1822 Oct. 3

Tripoli Account of

?.2. Chief of the State /Reigning Family/

As to his power, it is of course in form compleatly arbitrary. But in practice, the social sanction under the guidance of the religious, opposes to it as will be seen,¼+ some little checks, which are not altogether without effect.

As to his family male children regarded as capable of succeeding to him he has but two. Age of the eldest about á³á á³á his Personal name, Mohammed Yuseph Pacha Caramanali¼+ is out of the kingdom now, is not intended to succeed = lives in the frontier [...?] of Derna near Bario ”Cyrene• in Arabic Greece [...?] Commanding an army he put to death a respectable person without ground that of the youngest, á³á á³á: his personal name, á³á á³á The official title of both is ”Bey•.

27 Year old Ali married to Hazi Goi [?] has 3 children

© 18 Y Mustapha married to Khadija D'Ghies aged 14 married July 1822 she speaks and writes French

3 Achmet 30 Years old not likely to succeed © rather weak married to his own cousin has two children by her.

The succession is regarded as hereditary in the present family. But the order of succession as between son and son is not regarded as settled. How general a gloom is cast over the whole country by this uncertainty, may be imagined. The seating of the present Bashaw on the throne was the result of a civil war between brother and brother: and upon his death, unless in the mean time some effectual remedy be applied, another civil war is regarded as inevitable. When the proposition is made, that on every succeeding vacancy the eldest shall be successor, the answer is /an objection is made/ © that, in virtue of any such education as in that situation Youth are likely to have, it may at any time be too probable that while in most of the children mind is in such a state of imbecillity as to be altogether incapable of holding the reins of government, in some one of them, appropriate aptitude may not be so compleatly deficient.

¼+ See ?