Lot - Capt. Cook Shipmate, 26 Letters, 86pp, Re: Napoleon & the Jews, "it is not very probable that a Stranger & a Barbary Jew could obtain credit in London"

Description:

James Matra
Tangier, Morocco, ca. 1801-1803
Capt. Cook Shipmate, 26 Letters, 86pp, Re: Napoleon & the Jews, "it is not very probable that a Stranger & a Barbary Jew could obtain credit in London" - Fabulous Jewish Contents!
Archive
JAMES MARIO MATRA. Archive of 26 letters to Thomas Pelham, 2nd Earl of Chichester, 1801-1803, Tangier, Morocco. 86pp, measuring between 7.5" x 9" (smallest) to 8.5" x 12.625" (largest). General toning; expected folds and creases; some edge tears; else, in very good condition.

In this series of letters to Home Secretary Lord Pelham, British Consul Matra reports on affairs in Morocco during the reign of Mulay Suleiman (1766-1822). The Treaty of Amiens temporarily ended hostilities between the United Kingdom and France in March 1802, with British recognition of the French Republic. The general peace lasted only a year, and warfare again erupted in May 1803, when the British declared war on France.

This rich archive includes many details about Anglo-Moroccan relations during the Peace of Amiens and the subsequent resumption of hostilities. As British Consul in Tangier, Matra supported the British Royal Navy with supplies and intelligence on the movement of French and Spanish forces. He corresponded regularly with admirals of the British Mediterranean fleet and mediated communications between the British government and that of Sultan Mulay Suleiman. He dealt with matters of trade involving British merchants and provided updates on the political and economic affairs of Morocco. The archive also includes discussions of relations between the United States and Morocco and of a Moroccan Jewish merchant in London.

Excerpts include:

-September 18, 1801: "I hope Sir that our Merchants will not loose so much as they fear they shall; it is not very probable that a Stranger & a Barbary Jew could obtain credit in London to the amount of the two Cargoes, nor considering the funds that he certainly carried with him, could he stand in need of such credit; when he heard of the seizure of his two ships in Barbary, he had I am told three rich Cargoes coming out which were stopped; one from London, the others from Amsterdam & Leghorn; the two last I take for granted were not bought on trust, & may enable him to satisfy his English Creditors, but Sir I believe that this Jew is not in such extreme penury as by his Letters to this Country he pleads, & so far from intending to satisfy his Creditors, has formed a plan to dupe many more."
"In his Letter to the Emperor he solicits a Paper authorizing his return in safety, that his House & furniture be restored, and he be permitted to go on as usual with this business; he also solicits a Letter to shew to his friends in London, in which the Emperor is to declare that what ever Property they may choose to trust to Macnin shall be protected by H[is] I[mperial] M[ajesty]. If this favour be shewn to him he will give the Emperor a certain quantity of Gun Powder; Musquet Barrels, Locks &c to a considerable amount."

Meir Cohen Macnin (1760-1835) and his nephew David Cohen Macnin were Jewish merchants in Marrakesh. Meir Cohen Macnin lived in London from 1800 to 1817 and became a denizen of Great Britain in 1802, which allowed him to hold property. In 1826, Abd al-Rahman appointed Macnin as the Moroccan ambassador to the British court, but the British government refused to recognize his diplomatic credentials.

-September 27: "the Danish Agent called on me, but he was so agitated that I could learn but little from him except that he feared every body was to be murdered. I certainly apprehended no such danger but as the man declared he never miscarried in a [ferment?], nor was deterred by consequences however dreadful, I did suspect that in a mad fit he might attempt something when I was out. I contented myself by having him told that there was a certain decorum due from all British Subjects here to persons in my station, which it was my duty to have observed, & that a contrary conduct on his part would be attended with very unpleasant circumstances to him."

-October 2: "I am sorry to inform your Lordship that I have certain accounts that the Yellow fever has again appeared in the City of Medina near Cadiz, & I suspect with some violence. I am told that a double Cordon is round the City, and that the Gates & even some of the Streets are walled up."

-November 21: "Your Lordships Letter to General OHara is the first information I have received that the ten Field Pieces promised to the Emperor in 1798 had been sent from England.... I have never had one line either publick or private on the Subject since my orders to assure the Emperor that they would be sent out immediately.... I am afraid My Lord it is now too late for me to attempt with any hope of being believed to clear up this point with the Emperor; it has caused me more embarrassment than all his other complaints put together, because I could not help feeling ourselves more in the wrong, that I wished us to appear to be."

-December 12: "I am privately assured that it has been notified to the American Consul, that if his Country does not send an Ambassador by the first of next April, on that day he must leave Barbary. When they first formed a connexion with this Country, in order to avoid expense they stipulated that their Treaty should be in force for Fifty Years, but Muly Suleiman will not consider that as liberating them from the usual custom of sending an Ambassador each new Reign."

The United States began formal diplomatic relations with Morocco in 1787 by ratifying a Treaty of Peace and Friendship negotiated in 1786. Renegotiated in 1836, the treaty is still in force and is the longest unbroken treaty relationship in U.S. history.

-December 23: From the Emperor, "I have a very long answer to my application for the Cargoes seized as belonging to the Macnins. It is in fact a History of the Jews, & differs nothing except in length from what I have had the honour to mention to Your Lordship. H.I.M. says that the Jews were not worth an ounce, until employed by the Governor of Mogadore as Receivers of the publick Revenue; that their Commerce was carried on with the publick money, to extend which one of the Brothers was sent to England, for the truth of all this the Emperor appeals & I really believe with foundation, to the whole Commerce of Mogadore. H.I.M. declares it impossible for any man to believe that a strange Jew could suddenly get such Credit in London; that he has only seized on what belonged to his Treasury, and now having no farther demands against the Jew he pardons him he may return here & Trade, or he may remain in London & trade to the country, for his Person & Property are safe."

-February 23, 1803: "I have frequently had the honour to mention to Your Lordship, the discouragement that the Emperor constantly shews to the Christian Traders in Mogadore, & my opinion that it was his fixed resolution to oblige them to leave the Country, and to confine his foreign Commerce to his own subjects."

-June 13: "Shortly after the Treaty of Amiens there was a general opinion here received from all parts of Europe that the Turkish Empire was to be divided; and in a short time, the whole of this country had an idea that so soon as one Treaty was signed, the French had proposed another to us against the world for general division and plunder, by which the Turkish Empire was to be annihilated...."
"I dispatched a Courier to Mogadore with a Copy of the Kings Declaration in case any British Ship should put in there, & hence, through that range of Country I hope that I shall leave an impression against the French which if it be of no immediate Service, may possibly hereafter be turned to a good account, should there be a necessity to apply it."

-July 1: "I have frequently had the honour to mention to Your Lordship the state of the American business here. The Present promised last Summer has never appeared on the second Frigates arrival without anything, the Emperor ceased from all application to the Consul, but determined on what he would do when prepared. To complete his ill humour, the Tripoly Ship, which sailed from Gibraltar as his property, & with a Pass from the American Consul is taken & carried into Malta. Being disappointed in cruising on the Dutch, his Barks will sail with Orders to attack the American Commerce, and when they make any Prizes, the Consul will be spoken to. The Imperialists & Neapolitans, not having any connexion with this Country, will also be in danger if met with."

During the First Barbary War of 1801-1805, the United States and several European countries combined against the northwest African Berber Muslim countries known as the Barbary States and briefly against the Sultanate of Morocco. Thomas Jefferson refused to pay tribute to these states. He sent a U.S. Naval fleet to the Mediterranean, which bombarded various fortified pirate cities in Libya, Tunisia, and Algeria. Ex-consul William Eaton led a force of eight U.S. Marines and five hundred mercenaries from Alexandria to capture the Tripolitan city of Derna in April and May 1805, allowing the United States to extract concessions of fair passage and the return of hostages.

-September 2: "The Emperors Frigate who has been so long out, at last took an American Brig, but was met by a Frigate belonging to the States, who seized the Moor & his Prize; the Moorish Bais in his justification shewed his Orders from the Governor of this Place, by which it appeared that he was sent out expressly to cruise against the Americans." [more content on American consul and disposition of this case.]

James Mario Matra (ca. 1746-1806) was born in New York City to a Corsican father named James Magra, who had moved to Dublin, Ireland, studied medicine and changed his surname to Matra, and then migrated to New York. The younger Magra settled in England and entered the Royal Navy in 1761. He joined James Cook's voyage of exploration to Australia in 1768-1770. On that voyage, he befriended English botanist Sir Joseph Banks, with whom he remained a lifelong friend. Some evidence suggests Magra was the anonymous author of "A Journal of a Voyage Round the World", published in England in 1771 about Cook's voyage. In 1775, Magra petitioned the King to revert his surname to Matra to claim a Corsican inheritance. In 1777, Matra requested leave from his position as consul in Tenerife in the Canary Islands to deal with family matters in British-occupied New York City. He was secretary of the embassy in Constantinople from 1778 to 1780. In 1783, he proposed establishing a settlement in New South Wales, especially for American loyalists displaced by the American Revolutionary War. In 1786, Matra received appointment as consul at Tangier, Morocco, a position he held until his death.

Thomas Pelham, 2nd Earl of Chichester (1756-1826) was born in England and educated at Clare College, Cambridge. Elected to the Irish House of Commons in 1783, he served until 1790 and again from 1795 to 1797. He served as Irish chief secretary in Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger's government. From July 1801 to August 1803, he served as Home Secretary under Prime Minister Henry Addington. In 1805, he succeeded his father as the 2nd Earl of Chichester.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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