of rendering himself master of the coasts of the Persian gulf, with which view he built several ships, and gradually found himself possessed of a force sufficient to prohibit its

navigation. The allies of the Wahabites seized on all the vessels that traded from India to Bussorah and the ports of Persia, so that a stop was put to all intercourse. The English themselves had several of their vessels taken by the Arabs; and their endeavours to recover them, and punish the pirates, were fruitless. Before the time of Seoud, the English messengers, in their journey through the Great Desert from Bussorah to Aleppo, had been respected by the Wahabites, agreeably to the promise Abdelazis had given to the British resident. Once indeed it happened, that a messenger was robbed: but the culprit was discovered, and he came to lay the despatches at the feet of Abdelazis. This, how ever, did not save his life: Abdelazis ordered his head to be cut off, and the despatches, stained with his blood, to be sent to the British consul.

Seoud undertook various expeditions against Bussorah and Zeber, but without success. The Bashaw of Bagdad then employed consider able forces against the Wahabites; the king of Persia, and the Grand Signior, at that time friends, furnishing him with considerable supplies. The Einaun of Mascat was to attack them from the south, while the Bashaw did from the north; but fortune fought for the Wahabites. The two chiefs did not act in concert. The Emaun fell into the hands of the Pirates, and was slain in battle about the end of 1804. Ali Bashaw set out from Bagdad with seventy thousand men, and a numerous train of artillery; but in traversing the desert the very number was more conducive to defeat than to victory. The want of water was fatal to him: and his army was attacked and beaten piecemeal. Two other Bashaws succeeded him without better success, and the vanquished army returned to Bagdad. The sole advantage derived

BELFAST MAG, NO, XXXIX.

from this expedition was, that sixteen thousand Wahabite families, who had suffered themselves to be surprised, and whom Seoud threatened with exemplary punishment for their negligence, quitted his party, and repaired to Bagdad.

At the close of 1804, the city of Medina, which had long been in want of provision, submitted to the arms of Seoud, who conducted himself with moderation. The caravan of pilgrims came the following year, and was allowed to enter the city, on paying a heavy contribution. At Mecca it was pillaged still more. A hundred purses were paid for the entrance of the caravan, beside ten piastres for each pilgrim, and as many for his beast: a hundred purses were then to be paid for leave to ascend mount Arafath, and as much for coming down and lastly, six hundred purses for crossing a brook, the passage of which the Wahabites purposely obstructed. Seoud afterwards declared, that for the future he would not allow any escort from the Grand Signior, the use of musical instruments, or the conveyance of the sacred tapestry and ornaments.

At the end of 1805, Seoud became master of Mascat, through the influence of the new Emaun, who had em

braced Wahabitism. Thus growing daily more powerful and wealthy, he renounced the plain and frugal life of his father, and exhibited in his palace at Dreyeh, all the luxury of Asia. He appointed his eldest son Abdallah his successor, and sent him on several expeditions; but the new General met with a check at Zeber, which the Wahabites then attacked for the third time. These defeats did not discourage Seoud, who immediately planned and prepared other enterprises. Such is the character of these Arabs: if defeated, they do not give way to that panic, which commonly completes the overthrow

00