.?^T \ ,1.. :;^KV^. ¦- ''¦fsJMuU ;%fe • : ? ! .:Sk?^ ~ ' . A^ Jv^r «f-C5 ¦-;-%%5 kh"^. YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY SKETCHES ALGI POLITICAL, HISTORICAL, AND CIVIL: CONTAINING AN ACCOUNT OF THB OEOGEAPHY, POPULATION, GOVERNMENT, REVENUES, COMMEItCIi^ AGRICULTURE, ARTS, CIVIL INSTITUTIONS, TRIBES, MANNERS, LANGUAGES, Aa'D RECENT POLITICAL HISTORY OB THAT COCNTRYv BY WILLIAM SHALEK, 1 1 > AMERICAN COITSTIL GENERAL AT AI.GIEBSV BOSTON : CUMMINGS, HILLURD, AND COMPANY,— WASHINGTON STREKTj 1826. CAMBRIDGE: FROM THE TTKIVERSITX PRESS.— HILLIARD AND METCALP. PREFACE. It is with all the diffidence, which a secluded man, unused to literary labours, must naturally feel, on such an occasion, that the author ventures to lay these Sketches before the public. The absence of any work, giving a correct view of the real power and political importance of the piratical state of Algiers ; the belief that few other persons have had equal opportunities for becoming ac quainted, in an authentic shape, vrith the facts of which they treat, and of tracing to their causes several remarka ble events, which have occurred since his residence here ; and the influence that the toleration of these freebooters must necessarily have upon the prosperity of the Ameri can commerce in the Mediterranean, — all these causes, operating together, have induced him to engage in the undertaking. The result of his labours will show, that the intrinsic power of this redoubted government is quite insignificant ; at least, that it is unequal to the pretensions, which have been founded upon it. Within less than half a century, the United States have solved several political problems, of the deepest interest to mankind. They have, also, stripped the phantom of Barbary importance of its imagi nary terrors, and exposed to derision the frauds, by which it has been so long upheld. It seems improbable that Algiers can ever again rise to her former dignity, without their consent. JV PREFACE. In composing these Sketches, the author has been prin cipally indebted to the valuable work of Doctor Shaw on Barbary ; he has also consulted Cbenier's Recherches sur les Maures, and the travels of Ali Bey in Africa and Asia, with advantage. He regrets that Bruce's Travels were not within his reach, though he thinks from recollection, that they add little to the information given by the first. Doctor Shaw's Travels in Barbary and the Le vant furnish, in the author's opinion, the only safe guide to the investigation of the geography, natural history, and antiquities of the kingdom of Algiers. Though the geo graphical positions laid down by him may not in all cases be strictly correct, still, as they have not yet been corrected by any better authority, tjiey have been preferred here, and in point of fact answer every object, that the author has in view in this respect, which is merely to give a geo graphical outline of the country. The manners, customs, and habits of a Mohammedan community are liable to few of the changes, which so rapidly succeed each other in more civilized countries ; in these respects, therefore, little variation from the accounts of that author is to be looked for. The object, which Doctor Shaw had in view, was obvi ously the investigation of the geography, natural history, and antiquities of Barbary. But from the want of the science, and even the opportunities, necessary to warrant inquiry into these interesting subjects, the author has limited his views in these Sketches to an exhibition of the moral and. political power of Algiers ; and on these points he flatters himself, that his treatise may be regarded as a useful supplement to the work of Doctor Shaw. It may be thought that some notice should have been taken of the other states of Barbary. But as they differ essentially in forms of government, and have few relations with each other, either in war or peace, except such as PREFACE. V are derived from a common religion, and, with the excep tion of Morocco, dependence upon the Ottoman Porte, the author has deemed it most prudent to limit his inves tigations to the kingdom of Algiers. About the time, when the historical part of these Sketches was finishing, an event occurred here, leading to a war with Great Britain, which endured above six months. During that period an exact Journal was kept, in the Consulate of the United States, of every occurrence of the least moment relating to it ; and, as the events of this war, the subsequent conclusion of peace, and its effects, form the best commentary, that could be offered, on the politi cal part of these Sketches, a transcript of the Journal is inserted in the last chapter. The author claims the indulgence of the public, for the unavoidable egotism that appears in this narrative. He is the only person existing, who could trace it correctly ; being a principal actor in the scenes narrated, circum stances compel him to be the commentator of his own actions ; but though obliged to speak of himself, it is al ways as the national representative, whose credit here, whatever it may be, must ever entirely depend upon the respect, which the power and honest policy of the United States inspire. The authentic documents in the Appendix do not ap pear to require any explanation, or excuse for their inser tion, except the translated article from ^choell, on the trade in negro slaves. This is incidentally introduced, not for the instruction of his countrymen, who are better informed, through the valuable work of Mr. Walsh, but to demonstrate in what light the people of the continent of Europe regard the legislation and negotiations of Great Britain, on that important question. Believing that the aboriginal languages of this country present a subject for inquiry, well worth the attention of VI PREFACE. the learned, the author has inserted in the Appendix all the vocabularies, which have been published by other writers on this part of Africa, that were within his reach, for comparison with his own. When the dialects spoken at Siwah, at the Oasis Minor, at Angela, and by the vari ous tribes of Tuariks, come to be equally well investigated, of which there is a prospect through the enterprise and industry of English travellers, his theory respecting the Showiah may be fairly put to the test ; and if discovered to be well founded, it will undoubtedly lead to measures being taken for a more thorough investigation and for the preservation of this interesting tongue. With this object in view, it is the intention of the author to continue his inquiries, as far as circumstances, and the means in his power, will permit. Algiers, March, 1825. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. Boundaries and extent of the kingdom of Algiers ; general face of the country ; mountains ; climate ; soil ; animals ; natural productions ; rivers ; seacoast ; bays and harbours ; political divisions ; towns and population 1 CHAPTER II. Religion and- languages ; form of government, dependence upon the Ottoman Porte ; government of the provinces ; political and civil institutions ; jurisprudence ; privileges and license of the Turks ; finances, army, navy ; piracy, their avowed policy ; treaties and political relations with foreign powers; salutes; public forms and ceremSiies ; Ramadan ; Byrara. 13- CHAPTER III. ' City of Algiers ; its position, extent, topography, and fortifications ; garrison, and government, civil and military ; wealth of the inhabit ants, and security of person and property ; variety and character of the inhabitants ; state of the sciences ; education of children ; dress : beauty of the women, melioration of Mohammedan customs in, their favour, and their dress ; diet ; Jews, their civil condition, and the oppression under which they live ; foreign Africans resident in the city ; mechanic arts, and manufactures ; houses, streets, and quar ters ; superstitious apprehension of the Algerines ; public edifices,. and pious foundations ; condition of Christian slaves here, while there were such ; commerce ; opulence of Algiers, and its effects ; society of the foreign Agents ; plain of Metijah ; weights and meas ures 45 CHAPTER IV. Of the different nations or tribes inhabiting the kingdom of Algiers ; their probable origin ; manners ; character, religion, and languages. Tuariks 84 CHAPTER V. A sketch of the political history of the Regency of Algiers, from the year 1810 to 1825; ... ... 104 Vm CONTENTS. CHAPTER VI. The probable destiny of this fine region ; the best position in Africa, from whence to prosecute discoveries in, and commerce with, the interior ; influence of the establishment of a European nation in North Africa, on civilization, and the suppression of the trade in negro slaves. ......... 167 CHAPTER VII. EXTRACTS FROM THE JOURNAL KEPT IN THE CONSULATE OF THE UNITED STATES, AT ALGIERS. Disturbance between the Kabyles and Algerines ; the American Con sul's protection of his Kabyle servants ; protest of the foreign Con suls ; differences of the British Consul with the government of Al giers ; he is compelled to leave the city, and his affairs are entrust ed to the American Consul ; attempts at a conciliation between the British Admiral and the Algerine government ; obstinacy of the Bashaw ; interview of the American Consul with the Bashaw ; British blockading squadron stationed in the harbour ; final settle ment of differences between the British and Algerines, oh very ex traordinary grounds ; American vessel wrecked on the Barbary coast, and the officers and crew redeemed from slavery by the Con sul ; Dutch negotiation at Algiers 17? APPENDIX. A. Weights and Measures ; Money. . . . 245 B. Vocabularies of African Languages 247 C. Negotiations on the Abolition of the Slave Trade. . . 261 D. Note of the American Commissioners, and Letter of the President of the United States, to the Dey of Algiers. . 274 E. Letter from the Dey of Algiers to the President of the tlnit- ed States 276 F. Battle of Algiers. 279' G. Letter from- the President of the United States to the Dey of Algiers. — Note of the American Commissioners. — Note of the American Consul General. . . . . 295 H. Protocol of the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle.— Note of the Commissioners of the Allied Powers to the Regency of Algiers. 301 K. Declarations of the Algerine Government in relation to Great Britain 3q7 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. CHAPTER I. BOUNDARIES AND EXTENT OF THE KINGDOM OF ALGIERS ; GENERAL FACE OF THE COUNTRY; MOUNTAINS; CLIMATE; SOIL ; ANIMALS ; NATURAL PRODUCTIONS ; RIVERS ; SEA- COAST ; BAYS AND HARBOURS ; POLITICAL DIVISIONS J TOWNS AND POPULATION. JL HE portion of Barbary denominated, from its capital, the Kingdom of Algiers, is bounded on the west by the country called the Empire of Moroc co, on the north by the Mediterranean sea, on the east by the territory of Tunis, and on the south by the Sahara, or great desert. The western limit of this kingdom on the Mediterranean is at a place called Twunt, situated about forty miles east of the great river Mulucha, or Malva, and sixteen minutes of a degree west of the meridian of Green wich, which in these states is adopted as a first meridian whenever there is a question of longitude ; from whence to Tabarca, its eastern limit, situated at the mouth of the little river Zaine, in 9° 16' east longitude, the distance is about five hundred miles. The breadth of this region is much more uncertain, from the positions of any part of the I 2 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. northern border of the Sahara never having been determined by observation. Doctor Shaw, who appears to be better informed on this subject than any other geographer, thinks that at Tlemsen it does not exceed forty miles, at Algiers, sixty miles, and that a medium of sixty miles may be taken as its breadth from the Medi terranean to the Sahara : or as the Arabs term it, of the Tell, or arable land, without interruption of desert : though it may be remarked, that the borj ders of the Sahara are by no means a definite line, being interspersed with mountains, marshes, and fertile plains, which on the maps of Africa have obtained the name of Belled el Jerreed, and, un til better explored, may be regarded as doubtful territory. I have made much inquiry of native travellers on this subject, and the result would lead me to suppose it of greater breadth ; but as the po sitions in question have not been fixed by actual observation, I do not regard this as sufficient au thority on which to contradict those laid down by this respectable traveller. According to these data, therefore, Algiers con tains a surface of about thirty thousand square miles. The whole of this territory is mountain ous, being intersected by parallel ranges of the Atlas from west to east, which form every possi ble variety of mountain and valley. It is asserted by the natives, that none of these mountains are bald, and that their summits are inhabited by the SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. Kabyles, who find there sufficient pasturage for their flocks, and arable land to subsist upon. The inhabited part of this fine region, being situated between the thirty-fourth and thirty-seventh degrees of north latitude, enjoys a healthy and agreeable temperature of climate, which is neither oppressively hot in summer, nor severely cold in winter. An ex ception to this remark, however, is the winds from the Sahara, which blow occasionally in midsum mer, sometimes during four or five days, when the mercury in Fahrenheit's thermometer often rises as high as 108°. From April to September, the winds usually prevail from the eastward, and are damp, but without rain ; during the rest of the year they are generally westerly. The season of rain is from November to April ; sometimes the rains are excessive in November and December ; in January and February there is generally much fine weather. The quantity of rain, that annually falls, is from twenty-four to twenty-eight inches. The soil throughout this region has not degene rated from its ancient reputed fertility ; in some parts it is black, in others red, but equally fertile every where, being strongly impregnated with nitre and salt. The inhabitants rarely cultivate any other grain than wheat and barley ; the usual quantity sown upon an acre is five pecks, which, notwithstanding the rude state of agriculture, yields from eight to twelve for one. The Algerine wheat is of the hard species ; the flour which is made from it 4 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. has the appearance of sand, and is difficult to knead ; but it makes excellent bread. This wheat has the preference in the markets of Italy over any other, on account of its superior excellence for the manufac ture of maccaroni, and other pastes Ancient authors have represented this part of Africa as deficient in forests ;* it is still so ; nothing is more rare than to find forest trees in the plains. Some timber is brought to the port of Algiers from Boujaiah, but it is, as I am informed, of inferior quality, and is seldom employed in naval construction. The olive is here in its native soil and climate, and flourishes spontaneously wherever permitted. The walnut and the chesnut are found throughout the kingdom, and produce fruit of good quality, though inferior to that of Spain, France, and Italy. The palm tree abounds in Algiers, and the dates from the borders of the desert are delicious. All the fruits of the temperate climates are produced her^ in abundance, but except figs, pomegranates, and grapes, they are of inferior quality ; though, from the peculiar physical character of this country, which abounds in plains of various elevations, it must surpass most others in the variety and excel lence of its vegetable productions, if it were inhab ited by a civilized and industrious people. The only metals known to exist in Algiers at present, are iron and lead, of which large quanti- *Sallust says of it, Arhori infacundus. SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 5 ties are extracted and wrought by the Kabyles. Several sorts of pipe clay are found, from which a large quantity of coarse pottery is manufactured by the natives. Inexhaustible mines of the finest fos sil salt also abound in the mountains. Though the Kingdom of Algiers is a well water ed country, abounding in springs and small streams, it has no rivers of much importance. The Shelliff is the most considerable river in the country ; its sources are in the Sahara, south of the province of Titterie ; it approaches within about fifty miles of the city of Algiers, when by the contributions of several other streams, it has become a river of some consequence, turns westward, and running nearly parallel with the coast about one hundred miles, disembogues into the Mediterranean, in 1° 20' east longitude, about thirty miles west of Cape Tennis. It is probable that this river is navigable for small craft at a considerable distance from its mouth. In the rainy season, the swelling of the Shelliff, which then overflows its banks, and inundates a large por tion of the countries adjacent, opposes a formidable obstacle to the communication between Algiers and Oran. There is no other remarkable river in thi« kingdom, though there are numerous streams which reach the sea. There is also found in this country a great number of salt and mineral springs. The following is the description by Doctor Shaw of the Hammam, or baths, of Merega, the Aqua Calidce Colonia of the ancients, situated between 6 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. the Shelliff and the sea, about sixty miles west of Algiers. " The largest and the most frequented of them is a basin of twelve foot square, and four in depth, and the water, which bubbles up in a de gree of heat just supportable, after it hath filled this cistern, passeth to a much smaller one, made use of by the Jews, who are not permitted to bathe in company with the Mahometans. Both these baths were formerly covered with a handsome building, having corridores of stone running round their basins ; but, at present, they lie exposed to the weather, and, when I saw them, were half full of stones and rubbish. A great concourse of people are usually here in the spring, the season of these waters : which are supposed to remove rheumatic pains, to cure the jaundice, and to alle viate most other inveterate ill habits and distem pers. Higher up the hill there is another bath, of too intense a heat to bathe in : which is therefore conducted through a long pipe into another room, where it is made use of in an operation of the same nature and effect with our pumping." The seacoast is every where bold, and free from hidden dangers, at any considerable distance from the shore. Its only good harbours are Boujaiah, and the gulph of Stora, which are very spacious, and afford perfect shelter at all times. I received this information from a very intelligent English captain, who had occasion to seek refuge in these two places, during a voyage, in the winter season, SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 7 from this port to Bona, and back again. Perhaps by a perfect survey of this coast, which is as yet hardly known, other good ports might be discover ed. Bona, Algiers, and Oran, are the only places that are frequented by foreign vessels, where there is safe anchorage in ordinary times, but which af ford no shelter from the northerly gales, which blow sometimes in winter with excessive fury. The sea of Algiers abounds in the fish common to the Mediterranean, and on the eastern coast the finest coral, which might be made a source of na tional industry and wealth : at present the exclu sive privilege of taking this valuable article of trade is farmed to France, and is an inconsiderable source of revenue to the Algerine government. As the inhabitants of the interior of this country are a pastoral people, whose principal wealth con sists in their flocks ; and the physical character of the country, which abounds in pasturage, being peculiarly favorable to the breeding of cattle, all the domestic animals are very abundant, such as horses, neat cattle, camels, dromedaries, asses, mules, sheep, and goats. The Barbe horses have had much reputation, but I do not recollect having seen a fine horse in Algiers ; in every respect they appear to me far inferior to the horses of the Unit ed States. Their neat cattle are small, and their cows give very little milk. The wool of Algiers is of a good quality, and in its unassorted, unwash ed state, usually commands about fifty franks per 8 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. English quintal, in the markets of France and Italy. This country abounds in game, such as wild hogs, hares, partridges, and in their season, quails, wood cocks, snipes, teal, and wild ducks ; and in the in terior, and borders of the desert, deer, antelopes, and wild goats. The ferocious animals of Algiers are the lion, the panther, the leopard, the hyena, the wild cat, and the mischievous jackal. The Nuraidian lion has not degenerated from his an cient character ; he is still the most formidable, and, according to the reports of the natives, the most magnanimous of his species. The territory of Algiers is politically divided in to three provinces, viz. Oran, or the western ; Tit terie, or the southern ; and Constantine, or the eastern. The province of Titterie is bounded on the west by the river Masafran, in 3° 12' east lon gitude, which separates it from Oran ; and by the river Boobrak, in 4° 15' east longitude, which separates it from Constantine on the east. The three provinces are supposed to extend south from the Mediterranean to the Sahara. The capital of this kingdom is situated on the coast of Titterie, in latitude 3(5° 48' north, and longitude 3° 30' east, and according to Shaw stands upon the site of the ancient Icosium. It exercises an indefinite juris diction, several governments in the three provinces depending directly upon it, as will be subsequently mentioned : it may therefore be termed a fourth province. SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 9 The cities of this kingdom, except the capital, which will be described in a subsequent chapter, are of very little note. Tlemsen, or Tremecen, situated near the western frontier, and about equi distant between the sea and the Sahara, was once the capital of a kingdom of the same name, and a place of much importance. Shaw describes its ancient extent as of four miles circuit. Since the establishment of the Turkish domination in this country, Tlemsen, notwithstanding the advantages of its position, has fallen into entire decay. It is now supposed to contain a population of about three thousand souls. Oran is situated fifty-four miles northeast of Tlemsen, on a very good har bour in ordinary seasons, and five miles, across an isthmus, southwest of the fine Bay of Arzew ; in latitude 35° 48' and longitude 0° 40' east. , It contains about eight thousand inhabitants ; and con sidering its position, in a fine fertile country, with two commodious bays, and its proximity to Gib raltar and Spain, it is undoubtedly the second place in the kingdom. A few miles east of Oran is situated Mustigan- im, which, during the possession of the former by the Spaniards, was a Moorish city of much im portance ; but since its restoration to the Regency, it has fallen into entire decay. Oran was regularly fortified by the Spaniards, who, after a possession of about a century, gave up this important place, at 2 10 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. their last peace with Algiers, in the expectation of advantages which were never realized. Belidah is a town containing eight or ten thousand inhabit ants,* situated south of the capital, on the south ern verge of the plain of Mitijah, twenty-four miles distant ; and in the same direction, one day's jour ney further, is Mediah, capital of the province of Titterie, a town of about the same size and impor tance with the former. These two towns, from being situated in the most fertile districts of Numidia, and from their proximity to the capital, enjoy a very considerable degree of agricultural prosperity. Con stantine, the capital of the eastern province, is the ancient Cirta, situated on the river Rummel, about forty miles from the sea, in latitude 36° 20' north, and longitude 6° 30' easL It is described to me * On the 2nd of March, 1825, at half past nine in the morning, a very severe shock of earthquake was felt in the city of Algiers, and was followed by others in the space or about forty-eight hours, more or less severe, which totally destroyed the town of Belidah, not leaving a siugle dwelling standing. The total ruin of this un fortunate town was so sudden, that few of its inhabitants escaped. Ac cording to the most moderate reports, ten thousand souls perished by this dreadful visitation. To my inquiries respecting the discrepancy which appears between the reported population of Belidah and the numbers said to have perished ihere by earthquake, 1 received the following reply : that the amenity of the position of Belidah, the abundance of water there, and the fertility of its soU ; its immediate dependence upon the general government, which protects it from the tyranny of the Beys ; its proximity to Algiers and being the thor oughfare of all intercourse between Algiers and the provinces, have caused there, of late years, a very great increase of prosperity, and consequently of population. In Doctor Shaw's time, Belidah was not even rated as a village. SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 11 by the natives as containing about twentv-five thousand inhabitants. The position of this citv is certainly one of the most happy that can be ima gined, and under a reasonable government, would entitle it to every sort of prosperity. Bona, the ancient Hippo Regius, is a town con taining about three or four thousand inhabitants, with a commodious harbour, in latitude 36"^ 43' north, and loD^itude 8° east. Before the French revolution. Bona was a place of greater commercial importance than even Algiers, from its being the focus of all the trade of the French African com pany, which was established upon concessions of the monopoly of the coral fishery on the coast, and other commercial advantages, which have been re newed since the restoration, but without as vet having produced any apparent melioration of the trade of Bona ; which, from the superior advantages of its position, is susceptible of much improvement, if the least encouragement were given to agricul ture and trade in this country. Boujaiah, in north latitude 36=' 45', and east longitude 5^ 24', possesses the best harbour on this coast, which was formerly the great naval depot of the Regency. The neighboring country is moun tainous, and exuberantly fruitful in olives. ^Vith due encouragement, Boujaiah might become a place of much commercial importance ; at present it is in a state of total decay, and contains about two thousand inhabitants. 12 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. Doctor Shaw has described many other towns, both on the coast and in the interior of the king dom, which have probably sunk to entire insig nificance since his time. As I can obtain no defi nite information respecting them, it is probable that they have ceased to be of any political or com mercial importance. Mention however ought to be made of Shershell, the ancient lol Caesarea, and the most important maritime city of ancient Mau ritania, situated west of Algiers, in 2° 39' east longitude. In Doctor Shaw's time, Shershell was a place of some consequence, but has since dwin dled into total insignificance j it being now known only as a place where coarse pottery is manufac tured, and brought by sandals for sale to Algiers. There are various opinions, respecting the popu lation of this kingdom : as any actual enumeration is entirely out of the question, it can only be me diately estimated by comparison with other coun tries, whose statistics are accurately known. Thus, upon a surface of about thirty thousand square miles, considering the small number of commercial or manufacturing towns, the barbarous despotism of the government, and that far the greater num ber of its inhabitants have scarcely emerged from the shepherd state ; notwithstanding their fine cli mate, fertile soil, and temperate habits of living, I am of opinion, that the population of this kingdom must be rather under than over a million of souls. SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 13 CHAPTER II. BELIGION AND LANGUAGES ; FORM OF GOVERNMENT, DE PENDENCE UPON THE OTTOMAN PORTE ; GOVERNMENT OF THE PROVINCES ; POLITICAL AND CIVIL INSTITUTIONS, JURISPRUDENCE ; PRIVILEGES AND LICENSE OF THE TURKS; FINANCES, ARMY, NAVY; PIRACY, THEIR AVOWED POLICY ; TREATIES AND POLITICAL RELATIONS WITH FOREIGN POWERS ; SALUTES ; PUBLIC FORMS AND CERE MONIES ; RAMADAN, BYRAM. IsLAMiSM is the only religion professed by thd; Algerines with the absolute exclusion of all others, except the Hebrew, which is tolerated to the chil dren of Jacob. The languages spoken in Algiers are the Turkish, the Arabic, the Hebrew, and what Doctor Shaw terms the Showiah, or that which is spoken by the independent mountaineers, which there is strong reason for believing an ancient and original language. The Turkish is the language of the government, though the Arabic is the predomi nant tongue ; French is in general use in the society of the foreign agents residing here, and the Lingua Franca, which is a barbarous compound of Span ish, French, Italian, and Arabic, is the ordinary medium of communication between foreigners and natives. In order to form a competent notion of the meth od of government established in this country, it is 14 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. necessary to state some of the leading facts relative to its conquest by the Turks.* In the year 1516, a petty king of Algiers by the name of Eutemi was so imprudent as to solicit the aid of the brothers Horuc and Hayradin against the Spaniards who were then in possession of Oran, and had established garrisons in Boujaiah, and in the little island opposite to the city of Algiers. These brothers were natives of the Island of Mity- lene, who had raised themselves to a very high de gree of power and renown by their enterprising valour and success as pirates ; and had rendered themselves celebrated throughout Christendom by the name of Barbarossa. The offer was accepted with avidity by these daring chieftains, who had long been desirous of obtaining a port where to establish their power upon a more solid basis. Horuc was received into the city of Algiers as a friend, at the head of five thousand men, when he secretly murdered the Prince whom he had come to assist, and caused himself to be proclaimed king of Algiers in his stead. In 1518, Horuc was de feated and killed in a battle with the Spaniards on his retreat from Tlemsen, and his brother Hayradin succeeded him as king of Algiers. This chieftain who had been still more celebra ted than his brother under the same name of Bar barossa, placed his newly acquired dominions un der the protection of the Grand Seignior, and * See, also, Robertson's Charles V. SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 15 received from him a garrison of Turks sufficient to overawe any attempt of his Moorish subjects to regain their liberty. Barbarossa subsequently at tained the eminent post of Capoudan Pashaw, and Algiers became a Pachalik of the Porte. There are no records within my reach that fix the period at which the Deys of Algiers became purely elec tive as at present, though it appears "that they con tinued to be appointed by the Porte as late as the middle of the seventeenth century : it was proba bly somewhere near this period, that the Ottoman government conceded to the Turkish garrison of Algiers the right of electing their chiefs ; reserving to the Grand Seignior that- of confirming the elec tion by sending or withholding the kaftan and sabre of office. The first Treaty concluded by Great Britain with Algiers bears the date of 1682. Hence the origin of the celebrated Regency of Algiers, which has been for three centuries the terror of Christendom, and the scourge of the civilized world. These simple people gradually established their government as nearly as circumstances would per mit, after the only model they had any knowledge of, that of the Ottoman Empire ; founding their institutions upon the right of conquest, and reserv ing to the corps of Janissaries the exclusive right of filling all the offices of trust, honour, or profit. The merits of this government have been proved by its continuance, with few variations in its forms 16 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. of administration, for three centuries. , It is in fact a military republic with a chief elective for life, and upon a small scale resembling that of the Ro man Empire after the death of Commodus. This government ostensibly consists of a sovereign chief, w ho is termed the Dey of Algiers, and a Divan, or gieat Council, indefinite in point of number, which is composed of the ancient military who are or have been commanders of corps. The divan elects the Deys, and deliberates upon such affairs as he choos es to lay before them. Such is the theory of the Algerine Government. The credit and importance of the Divan would nat urally vary according to the character and abilities of the reigning sovereign ; it was formerly a real corps in the state, held regular sessions, had funds attributed to it, and claimed to determine upon all the measures of government ; but it has dwindled into a mere phantom : its existence even would be doubtful if, in the year 1816, Omar Pashaw had not formallv convened the Divan to deliberate upon the negotiations of the Regency with Great Britain. Since the removal of the residence of the Deys of Algiers into the Citadel, the Divan may be regard ed as a dead letter in their constitution. The Dey appoints his own ministers, which are the Hasna- gee, whose authority extends over the national finances and interior concerns ; the Aga, who is commander in chief, and may be termed minister of war ; the Vikel Argee, or minister of marine SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 17 and foreign affairs ; the Khodgia de Cavallas, who may be denominated Adjutant General, and super- intendant of the national domain ; and the Bet el Mel, or judge of inheritances. The post of the latter functionary has risen to great consideration on ac count of its pecuniary importance. These minis ters form the cabinet council of the sovereign, and with him constitute in fact the real government of Algiers, free of any control by the pretended Di van. The election of the Deys of Algiers should be confirmed by the Grand Seignor, who is their acknowledged Suzerain (paramount lord.) This recognition is never refused, and is by custom giv en with the rank of Bashaw of three tails, which is his ordinary title. That of Dey is hardly known in Algiers, and is used only by foreigners : it was probably originally a nickname, as its literal meaning in the Turkish language is simply, ' uncle.' The Deys of Algiers assume and exercise all the rights of sovereign authority immediately on their election : their solemn installation takes place only when they receive the firman of the Grand Seignior recognising their election, with the Kaftan and sabre of state, which are usually sent as soon as may be by a Capidgi Bashi or state njessenger. In times of prosperity Algiers sends a present to the Grand Seignior once in three years, which is usually transported there with their ambassador by a foreign ship of war ; and such is still the credit of the Regency, that it is always the government most 18 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. favored here, which obtains this mission as a mark of honorable preference. This present is always magnificent, often amounting in value to half a mil lion of dollars ; and it appears to be the only de pendence which they recognise upon the Ottoman ffovernmenl, whose flag even, in the intoxication of their fancied power, they have not always respected. In return for these presents the Porte usually sends them a vessel of war, with military and naval stores, &c. and gives them permission to recruit in its do minions. Though the election of the Dey of Algiers is by the institutions of the Regency vested in the Divan, it is usually the result of the intrigues of a predominant faction amongst the Janissaries, and is generally a sanguinary tragedy. A Dey is murdered to make room for some more fortunate adventurer ; his immediate friends and adherents perish, or are plundered and exiled, and the public business or. tranquillity is not interrupted beyond twenty-four hours. These revolutions succeed each other with a rapidity which can hardly be credited by those who are unacquainted with the barbarous character and manners of the Turks. A Dey of Algiers, while alive, is the most despotic and im plicitly obeyed monarch on earth ; but his reign is always precarious, and it is by mere accident if he dies a natural death. Any Turk who has been regularly enrolled in the corps of Janissaries is eligible to the eminent post of Dey, except the na- SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 19 fives of Bosnia and of Crete ; no other qualifica tions are required, and the caprice of fortune has sometimes raised the most obscure and ignoble characters to the throne. Tradition points out the gravies of seven adventurers who were raised to the throne an,d perished on the same day : as a mark of contempt they were interred in the public highway. Neither can a person elected refuse or resign the honor of ruling in Algiers : he must either reign or perish. The three provinces are governed by Beys who are appointed by the sovereign, to whom his des potic authority is delegated as his lieutenants ; a Khalif, or intendant, is also appointed to each by the same authority. Each province is taxed in a spe cific sum, according to its supposed capacity to pay, which is paid semiannually into the public treasury, as will hereafter be noticed when 1 treat of the re venues of this country. The situation of these governors is necessarily precarious, and the tyran ny and oppression which they exercise within their respective jurisdictions, to procure the means of keeping their places, are probably without a paral lel in the history of any other country. Such is the wretched condition of the inhabitants of this king dom, that a mild and equitable administration by the governor of a province, would be regarded as • an attempt at popularity dangerous to the general government, and, as experience has proved in seve- 20 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. ral instances, might cost the offender his fortune and his life. The Beys are required to render an account of their administration in person at the seat of gov ernment once every three lunar years, when their public entry is usually very splendid. Then the continuation of their power, and even of their lives, depends upon their ability to satisfy the rapacity of the members of the Regency. I am informed on respectable authority, that each visit of the Beys of Oran and Constantine costs to those governors not less than three hundred thousand dollars. On these occasions it is necessary to bribe all the offi cers of the Regency according to the different de grees of their credit and influence. No part how ever of these extraordinary contributions goes into the public treasury. The officers of the Regency of Algiers receive no other salary than their pay and rations as Janissaries; which is practised by the Bashaw himself, with an appearance of primitive simplicity. They depend on the privileges attached to their respective offices, and the license which they confer for every species of extortion, in their various relations with society. The administration of criminal justice is exclu sively in the hands of the Bashaw and his minis ters. Murder, robbery, burglary, arson, treason, adultery, are punished with death. A Turk is strangled, privately if for a political crime ; a na tive is hanged, decapitated, mutilated, or precipita- SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 21 ted from a high wall sti^ek full of large hooks, which catch the criminal in his fall, who perishes in lingering torture : in these cases the Tcliaux, or ex ecutioner, has sometimes the humanity, on being well paid for it, to strangle his victim before he precipitates him on the hooks. A Jew is either hanged, decapitated, or burned alive. Misdemean ors and petty larcenies, are punished by heavy fines, the bastinado, or hard labour in chains : the latter, since the suppression of christian slavery, is the most common mode of punishment in practice, and in a measure furnishes labourers in lieu of slaves upon the public works. The maxim in Algiers, contrary to that of our common law, is, that it is better to punish an inno cent person, than that a criminal should escape ,• the accused therefore appear before their judges under great disadvantages, if they are unable to prove their innocence in a manner the most clear and manifest, or unless they have the good fortune to enjoy powerful protection ; for though criminal justice is here unembarrassed with forms, and is prompt as lightning, it is nevertheless sometimes stayed by favour. The post of Tchaux, or execu tioner, is considered here an honorable employment, and each public minister has one attached to his office : these functionaries rise indifferently with others to the highest offices in the state. As in other Mohammedan countries, the Koran, with the commentaries upon it, constitutes their civil code ; to 22 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. which may be added the customs which have been established by past experience : it is a'maxim with the Turks, to which they adhere with inflexible rigour, that what has been, acquires the force of law. For the administration of civil justice there are appointed in every government of the Regency, a Turkish and a Moorish Cadi, who hold their ses sions daily, Fridays excepted, and hear and decide upon all cases of law and equity that may be brought before them. The parties plead their own cause, without the aid of lawyers, who are unknown in this country ; when judgment is immediately given. These courts are supposed not to be inac cessible to corruption, and the influence of power, which however, it is probable, are seldom exerted except in important cases ; when the party aggrieved has the resource of carrying his cause by appeal be fore the Mufti, whose judgment is conclusive. The Muftis, who are also Turkish and Moorish, hold their sessions twice a week. The jurisdictions of these courts are precisely equal, except that in mixt cases the Turk has always the right of carrying his cause before his own Cadi, and of appealing to his own Mufti. The courts of the Cadis, when there is the requisite number of clerks or Khodgias employed, are also records for all contracts of what nature soever. In commercial or maritime cases involving complicate circumstances, the foreign Consuls are assembled in divan and cpnsulted. SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 23 The expenses of all these proceedings are very moderate, and on the whole, it appears to be the intention of the government that impartial justice should be distributed in all cases : this is certainly believed to be the case, and together with the sum mary process, and prompt execution of both crimi nal and civil justice, has a powerful influence on the wellbeing of society in Algiers. Anciently it was necessary to have been graduated in the schools of either Constantinople or Grand Cairo to qualify a man for the , posts of either Cadi or Mufti ; but the Turks, accustomed to discharge the highest functions of government without having ever learned to read, naturally determined that any man supposed to have common sense, and the facul ty of reading the Koran, might well enough be eligible to those judicial posts. The Mufti, in the Algerine Government, is a mere subordinate officer, without any political authority whatever. A most important office under this government is the Bet el Mel, or judge of inheritances ; he pays into the public treasury a sum two thirds as large as what is paid by the principal Beys, and is besides a cabinet minister. He inherits, ex officio, the estates of all who die intestate, and without legal heirs ; and his authority extends over the whole kingdom. The power of this magistrate is justly dreaded ; and in order to elude it, it is a common practice in this country to make donations of estates by will to the holy Khaaba at Mec- 24 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. ca, in default of legal heirs : this arrangement completely frustrates the claims of the Bet el Mel, and the holy city maintains an agent here to super intend the great revenues which have been thus acquired. The lands of this kingdom are believed to be all taken up and enregistered, as far as the real juris diction of the government extends ; though from the frequent and often arbitrary confiscations, the national domain must be immense. Beyond the immediate precincts of the principal towns, the lands possess very little value, considered as real estate ; for a general system of prohibition of ex portation of the produce of this country, except- a few articles which constitute monopolies, as will be hereafter noticed, has reduced the agriculture and trade of the kingdom to a most deplorable state. The Turks, who govern here, influenced by their narrow, selfish views, are jealous of any prosperi ty which is not immediately under their control. It seems that instinct has given them a just con ception of the case in question ; for if agriculture and commerce were encouraged even in this Mo-, hammedan land, its natural advantages are such, that great wealth must ensue, and with it a degree of civilization, and increase of population, that would render it very difficult for a handful of bar barian adventurers to govern the country in their present arbitrary manner. SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 25 The government of Algiers is peculiar in its fundamental character. I am not aware of there being any thing like it recorded in modern history, except perhaps, the establishment of the Mame lukes in Egypt. A small band of foreign adven turers seize upon the sovereign authority, and ap propriate to themselves exclusively all the posts of honour, trust, or profit, under the government which they institute. Of this there are parallel cases enough ; but that their institutions should deny, even to their own children born in the country, any share in the honours and emoluments of government ; confining them exclusively to a corps of foreigners, constantly recruited from abroad; is truly extraor dinary. Yet such is the fundamental principle of the Regency of Algiers, with a few exceptions which subsequent experience has taught them were indispensable ; though the individuals of this corps profess to have no other country, and count on establishing their posterity here. The Ottoman empire itself exhibits many extraordinary features in its political and civil organization, growing, no doubt, out of the nature of conquest, national arro gance, and religious fanaticism : their existence where they are resembles rather an " encamp ment of barbarians," than an established govern ment ; and Algiers is certainly the most remarka ble emanation of this singular empire. The corps of Turks in the kingdom of Algiers has in latter times seldom exceeded five thousand 4 26 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. in number, and at this time, from the operation of particular causes, is probably under four thousand. These alone are eligible to the high offices of state, or generally of honour or profit, except in the navy, where native Algerines may by their merit rise to the highest military rank, though they are ineligi ble to any of its civil employments. Rais Hami- da, grand admiral of Algiers, who was killed in battle, when his ship was captured by Commodore Decatur, in June, 1815, was of one of the tribes of independent mountaineers of the interior, and had risen to that eminent post by his superior intelli gence and valour. The sons of Beys have in some instances succeeded their fathers, and Colories* have been appointed Kaids, or governors of districts, probably through corruption. But these are re garded as aberrations from the spirit of their con stitution ; and in consequence of the revolt of a Bey of Oran, who, being in this predicament, in the year 1814 marched an army within three leagues of Algiers, it will probably never again be permitted. This corps is kept up by recruits con stantly drawn from the Levant, who are generally the sweepings of the prisons, and the refuse of society in those barbarous countries. *Kul Oglei, in the Turkish language, sons of Turks born in Afri ca, — which in the Italian and French has been softened into Colo- gli, Colory. 1 have preferred the latter, as more agreeable to Eng lish pronunciation. SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 27 Agents are maintained by the Regency in Con stantinople and Smyrna to engage recruits and charter vessels for their transportation hither. On their arrival they become ipso facto soldiers, are denominated Janissaries, and are incorporated into the different barracks of the city, to which they are supposed to belong during life, whatever may be their subsequent fortunes. In these quarters, if not called by some happy accident into the admin istration, they rise by seniority to the highest grade of pay, and become members of the pretended Divan ; where they must be very inept indeed, if they do not obtain some profitable employment. The pay of the Janissaries at its commencement, on their arrival as recruits from the Levant, hardly exceeds half a dollar per month, but by length of service is gradually increased to about eight dollars, which is the maximum. Of late years, however, it has been a common practice of the Deys of Al giers to augment the pay of the Janissd^ries, in or der to enhance their popularity. A corps thus constituted, is of course always ripe for a revolu tion. Their rations consist of about two pounds of indifferent bread daily, and all who are unmar ried are lodged in very spacious and commodious barracks ; they find their own clothing, and their own arms and ammunition, which latter are fur nished to them by the government at moderate prices. A Janissary, when equipped for battle, has one or more pairs of large pistols in his belt, with 28 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. his scimitar or yatagan, a dagger in his bosom, and a long musket on his shoulder ; all which are as highly ornamented as his circumstances will permit. When, costume included, he is not unfairly repre sented by the knave of diamonds in a pack of cards. Though all Turks are essentially soldiers, yet there is a portion of them separated into a civil division, or class, which is termed the corps of Khodgias, or writers, and consists of such as have learned, or are capable of learning to read and write : this corps enjoys superior privileges, and furnishes writers to the public offices. The Turks are a plain, prudent, sensible people, possessing both the virtues and the vices of their semi-barbarous state; in general their word may be relied on, and in the common intercourse of life they are courteous, friendly, and humane ; but in their political career they discover all the ferocity of barbarians. Their good sense is eminently discovered in their exact adherence to their ancient institutions, which has given a solidity and strength to their government, to which it has few pretensions on its own merits. All quarrels amongst themselves are prohibited un der the severest penalties ; oppression of the weak by the powerful, is as common here as elsewhere, but I have never heard of an instance of personal outrage in public by one Turk upon another. The meanest Turk rejects with infinite disdain all equality of a native with him ; and the proposition SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 29 which has been inculcated during a succession of ages, that Turks are born to command, and the natives of Algiers to obey, has been by time dis robed of every thing odious in its character, and has long since been received here as a political axiom. The young Turks are confined to the barracks, with the liberty of going out on Thursdays only, under the superintendance of a guardian, who is responsible for their conduct ; until they can show a respectable beard, when they are permitted to take the turban, and mix with the world on their own responsibility. Though the Turks, from good policy, are rigorous in observing themselves, and in requiring the exact observance of the precepts of their religion, yet experience has taught them the necessity of some relaxation in favour of a turbu lent soldiery ; in consequence taverns are tolerated, and kept by Jews, for their accommodation, where the free use of wine and spirits is connived at, on the condition that no scandalous scenes be ex hibited to the public : any breach of this condition would be punished with the utmost rigour. Indeed, the constraint under which the Janissaries are held, is evidently irksome, as those who are not attached to the country by marriage or lucrative employ ment, desert whenever they can. Every thing that can be done, with safety to the public tranquillity, is put in practice to stimulate the pride and arrogance of the Janissaries ; every 30 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. where the Turk has precedence of the native ; the lati er on ali occasions submissively makes way for him in the streets. They have from time imme morial been taught to believe that they have the right of entering the gardens in the vicinity of Algiers, and taking fruit, flowers, and vegetables at discretion ; a right which they do not fail to exer cise in its utmost latitude, not even excepting those occupied by the foreign consuls. After the peace of 1815, I represented to the reigning sovereign, Omar Pacha, the enormity of this disgraceful practice, and assured him that any such violation of my premises would be regarded as a national injury, and treated as such. This abusive practice was, in consequence, gradually abolished as to the consuls : but the Janissaries are still the scourge and terror of all the native pro prietors of gardens in the neighbourhood of Algiers. The Turks are a fine, robust, sightly race of men, which, with the consideration of their privile ges and stiperior prospects in life, gives them every desirable facility in contracting advantageous mar riages in this country ; and an undoubted conse quence has been a melioration of the race, both physically and morally. The Colories, or sons of Turks, are believed to exceed in number twenty thousand in the kingdom. This class of Algerines is equally ineligible with any other to all the high offices of state : they may aspire to distinction in the navy, and to the posts of Bey and Kaid ; they SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 31 may wear embroidery of gold, and enjoy some other insignificant privileges ; but they have no sympathies with the Turks, and can hardly be re garded as a distinct class in the general mass of Algerine population. As military service is by rotation, the Turks, without losing any of their rights, may follow any career in civil life, that they feel themselves qualified for, or inclined to, with the sole condition of being ready for public service when called on. And the fortunes of those who estrange themselves from all activity in public affairs, are much more stable than those of others, who, stimulated by ambition, as pire to the honour and emoluments of office, which are neither acquired nor held without imminent danger. It is certain that the Turks have a feeling towards their government, that in its effects very nearly resembles patriotism ; and this the frequent and thorough changes in the public administration tend powerfully to stimulate and keep alive : the wheel of fortune turns so often, that it seems to as sure to every one a fair chance. The following anecdote fully illustrates this fact. During the summer of my arrival here, an old Turk called on me, announcing himself as a Rais, or Captain in the navy ; and informed me that he had made the voyage from this place to Constanti nople, with Commodore Bainbridge, as attached to the Algerine legation carried there by that officer in former times. He expressed the most friendly 32 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. regard for the Commodore, and to inquire after his health and welfare appeared to be the principal object of his visit ; but on taking leave, he inform ed me that he had no employment, and was very poor, and requested me to lend him a dollar, which I did, and assured him that whenever his necessi ties required it, he might apply to me with the cer tainty of finding such relief as I had it in my power to give him. I afterwards frequently met this old gentleman on public occasions, when he would .modestly offijr me a friendly pinch of snuff at a re spectful distance from the official characters I was visiting. A few years after, this old man was raised to the eminent post of Hasnagee, or prime minister, which he now holds, at the age of about ninety years, and is in the receipt of at least fifty thousand dollars per annam. The manly character of the Turks, and the vig our of their government have certainly had a favour able effect upon the vain, inconstant character of the Moors, who, in this respect, appear to be still the same frivolous Numidians as described by Sal- lust * * The Algerines, whether Turks or natives, appear, like many other people, to be fond of titles of honour and distinction. The Ba shaw and his ministers are always addressed by the title of Effendi, which is a Turkish term equivalent to Excellency. A person who has visited the holy city of Mecca, whoever he may be, adds the title of Hadji to his name. Also the titles of appointments held by au thority are invariably and forever added to the names of the posses sors ; as Aga, Bey, Kaid, Rais, &o. SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. S3 The Turks in establishing their government in Algiers, appear to have counted upon the fruits of piracy as the main source of their revenues; and the mutual jealousies, imbecility, and interested policy of the Christian maritime world, have borne them out in their calculations ; for until of late years, it has not only supplied all their wants, but through it a metallic treasury has been hoarded, that might probably sustain them for many years to come. Since 1815, they have derived no benefit from pil lage ; and the receipts into the treasury, and ex penditures of this singular government, for the year 1822, as stated below, may be regarded as the annual average since that epoch. The internal taxes are assessed according to the precepts of the Koran, and if the same good faith were observed in their collection, they would not only be light, but afford a more abundant revenue. But the Turk ish administration in Algiers possesses all the vices, without any of the advantages of a privileged cor poration ; to enrich themselves individually, is the most important consideration, and this is rendered more intense by the factious character of the gov ernment, and the uncertainty of the tenure by which they hold their places. The Beys of pro vinces and Governors of districts are held respon sible for the assessed taxes, and through their mili tary agents, they take from the people all that is tangible. This intolerable oppression has depopu lated the country, by driving the inhabitants from 5 " ' 34 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. the fertile plains into less accessible positions in the mountains, and into the borders of the desert. This state of things evidently tends to the extinc tion of this " legitimate" and " amiable institu tion ;" and unless the Holy Alliance should in their wisdom deem it expedient to support them, it ap pears to me that they must at no distant period be numbered with the scourges of civilization that have been. An Account of the Receipts into the Treasury in 1822 in Spanish dollars. From the Bey of Oran, a tax assessed upon that province ^60,000 From the same, for the franchise for exportation from Oran 15,000 From the Bey of Constantine, a tax assessed upon that province 60,000 From seven Kaids dependent upon the general government, assessed 16,000 From the Bet el Mel, or judge of inheritances, an as sessed tax 40 000 From tlie Scheich el Belled an assessed tax . . . 3,000 From the Bey of Titterie, a tax assessed upon that province 4^000 From the Khodgia of hides, a tax assessed upon his office 4,000 From the Khodgia of the custom-house the same . 800 From the Jewish nation an assessed tax ... . 6,000 From the customs on importations 20 000 From the rents of tlie national domain in the city of Algiers 40,000 1268,800 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 35 Amount brought up . ..... 208,800 From the government of France for the monopoly of the coral fishmg at Bona 30,000 From the monoplies of wool, wax, and hides . . 40,000 Tribute paid annually by the king of Naples . . 24,000 by tlie king of Sweden . . 24,000 by the king of Denmark . 24,000 by die king of Portugal . . 24,000 $434,800 Besides the above, the Regency also receives annually as a tax from various Arab Scheichs two hundred thousand mea sures of wlieat, and from die Beys of Constantine and Oran, ten thousand measures of barley each, which serve for the subsistence of the seamen, soldiers, and labourers in the pub lic service. An Account of the Public Expenditure of the Regency in the year 1822. Annual expense of labourers, artificers, &c. in the dock-yards 24,000 Annual purchase of timber, cordage, and other stores for naval purposes , 60,000 Annual pay of navy officers and enrolled seamen 75,000 Annual pay of the military of all classes . . . 700,000 ,f859,000 This leaves an annual balance against the treasury of $424,200. The above statements were furnished to me as correct, by a person who has access to the public records. The military establishment of this government consists of about fifteen thousand men, including Turks, Colories, and Arabs ; the two former are 36 SKETCHES or ALGIERS. infantry, and the latter cavalry. These troops are distributed in garrisons and flying camps, in the capital and throughout the kingdom, the Turkish part of which is relieved annually. They are em ployed in keeping the peace, and in the collection of the public revenues. In this army, a large part of which, namely, the Turks and Colories, are merely enrolled and doing military duty only by rotation, there is nothing that can be properly termed organization or discipline ; and on the whole they probably form the most inefficient body of military that was ever put under arms. The Jan issaries are attached to the barracks, where they were originally incorporated on their arrival, and there they rise by seniority to the command of de tachments, and of corps ; and this is the only real organization or system that I have been able to dis cover amongst them. The Algerine Navy formerly consisted of nume rous row-gallies and xebecs ; in latter times it has been modelled after the European improvements in naval architecture and maritime warfare, through the attention of the governments of Europe in main taining here skilful naval constructors and engineers. Previously to the peace of June 1815, their marine consisted of four frigates of from forty-four to fifty guns, one of thirty-eight guns, one sloop of war of thirty, one of twenty-six, one of twenty-two, one of twenty, a brig of twenty, and a galley of five guns, with about thirty gun and mortar boats. SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 37 These vessels were destroyed by the combined British and Dutch fleets in August, 1816. But the Algerines have since restored their navy by purchase, construction, and presents from the Porte, thfe Emperor of Morocco, and the Bashaw of Tri poli, to a footing as efficient for any purpose which they can have in view, as it ever was. As the number of their vessels is necessarily variable, a note of the actual state of their navy will be given at the end of this chapter. The Marine Arsenal of Algiers is always well supplied with timber, and every thing necessary for the construction, armament, equipment, and re pairs of vessels of war of all classes, from a first- rate frigate downwards. This government main tains constantly in its service a body of about three thousand seamen, which in cases of emergency may be increased to six thousand men. The ves sels of the Algerines considered as ships of war are perfectly contemptible ; they have little skill as seamen, or acquaintance with naval warfare, and the desperate intrepidity for which the spirit of in trigue and the base cupidity of Europe have given them credit, is purely gratuitous, without any foundation whatever. But their activity in fitting a squadron for sea is probably not surpassed by any other people. On board of a frigate of the first class they embark upwards of five hundred men, about one hundred of whom are Turks, who may be regarded as the corps of officers and marines ; and 38 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS^ about the same proportion is observed in the crews of their smaller cruisers. Such is the far-famed Regency of Algiers, the theme of poets, the terror of nurseries, and the cause of so much national degradation. And it cannot fail to excite the astonishment of the reader, that so in significant and worthless a power, should have been so long permitted to vex the commercial world and extort ransom at discretion ; and that while the great maritime powers of Europe were establishing colo nies at a vast expense of human life and of treas ure, at the utmost extremities of the earth, a mere handful of mischievous banditti has been left in the quiet enjoyment of the fairest portion of the globe, at their very threshold, and receiving from them submission, little short of homage. The Algerines, having established their political system upon the basis of piracy, audaciously claim of right to be at war with all the christian govern ments of the world who do not conciliate them by treaties. 1 shall treat of this subject at some length in a subsequent chapter ; it appears suffi cient to state here, that Great Britain, France, the United States, Sardinia, and Holland have at dif ferent periods resisted the insolent pretensions of the Regency, and their actual relations with Al giers are regulated by independent treaties, they paying no tribute under any form whatever. Spain was in the same situation until lately, but is now in a state of quasi war with them. The imperial SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 39 Russian and Austrian governments regard Algiers as a province of the Ottoman Empire, and compel the Porte to prevent any hostilities against their flags. Sweden, Denmark, Portugal, and Naples pay an annual tribute ; and the Grand Duke of Tuscany purchased a peace with them at a price paid once for all. The great advantages which the Regency derives from a free intercourse Mith the port of Leghorn, where they often send their ships to be repaired, were the reason why this prince obtained peace on very easy terms. With all the other christian powers they affect to be at w ar. The powers ^\ ho have treaties with Algiers maintain diplomatic agents there, who are styled Consuls General, and who generally enjoy the rights. pri\ ileges, and immunities, which the Otto man Porto recognises in relation to the foreign min- ititcrs resident at Constantinople, with the exception of the right of asylum, which has never been recog nised in Algiers, or is at least doubtful. According to an oriental practice of the remotest antiquity, it is customary in Algiers, on the pre sentation of a Consul, to make a present to the Dcv and officers of the Regency. This custom ^^ as in its principle, doubtless, a mere mark of vol- untarv courtesy ; but in the course of time and the progress of the degradation of christian powers in Algiers, it has become a real tribute, the amount of which is now lixed by custom at about 3 17,000 ; and inquiry is made, previous to permission being 40 Sketches of algierS. given to a Consul to land, if he has brought the customary present In the distribution of these presents, there is shown no expression of satisfac tion at receiving them : on the contrary, they are frequently sent back as of insufficient value ; a ne gotiation then ensues between the giver and the receiver, which generally terminates in favour of the latter. In short, the presents which are made in Algiers on the introduction of Consuls, have long ceased to preserve the character of gratuitous gifts ; and the RegenCy have carried their insolence to the extent of requiring, on the pretext of Consuls be ing seldom changed, that they should be made every second year, and this pretension has been acquiesced in by the tributary powers. They have now acquired the denomination of biennial pre sents, and it has occurred here, that the consular and biennial presents have been made at the same time as distinct dues. Great Britain, though she has generally changed her Consuls on com plaint of the Regency, has been very reserved on the article of presents, and has seldom on these occasions given any thing beyond the usual amount paid by the tributary states. But France and Spain, on the vain pretext of royal magnificence, have doubled, tripled, and even quadrupled the usual amount on the presentation of their Consuls. On a squadron or ship of war anchoring before Algiers, it is saluted with twenty-one guns, which is returned by an equal number. If the command- SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. . 41 er lands he is also saluted with five guns, and with the same on his final departure. A Consul, on his landing or taking leave, is also saluted with five guns. If a squadron or single ship of war re main three days in the roads, a present, consisting of bullocks, poultry, bread, fruits, and vegetables, is sent on board. The Consuls are required to pay for the salute forty dollars, and for the present four teen dollars. A stern and rather imposing simplicity charac terizes this government in its external forms, in which its pretensions are proclaimed in the most unequivocal manner. The Bashaw seated on his throne, gives audience inordinary to all the officers of his government at daylight immediately after morn ing prayers, when he hears their reports, and issues his orders. When he rises to depart, they all bow their heads to the ground, and cry with a loud voice, " God preserve our Sovereign ;" as in re tiring he passes the different corps, who are always arranged together, he slowly turns and with his hand on his heart, returns their salute ; to which they, again bowing, reply, " God preserve our Sovereign." These occasions are usually chosen for the de position of the Deys of Algiers. As the Bashaw rises from his throne, the conspirators rush forward, seize him by his girdle, and either despatch him on the spot, or lead him off to be strangled secim- 6 42 SKETCHES OP ALGIERS. dum artem ; when his successor is immediately en throned in his stead. The festivals at the close of the Ramadan or Mohammedan fast, and the Beyram, forty days af terwards, are ushered in by the thunder of cannon, and other demonstrations of jubilee and public re joicing to the faithful. On these occasions, public games are exhibited at the palace, where also a public table is spread, and every thing indicates joy and festivity. The foreign Consuls are invited to attend these festivals, but they appear there rather as appendages of the power of the Bashaw, and to do him homage, than as the representatives of independent states ; for they are confounded with the multitude of spectators, having no place assigned to them, and in paying their respects to the Sovereign, are permitted to precede only the chiefs of the Jews. As a more positive mark of homage, foreign Consuls were required to kiss the Bashaw's hand on paying their respects to him, on all occasions. Great Britain, France, Spain, and the United States, having successively emancipa ted themselves . from this degrading demonstration of submission, it has been very lately abolished as to the Consuls generally ; at present, we touch his hand only in bowing to him ; even attendance at all upon these festivals, begins to be neglected on different pretexts. Another ceremony in practice here in the spring, is completely demonstrative of the insolent preten- SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 43 sions of the Turks, as conquerors. The Hasna gee, as lieutenant of the Bashaw on this occasion, encamps without the eastern gate of the city, hav ing two of his three horse tails displayed defore his tent. The Aga, who on this occasion represents a native Scheich, appears before him as a suppli ant to do him homage, and is ordered, in an impe rious tone and manner, to furnish a hundred or more sheep for the refreshment of his troops, and immediately to slaughter one with his own hands for His Excellency's table. These requisitions are in stantly furnished, and others of poultry, eggs, cous'- cousou, &c. are successively made and instantly complied with, without a murmur, by the obsequious Scheich ; when he is required to produce a sum of money for the payment of the troops, &c. At this demand the Arab demurs, pleads his poverty, and various misfortunes which he states, that put it out of his power to furnish the sum required of him by His Excellency, though he has all the good will to do so imaginable. The Hasnagee then affects the highest degree of wrath, threatens to decapi tate him on the spot, and finally orders the Scheich to be bound and bastanadoed until he produces the sum of money required. This order is put into im mediate preparatory execution ; the Arab endeav ours to capitulate for a smaller sum, but all Kis ex postulations being found of no avail, the Elders of his tribe come forward to his relief, and the sum re quired is made up amongst them, and placed at 44 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. His Excellency's feet. The latter then assumes an air of the utmost amenity, gives the Scheich his hand to kiss, styles him his friend, places him by his side, and treats him with coffee, &c. Thus ends this farce, which is indeed a faithful repre sentation of the government of Algiers, in its rela tions with the natives. The following is a list of the Algerine Navy, in Blarch, 1825. Frigates. Moftah Elgialia, mounting 62 guns a BenUiawas, a 50 guns « Nepher Scander, (I 40 guns Corvettes. Mazehar Estavfie, ass, and the distance is about three miles over a sandy barren country, covered with brambles. The marrabout of Sidi Ferrajh, and the small castle which protects it, stand upon a comparatively high, rocky, presquHle, which is susceptible of being fortified, and rendered a secure military post. On the beach contiguous to this presqu'ile, there is a well of good water, furnish ed with a stone reservoir for watering the flocks which feed in the neighbourhood, of which we saw several attended by Arabs. The several expeditions against Algiers, where land forces have been employed, have landed in the bay eastward of the city ; which is evidently an error, and discovers an unpardonable ignorance of the coast and topography of the country, for all their means of defence are concentrated there. But it is obvious that any force whatever might be landed in the fine bay of Sidi Ferrajh without op position, whence by a single march they might ar rive upon the heights which command the castle del Emperador, when, as nothing could prevent an ap proach to the foot of its walls, they might be either scaled or breached by a mine in a short time. This position being mastered, batteries might be established on a height commanding the citadel, which is indicated by two cylindrical ruins of windmills, and where are the ruins of a fortress which was called the Stau, which the jealous fears of this government caused to be destroyed, for the 52 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. reason here alleged, that it commanded the citadel, and coiLsequently the city. The fleet which had landed the troops, would by this time appear in the bay to distract their attention, when Algiers must either surrender at discretion or be taken by storm. There is usually in Algiers a Turkish garrison of from fifteen hundred to two thousand men, which consists principally of young recruits that are here disciplined for interior service, and aged veterans. Besides the general administration of the king dom, which is resident here, there is a local govern ment of the city, consisting of the Scheich el Belled, or civil governor ; the Kiah, or command ant of the city militia ; the Aga de Kul, or super- intendant of the police ; and the Mesouar, whose functions extend over the public baths, and houses of prostitution : these functionaries are natives. There is probably no city in the world, where there is a more vigilant police, where fewer cogniz able crimes are committed, or where there is bet ter security for person and property than in Al giers.* *As a proof of the inexorable rigour of the Algerine police, I here note a fact within my knowledge. A man well known to rae, proprietor of a house in town, and a pleasant villa in my neighbour hood in the country, in short, a man who, in point of relative proper ty, and standing in society, would in any civilized country be denom inated a gentleman, was surprised, with several others, in a house of ill fame at an undue hour of the night, and taken, with bis com panions to the quarters of the Aga de Kul, where they each received seven liuodred bastinadoes. SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 53 A consequence of the uninterrupted prosperity of Algiers, for so long a course of years, has been the accumulation of great wealth in private families, through their alliances by marriage with the Turks. Thus, though all the power is exclusively in the hands of the latter, the fortunes which they ac quire are gradually absorbed into the native fami lies, where they generally remain unmolested. Nothing can be more insecure than the fortune of a living Turk ; but that of a native, who is ineli gible to any important public employment, and consequently passive in all political revolutions, is as well protected here as in any other country. From the operation of these causes, Algiers may be regarded as one of the richest cities in metallic wealth in the world. The aged widow of Achmet Pashaw, with whom the United States concluded their first peace with the Regency, lately died here, and is reputed to have left a fortune of several mil lions of dollars. The heirs of Mustapha Pacha, his successor, from whom the Consular dwelling of the United States is rented, possess real estate in the city and immediate neighbourhood, worth half a million of dollars. Both of these chiefs were publicly executed. The partial civilization of this part of Barbary after the fall of the Roman dominion here, probably dates from the conquest of the Arabs. The com mercial resources of Africa appear to have created or continued several cities on this coast, whose ori- 54 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. gin, or second birth, from the want of historical records, would now be sought for in vain. The city of Algiers is in this predicament, and can lay no claim to importance above any of the obscure cities of Barbary, before its conquest by the Turks. Its inhabitants are an amalgamation of the an cient Mauritanians, the various invaders subse quent to the above periods, the emigrants from Spain, and the Turks ; and are now generally denominated Moors. This mixture appears to be a very happy one, for there are few people who surpass them in beauty of configuration ; their features are remarkably expressive, and their com plexions are hardly darker than those of the inhabit ants of the south of Spain. Foreigners seldom have an opportunity of see ing the Moorish women, but from the few furtive occasions that have fallen to my lot, the reports of foreign ladies resident here, and the extraordi nary beauty of their children, I am inclined to think that they may vie with any other in point of personal charms. Their principal characteristics of beauty are elegant forms, large dark eyes, long eye lashes, and fine teeth ; but the beauty which is most prized in this country, is that of excessive cor pulency. The Moorish women, however, as they ar rive very early at maturity, being often married at twelve years of age, fade equally soon ; I am in formed that their finest women are completely in the wane of their beauty at twenty-five, when they SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 53 are often grand-mothers : this may be in a great degree owing to the excessive use, or rather abuse of the steam bath. From remote antiquity the inhabitants of this country have been styled inconstant and treach erous ; this imputation may be regarded as not unfounded now, but they are far from being the ferocious barbarians which the term Algerines seems by common consent to imply. They are a people of very insinuating address, and in the common relations of life, I have found them civil, courteous, and humane. Neither have I ever remarked any thing in the character of these peo ple 'that discovers extraordinary bigotry, fanati cism, or hatred of those who profess a different re ligion ; they profess the Mohammedan creed, and fulfil with the utmost scrupulousness the rites which it ordains, but without affectation, and as far as I have remarked, without hostility to those who adopt different nieasures to conciliate the Di vine favour. I am well aware that this character of the Algerines is contrary to what has been here tofore promulgated, and to the general belief of the world ; but my impressions of them, which I have received from a long residence in Barbary, differ very much from the general opinion, particularly within the last fifty years. A respectable writer within this period. Lord Sheffield, has alleged Al gerine hostility amongst the permanent obstacles to the maritime prosperity of the United States ; 56 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. and the public records will show, that on several occasions the government of France has insinuated its willingness to employ its influence with the Barbary powers in favour of the negotiations of the United States with them. To any one acquainted with Barbary, these facts excite only indignation, derision, or con tempt ; for it is well known that the great maritime powers of Europe have always had recourse in Al giers to the moat debasing expedients to support what they term their influence here, and that their enmity in Algiers is as little to be dreaded, as their friendship is worth having, by any independent peo ple. But sufficient causes may be assigned for a melioration of the Algerine character. A govern ment established by strangers on the right of con quest, democratic as to the conquerors, aristocratic as to the natives ; extremely rigorous in its general character, and generally impartial in the adminis tration of justice, must have had a powerful tend ency to curb the licentious propensities of the Numidian character, and to reduce it within the bounds of moderation and propriety. The all pow erful moUifier of national and religious animosities, commerce, has also had its influence on them ; regular Moorish commercial houses exist here, which have an established credit abroad, that they seek to maintain by reciprocating the kindness, hospitality, and confidence, which they find when SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 57 they travel, as they frequently do, into foreign countries. It would be vain to speak of the sciences in Al giers, where they are unknown or disregarded. There is not even any pretension made to a know ledge of the healing art beyond that of charms and amulets. Several of their Raises, or naval cap tains, have learnt from foreigners to determine the latitude by a meridian observation of the sun, and they have translated into Arabic the tables neces sary to this operation. Their usual practice when they go out of the Straits to cruise in the ocean, is to impress from on board of the first christian ves sel met with, some person capable of directing their route until they return again into the Medi terranean. Their whole course of literature is con fined to the Koran. Common schools are however, numerous in Algiers, where boys of the age of five or six years and upwards, are taught to read and write. From the invariable character of the cus toms of these countries, I am induced to believe that their practice is the probable origin of the Lancasterian system of tuition. Each scholar is provided with a board, upon which any thing may be fairly written with chalk, and easily effaced ; a lesson from the Koran is transcribed in fair and legible characters upon one of these boards, which is then copied upon all the others, the scholars mu tually teaching each other, both in the meaning, 8 58 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. and in the formation of the letters of the text. These lessons are loudly rehearsed to the pedagogue, who sits upon his heels in a corner with a long rod, through the terror of which he maintains order and due attention amongst his scholars. Thus reading and writing are taught simultaneously, and the beautiful uniformity that characterizes the Arabic handwriting, is probably owing to this method of tuition. The education of the Algerine youth is completed when, having learnt to read and write the Koran, he is duly instructed by the same pre ceptor in the forms and modes of prayer. The expenses of this course of education are very tri fling, and I am informed that similar schools are kept by women for the instruction of young girls. I think there can be no doubt that these people stand on the very brink of civilization, and might be easily led into it through a system of govern ment less repugnant to improvement in its prin ciples and practice, than that under which they live. The dress of the Algerines consists of several vests both with and without sleeves, open before, and ornamented with buttons, lace, embroidery, &c. ; large loose breeches, with ample plaits de scending to the calf of the leg ; a sash wound sev eral times round the body, in which are stuck the yatagan and pistols of the wearer, and the folds of which serve to contain his watch, purse, &c. ; the turban, and slippers. Stockings are seldom worn. SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 59 and only by elderly men in cold weather. The materials of this dress vary according to the seasons, and the rank, and pecuniary m*eans of the wearer ; amongst the Turks and wealthy Colories, they are often richly embroidered, or laced with gold, sil ver, or silk, as pride or fancy dictates. The ma terial, form, folds, and colours of the turban, desig nate the rank and condition of the wearer. Over the whole of this dress is worn the bournousse, either wrapped round the body, or folded on one shoulder. The bournousse is an ample cloak, in form a large section of a circle, with a hood in the centre, which, when required, is brought up over the turban, and shelters the wearer from the weather. The bournousse is wove throughout vvithout any seam, and is a mantle of great sim plicity and elegance ; it is manufactured of the best materials, usually of fine white wool, and often with a mixture of silk, with a garniture of fringes and tassels of the same. Another species of this mantle, intended for cold weather, and for travel ling, is of a much firmer texture, impervious to the ' rain, and of a dark brown colour. The bournousse is, according to Doctor Shaw, without the hood, the pallium of the ancient Ro mans, and with it, the bardocucullus of the Gauls. All the inhabitants of Algiers who can afford it, wear linen, but those of the country are very gen erally strangers to this luxury ; the Algerine shirt is short, with wide sleeves, and gathered at the 60 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. wrists. The general dress of the inhabitants of the interior country, consists of the hyke and a slight pair of drawers, with the turban or without, according to circumstances ; but in default thereof, is vvorn a red woollen scull-cap. For the manufac ture of these caps Tunis is famous, but they are imi tated in Europe and sold here in great quantities. The hyke has been the national garment of Lybia, from time immemorial ; it is manufactured of wool, six yards in length and two in breadth. It is perhaps the toga of the ancient Romans ; I have seen a statue of the emperor Augustus, as chief pontiff, either at Rome or in the royal Studio at Naples, where he was enveloped in a robe that bore an exact resemblance to the hyke, as worn here by the Arabs. This manner of wearing the hyke, also resem bles the mode of wearing the common blanket by the Indians on our frontiers ; and it serves for the same purposes, that is, a mantle by day, and bed covering by night. It must however be confessed, that the hyke is a very inconvenient garment, as it must be continually falling from its position, and in this respect much more so, from its ample dimen sions, than the blanket of our Indians; for this rea son, the hyke is seldom made use of as an habili ment in the city of Algiers, where the more conve nient dress, above described, is universally preferred. I think I have seen in the course of my reading, that a motive with the gentleman of ancient Rome for retiring into the country was the faculty of throw-. SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 61 ing by, while there, the inconvenient toga ; which, if it resembled the hyke, appears to be quite nat ural. The hyke is manufactured of all degrees of fineness ; the superior kinds are beautiful, whether of their natural snow-white wool, or of fine scarlet ; and they are preferable, from their lightness and warmth, to any thing else as bed covering. The dress of the Moorish women, as far as we can be acquainted with it, consists of a slight chemise, which, with ladies of condition, is of the finest materials ; a pair of loose pantaloons gathered at the ankles ; a tunic of brocade, or richly em broidered stuff", laced behind ; and slippers, without stockings. They pay the greatest attention to their hair, which is considered a great beauty when it falls to their feet. They are not satisfied with the natural beauty of their eyelashes, but paint them black, and colour the tips of their fingers, palms of their hands, and soles of their feet with henna. They wear massy rings of gold in their ears, and on their wrists and ankles, and a profusion of the same on their fingers ; the material of these ornaments descends, according to condition, to sil ver, and even to copper. The national head-dress is a hollow machine, of open filigree work of gold or silver, according to rank and wealth, called a Sarmah, in form a cone from top to bottom, and a little truncated, over which is thrown a trans parent veil more or less richly embroidered. 62 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. A young unmarried girl, in lieu of this ornament, wears the common red scull-cap, thickly sheathed with sequins, and is known as such when she ap pears abroad, by her party-coloured pantaloons, a custom which appears to be of the remotest an tiquity : " And she had a garment of divers colours upon her ; for with such robes were the king's daughters that were virgins apparelled." Over the whole of this dress is worn the bournousse or hyke, as circumstances may require ; and when they go abroad, a white veil that falls from the top of the head to the heels : thus they have the ap pearance of phantoms gliding through the dark streets of the city. Ladies of condition seldom or never walk abroad. Though these secluded dames bloom as it were in the desert, from the complaints of their husbands respecting their extravagance in dress, it may be inferred that they exercise no in considerable portion of influence in society, and are perhaps silently preparing the public mind for a restoration of the rights, of which barbarism and ignorance have defrauded them. There are few Algerines who avail themselves of the Mohammedan law which allows a plurality of wives ; they are generally contented with one, to whom however is attached a number of black female slaves, according to the wealth and dignity of the parties. Marriages in general in Algiers are contracted much as elsewhere in Mohammedan countries ; but the nature of their government, and SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 63 the consequent condition of the superior classes, have had a silent and sure effect in favour of the sex. It is unreasonable to suppose that a rich heiress, and there are always many in Algiers, would be delivered up as a slave to the caprice of the barbarian who espouses her ; conditions are therefore made in the marriage contract, which place her on a certain equality with her husband, or at least protect her from arbitrary ill treatment. Tt would be injurious to the understandings of the ladies to suppose that they have not improved these advantages ; their effects have been gradually ex tended, and the consequence has been that the Moorish women are less slaves to their husbands, than to custom and long received notions of deco rum and propriety. Marriages are planned and contracted through, the agency of the mothers and female relations of the parties, the women of Algiers having a free in tercourse with each other, either at their own houses or at the public baths, which are much fre quented by them, and in the afternoon they are sa cred to their use. Marriages amongst the superior classes are frequently celebrated by the women with much eclat. On these occasions, the female relations and friends of the parties assemble to gether and enjoy themselves during several days, to the utter discomfiture of the men, who are then either driven out of the house, or to hide themselves in some corner where they can neither see nor be seen by the Joyous band. 64 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. Bread, mutton, poultry, fish, milk, butter, cheese, oil, olives, and fruits, with the couscousou, which is a granulated paste made of wheat of the nature of maccaroni, generally constitute the food of the people of Barbary ; the latter may be regarded as their national dish, equivalent to the maccaroni of Italy and the rice of India. The couscousou is cook ed in a cullender generally of wood, over the steam of broth, and when skilfully prepared with hard eggs, vegetables, sweet herbs, spices, &c. is a sa vory and nutritious food. The poorer classes, who cannot always afford meat, prepare their couscou sou with butter or oil ; the common labourers are satisfied with bread only, with a little oil if they can procure it. The Algerines consume very little beef; they rarely slaughter a cow, and never a calf. In the season of the best pasturage when the cat tle are in good condition, it is a practice with such families as can afford it, to slaughter a bullock or two, the flesh of which is jerked and dried, then seethed in oil, packed away in jars, and cover ed with oil or melted butter, for future use. Cof fee is the great luxury of these temperate people, and water their only beverage. The amusements of a people without literature, and without arts, must of necessity be very limit ed. As to the men, the coffee-houses, barbers' shops, the pursuit of some species of trade, or the cuhure of their gardens, for all who can afford it endeavour to possess a country retreat of some sort SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 65 or Other, break in upon and vary a little the dull monotony of their insignificant existence. The only relaxation of the women from their domestic cares, are their assemblies at the public baths, and at each other's houses on occasions of mar riages, births, circumcisions, &c. A retreat into the country is of no other resource to them than the enjoyment of a purer air, for there, as in town, custom confines them within the walls of their dwellings. The Moors are supposed to possess an original genius for music ; this is a subject of which I am no judge, I can only remark that mu sic is not cultivated by them as a science, though they play upon several instruments, of which they are probably the inventors. The Jews, of whom there are about five thousand in this city, have the free exercise of their religion secured ; they are governed by their own laws in civil cases, administered by a chief of their own nation, who is appointed by the Bashaw ; as Al gerine subjects they may circulate freely, establish themselves where they please, and exercise any lawful calling throughout the kingdom ; and they cannot be reduced to slavery. They pay a capita tion tax, and double duties on every species of mer chandise imported from abroad ; as elsewhere, they practise trade in all its branches, and are here the only brokers, and dealers in money and exchanges; there are many gold and silver smiths amongst 9 66 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. them, and they are the only artificers employed in the mint. Independent of the legal disabilities of the Jews, they are in Algiers a most oppressed people ; they are not permitted to resist any personal violence of whatever nature, from a Mussulman ; they are com pelled to wear clothing of a black or dark colour ; they cannot ride on horseback, or wear arms of any sort, not even a cane ; they are permitted only on Saturdays and Wednesdays to pass out of the gates of the city without permission ; and on any un expected call for hard labour, the Jews are turned out to execute it. In the summer of 1815, this country was visited by incredible swarms of lo custs, which destroyed every green thing before them ; when several hundred Jews were ordered out to protect the Bashaw's gardens, where they were obliged to watch and toil day and night, as long as these insects continued to infest the coun try- On several occasions of sedition amongst the Janissaries, the Jews have been indiscriminately plundered, and they live in the perpetual fear of a renewal of such scenes ; they are pelted in the streets even by children, and in short, the whole course of their existence here, is a state of the most abject oppression and contumely. The children of Jacob bear these indignities with wonderful pa tience ; they learn submission from infancy, and practise it throughout their lives, without ever dar- . SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 67 ing to murmur at their hard lot. Notwithstanding these discouraging circumstances in their condi tion, the Jews, who through their correspondence with foreign countries are the only class of Alge rine society possessing any accurate knowledge of external affairs, meddle with ali sorts of intrigue, even at the risk of their lives, which are not unfre- quently forfeited in consequence. The post of chief of the Jews is procured and held through bribery and intrigue, and is exercised with a tyranny and oppression corresponding to the tenure by which it is retained. During the times of prosperity of the Regency, several Jewish houses of trade rose here to great opulence, but of late years, through the intolerable oppression under which they live, many wealthy individuals have been ruined, others have found means to emigrate, and the Moors, who have a singular aptness for trade, are daily sup planting them in the diflferent branches of com merce practicable in this country; so that they ap pear now to be on a rapid decline even as to their numbers. It appears to me that the Jews at this day in Algiers, constitute one of the least fortunate remnants of Israel existing. In respect of manners, habits, and modes of liv ing, with the above exceptions, the Jcm s in Algiers differ so little from the other corresponding classes of society that they are not worth describing. The Jews of Algiers are a fine robust race, with good complexions, but the cflects of the abject state 68 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. in which they are born and live, are imprinted on their countenances ; nothing is more rare than to discover a distinguished trait in the physiognomy of an Algerine Jew, whether male or female. There is a very affecting practice here with these people, which cannot be contemplated without feelings of respect, and even of tenderness, for this miraculous race. Many aged and infirm Jews, sensible that all their temporal concerns are drawing to a close, die as it were a civil death, investing their heirs with all their worldly substance, with the reserve of only the small pittance necessary to support the lingering remnant of their days in Jerusalem, where they go to die. In the year 1816, I witnessed the embarkation of a number of ancient Hebrews, on this last earthly pilgrimage, on board of a vessel chartered expressly for the purpose of transporting them to the coast of Syria. The number of Jews in the kingdom of Algiers is computed at about thirty thousand. A considerable portion of the population of the city of Algiers consists of strangers ; that is, of people belonging to the different African tribes, who enjoy a limited or entire independence of this gov ernment, and are protected in their rights here, by stipulated or implied compacts. Such are the Mozabis, the Biscaries, the Arabs, and the Kabyles, of whom mention will be made in a succeeding chapter. The two first have resident agents here, Amins, a species of Consuls, who are recognised SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 69 by the government, and have a jurisdiction over their countrymen similar to that of the chief of the Jews. The negroes form a small portion of the population ; they are originally slaves, obtained through trade with the interior, and with Tripoli ; but they easily obtain their emancipation, on em bracing Islamism, as they all do. Domestic slav ery in these countries has ever been of the mildest character, implying rather the reciprocal rights of service and of protection, than of slavery. From the small number of mulattoes in the Algerine population, it would appear that a prejudice exists against the colour here, as in the United States, and probably from the same cause, namely, its slavish origin. The mechanic arts in Algiers are organized into corporations, as in several of the old states of Europe, and each is subjected to the jurisdiction of a chief Amin, whose authority over the craft is very extensive and arbitrary. In bricklaying and masonry, they discover much intelligence, and may justly lay claim to a certain degree of practical perfection.* They also execute embroidery, for *The Moorish masons prepare a species of chenam, for plastering the interior of cisterns, which appears to me better for this purpose than any that 1 have seen elsewhere. It is composed of equal parts of pulverized bricks, lime, and wood ashes, carefully sifted through a fine sieve, and brought to a proper consistence with oil. This plas ter hardens immediately, either in the air or underwater, and never cracks. Olive oil only is used here, but it may be that fish oil would answer the same purpose. 70 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. which there is a great demand, with much taste and neatness ; but as carpenters, coopers, blacksmiths, shoemakers, &c., they are little advanced beyond the first rudiments. The superior arts of watch makers and jewellers, are practised here by for eigners alone. The manufactures of Algiers consist principally of silk, wool, and leather ; of the raw material of the former, about eighty thousand dollars worth is annually imported, principally from the Levant, which is manufactured here into velvets, shawls, handkerchiefs, sashes, and stuffs for turbans, orna mented with gold tissue and fringe, and a few oth er articles for home consumption, but none for ex portation- These articles are probably dearer in price, than might be obtained in France and Ita ly, but in the beauty and durability of their col ours, and in solidity, they are not surpassed by any European manufacture. Large quantities of wool are manufactured into hykes, bournousses, shawls, and carpets, all of which are consumed in the country. The manufacture of these articles is common to every tent in the kingdom, where it is conducted on the primitive principles of weaving for family use ; but in all the towns and principal villages, looms are established, where these articles are made for sale.* A great variety of mats, some * The manufacture of coarse linen cloth is also common in the in terior of Algiers. It is sold very cheap, and in point of quality may be compared with the German manufacture known in the markets of the United States by the name of Osnaburglis. SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 71 of which are of superior beauty and excellence, forming a very neat carpeting for floors, as also baskets of all sorts for domestic purposes, are man ufactured in this country. The tanning and dress ing of leather appears to be perfectly well un derstood here. Their skins dressed and coloured in the Morocco style, appear to approach very near to the perfection of the art. The houses in Algiers are all built upon precise ly the same plan ; a description of that which I inhabit, will therefore give an accurate idea of the whole, as they differ only in size, and the value of the materials of which they are constructed. This house is a square of about sixty-four feet, with a depth, or elevation, of forty-two feet, one third of which is occupied by the basement story, con sisting of a range of magazines, of cisterns, of stables, and of the solid arches necessary ta sup port the superstructure. The remaining twenty- eight feet of elevation are divided into two habita ble stories, surrounding an open court paved with marble, thirty feet square, around which is a cov ered -gallery six feet wide, taken from the above thirty feet, and supported upon each floor by twelve very elegant columns of Italian marble, of the Ionic order, which serve on each as abutments to twelve elliptical arches, and thus form round the court a double colonnade of great elegance and beauty. The roof is flat, and terraced, with a para pet of about four and a half feet high ; and on the 72 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. side fronting the sea, there is a third covered gal-' lery, where there are several small apartments. From the width of the court, the apartments of this mansion which front upon its four sides, are narrow and long beyond all proportion : they are well enough calculated for this climate, but would be found very inconvenient in a colder country. Two sides of this house front the sea, where there are external windows, but generally the apart ments in the houses of Algiers are lighted only from the court, external windows not being per mitted when they overlook other houses. All windows, both within and without are guarded by strong iron grates, which give to these dwellings the gloomy air of prisons. In houses where good and capacious cisterns are constructed, water enough for the ordinary use of a family is obtained by the terraces during the season of rain. This house, like most others of its rank in Algiers, has a sec ond smaller one, dependant upon it, within its walls, but in other respects, completely separate ; it may be assigned exclusively to the women, to a depend ant family, or a married son : in the general econ omy here, it affords convenient space for kitchen, offices, baths, &c. This house is entered by only one external door, which is solid and strong as that of a fortress, so that the family inhabiting it, have every thing within themselves, without fear of intrusion. All the floors are paved with marble, or with Dutch SKETCHES OF ALGffeRS. 73 painted tiles, and the walls of the apartments are covered, to the height of about four feet, with the same species of tiles of a finer quality. In all the houses -of Algiers, there is contrived a small apartment at the outer door, and without the area of the house, where the host receives visits, and transacts business ; as, on account of the wo men, no stranger is ever received within his domi- cil, except on extraordinary occasions. This apartment is called the Skiffa, and in this house is spacious and elegant. The exterior of all the hous es in Algiers is kept neatly whitewashed, which, at a distance, gives a very brilliant appearance to the city. I have been thus particular in describ ing the house I inhabit, as well to give the reader an idea of Algerine architecture, as also a notion of the value of real estate here : this house is sup posed to have cost about one hundred thousand dollars, and I occupy it at an annual rent of two hundred and fifty dollars. In past times of pros perity, the Algerines indulged very much in the luxury of building, and there are in consequence many houses in the city that are equal or superior to mine. It is forbidden to all Mussulmans, on very severe penalties, to visit the terraces of their houses during daylight, which are held sacred to the women ; but as this prohibition is not extended to christians, we sometimes, on fine evenings, ob tain a sight of those fair recluses, who, availing 10 74 SKEfCHES OF ALGIERS. themselves of this scanty privilege, take the air on the flat-terraced roofs of their houses. The streets of Algiers, as has been before re marked, are mere alleys, in most of which, two persons meeting on horseback, would find it diffi cult to pass each other without a shock ; but they are paved, and generally kept clean. There is one, however, that may be termed the main street, running in a tortuous course of something more than half a mile, from the Bab el Wed, or north gate, to the Bab Azon, or south gate of the city, where two carts might with care pass each other in safety. In this street are the principal coffee-houses, and oarbers' shops, which are here as elsewhere, ora cles of political news. In these places the idle lounge away their tedious hours, sip coffee, discuss the news, and play at chess or draughts. In this street are also the only shops of any note in Al giers, which, however, are mere stalls, where the most common articles are exposed for sale ; the shopkeeper gravely sitting coiled away upon his hams, with his whole stock in trade Within reach without his rising. The city of Algiers is divided into separate quar ters, which are closed by gates immediately after evening prayers, and guarded by blind Biscaries, who open them when required to such persons as have occasion to pass at night, and conform them selves to the regulations of the police ; which re quire that a Mussulman or Christian, passing in the SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 75 streets after dark, shall bear with him a lighted lan tern, and that a Jew, against whom there are always some invidious distinctions made, shall bear with him a light without a lantern. Any persons not con forming to these rules, are liable to be arrested and called on to account for their delinquency. The external gates of the city are shut at sun set, and opened at sunrise. The Algerines are a superstitious people, believing in sorcery, and all sorts of supernatural wonders and predictions ; and they have a warning from some such source, that their city is to be attacked and taken on a Friday, by Christians, clothed in scarlet uniforms, for which cogent reason they shut the city gates on that day, from eleven in the morning till one in the afternoon. The public buildings of Algiers consist of nine large mosques, besides a great number of minor places of worship ; five Caserias or barracks for the Turkish soldiery ; three colleges ; five bagnios, where the Christian slaves were formerly confined ; several open bazars, or market-places ; and the old palace of the Deys of Algiers*- As the mosques cannot be visited, I can give no account of them ; but all the other edifices differ on ly in size and decorations from the house I inhabit, which is described above. The Casauba, or Cita del, which is the actual residence of the Deys of Algiers, is an immense fortified enceinte, occupying all the superior part of the city, and about one tenth of its superficies ; it contains a grand mosque, seve- 76 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. ral palaces, and every necessary accommodation for a numerous garrison. The colleges above men tioned are pious foundations for educating teachers of the true faith, that is, for teaching them to read and write, and expound the Koran : one of these is exclusively for the instruction of the Kabyles. The public baths of Algiers deserve to be mentioned, but as they are exactly the same in every respect as those of Constantinople, Grand Cairo, and other Levantine cities, so particularly descril)ed by Lady Montague, Savary, and other travellers, a particu lar description of them here would appear tedious ; it seems therefore sufficient to remark that they are numerous, well kept, and much frequented. Though Christian slavery has ceased in Algiers, since 1816, in treating of this country, so terrible in this respect in times past, it seems proper to no tice the treatment of the unfortunate Christians, who, before that epoch, fell into captivity here. It is about fifty years since private cruising was sup pressed by the Algerine government, after- which time the captives taken ware slaves only to the Regency, who always afforded them sufficient and prompt protection from injury or insult by the natives ; and it is no more than justice to say, that their condi tion here was not generally worse than that of prisoners of war in many civilized. Christian countries. Female captives were always treated with the respect due to their sex ; the labour required of the SKKtCHES OF ALGIERS. // men was not excessive ; those who could find se curity that they would not escape, were allowed to go at large on the payment of about seventy- five cents per month ; there were a number of lu crative offices that were alwa> s occupied by slaves, in which many enriched themselves ; those who were employed in the palace, or attached to the great officers of state, wore treated with the great est mildness ; and generally all who were indus triously disposed easily found the means of profiting by it. In short, there were slaves w ho left Algiers with regret, and it is believed that in the aggregate, they carried away a vast sum of money at their embarkation. That they sufl'ered occasional cru elty and hardship from the caprice or brutality of their keepers and overseers, cannot be doubted, for such are inseparable from the unprotected situ ation of capti\ es of any description. The horrors of the slave-market, of which so much has been said, could hardly have any founda tion in fact, since the suppression of private cruis ing in Algiers ; for, as the slaves of the government \\ ere very xarely alienated, and then ceded only as special fa\ ours, nothing could be more rare than the exposure at public sale of a Christian slave. It is true that through these cessions to favourites, thev were sometimes so exposed, and that they were even sometimes ceded to and resold by Jews ; but 1 remark again that these cases must have been ol" rare occurrence. Ihe greatest misfortune of the 78 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. Christian slaves in Algiers was, the cold, apathetic indifference to their situation, of their respective governments, which deprived them of even the hope of redemption. No credit is due to the Regency for having suppressed private cruising, for it must have been owing entirely to the monopo lizing, avaricious spirit which characterizes them, and influences all their actions. A system of monopoly, and prohibition of ex portation of the produce of this country, has beg gared the commerce, and nearly ruined the agri culture of the kingdom. The coral fishery on the eastern coast, with the export trade of Bona, in wool, hides, wax, and about sixteen thousand measures of wheat, is farmed to France for the sum of thirty thousand dollars annually. The gen eral export trade of Oran is ceded to the Bey of that province for the annual sum of fifteen thousand dollars. The articles of hides, wax, and wool, constitute a public monopoly, which is usually sold annually to the highest bidder. Salt is also a pub lic monopoly. The exportation of oil and dressed skins is positively prohibited, except to the territo ries of the Ottoman empire ; and grain, and live stock of all kinds, can be exported by special per mission only. The consequence of these absurd regulations is, that of oil and grain, in the most fruitful country in the world, there is never a sur plus, and often a deficiency for the consumption of its population. In the year 1819, such was the SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 79 scarcity of grain in this kingdom, that above fifty thousand bushels of wheat were imported from abroad, for the consumptioil of this city alone. The duties on the importation of foreign mer chandize are fixed by a tariff of five per cent, ad valorem, and double this amount when imported by Jews or foreigners, who have no treaties with the Regency. The following statement of the amounts of the imports and exports of this kingdom, during the year 1822, is made up from authentic documents, and gives a fair view of its trade. IMPORTS FOR 1822. From Great Britain,India and British manufactures, $500,000 From Leghorn, silks, brocades, sugars, pepper, coffee, , German and British manufactures, 300,000 From France, sugai', coffee, pepper, steel, cloths, and other French manufactures, 200,000 From the Levant, raw silk ^nd manufactures, 100,000 From France and Italy, jewels, diamonds, silver plate, lumber, 100,000 Spanish dollars, |' 1,200,000 EXPORTS FOR 1822. From the ports of the kingdom to Marseilles, Leghorn, and Genoa : 20,00Q quintals of wool, at an average $8, .f 160,000 10,000 do. of hides, " 8, 80,000 600 do. wax, " 30, 18,000 Ostrich feathers, and other minor articles, 15,000 Spanish dollars, .$273,000 80 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. The balance of nine hundred and twenty-seven thousand dollars, enormous for a country of so few active resources as Algiers, is remitted annually in gold and silver. Unless a counterbalance be found in the internal traffic of Algiers, against this enor mous deficit in her external trade, it evidently leads to exhaustion and ultimate ruin. And this traffic is very doubtful ; for Algiers, depending, and with much reason, upon her resources from war and plunder, has less cultivated an intercourse with the interior of Africa than any other of the Barbary states. There is a small caravan that trades between Oran and Tombuctoo by Tafilet, or the western route to that hitherto mysterious city, and there is an open intercourse with the Biscaries and the Moza bis, who inhabit the borders of the desert south of Algiers. I have questioned several persons of these tribes, who inform me that they have no direct communi cation with the interior of Africa beyond Gadames, which is the emporium of Tunis, and those tribes representing Algiers, with Tombuctoo, the Soudan, and generally the interior of Africa. Tripoli trades with the same by Socna and Mourzouk. From these sources then, in exchange for European manufactures and grain, they receive gold dust, ostrich feathers, dates, and camels. From Tripoli Algiers receives annually a few slaves, which are paid for in the produce of the country. But from the languid state of the trade with these sources, SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 81 and from the rivalship of Tunis, which has ever been more commercial in its character, and is con sequently better supplied with foreign commodi ties, and also of Morocco, Tripoli, and Egypt, it may, without great risk of error, be concluded, that the great portion of the above deficit is drawn from the capitals of this city, which evidently could not long support such a drain, were it not for the an nual excess of the expenditure of this government above their revenues of perhaps half a million of dollars, which is drawn from their hoarded treasury, and thrown into circulation. Algiers having enjoyed during three centuries the profitable privilege of pillaging the commercial world almost at discretion, a great accumulation of metallic wealth in this piratical city has been the necessary consequence ; it may therefore be ranked, as before remarked, as one of the richest in the world In specie and jewels. A natural consequence of this long prosperity has been a great improve ment of its environs, which, in themselves romantic and beautiful, have been ornamented with pleas ant villas, which are believed to amount to at least a thousand in number. Some of these retreats are splendid edifices in the Moorish style, and many of them are abandoned and falling into ruins, from having incurred the imputation of being haunted, which with the superstitious Algerines is a sufficient reason to abandon a house entirely, iji spite of their avarice. 11 82 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. In the economy of these gardens, there is, how ever, very little taste displayed ; their external appearance is often magnificent, but generally on inspection, the charm vanishes entirely. A use ful consequence of the magnificence of these fortu nate banditti is, that the foreign agents residing here are well lodged both in town and country at a moderate rent, and are abundantly supplied with excellent vegetables and fruit. The city of Algiers is, as was before remarked, without suburbs.* Its immediate environs, within the compass of half a mile, are occupied by cemeteries, and offer a gloomy spectacle of mouldering tombs and ruined sepulchral edifices. They are entirely uninclosed, and consequently serve for pasturage to domestic animals. The prowling jackall also not unfrequently makes free with the newly inter red bodies. I have not remarked that there is any prejudice against these abodes of the dead being visited by strangers. The Moors frequently go to great expense in erecting sepulchral monuments to their deceased relatives, but they are then abandon-, ed to the risk of all sorts of accidents, and shortly fall into dilapidation and ruin. The foreign agents residing in Algiers have no intercourse except of ficially, with the Turks or natives, their society is consequently confined to their own circle ; but as the representatives of foreign states here are gene- *At the eastern gate of the city, called Bab Azon, there is a sort of emporium for the caravans arriving from the interior, where has grown up a small suburb, which appears to be increasing. SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 83 rally men of respectable talents and character, en joying the confidence of their respective govern ments, the union of their families forms one of the most friendly and pleasing societies that I have ever met with ; indeed, in this respect, leaving nothing to desire. The style of living here is rather splendid and elegant, but entirely unencum bered with fastidious and fatiguing forms : should I ever be called away from Algiers, I should not cease to regret being deprived of the kind hospitality and friendly fascinations of its interesting society. The plain of Metijah, the eastern part of which is contiguoys to the city of Algiers, is probably one of the most valuable expanses of territory, its climate, position, and the fertility of its soil consider ed, that exists on our globe. It contains about one thousand square miles of surface, is watered by in numerable springs, and streams from the surround ing mountains, and is probably capable of furnishing subsistence to a population relatively greater than any other on earth. If this unfortunate country should ever, in the course of events, again come into the enjoyment of the benefits of civilization, the city of Algiers, through the natural resources of the plain of Metijah, must become one of the most opulent on the shores of the Mediterranean. Through the silent operation of the barbarous des potism of the Algerine government, it has become a perfect desert, without inhabitants or culture. An article on the weights and measures of Al giers is inserted in the Appendix. 84 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. CHAPTER IV. OF THE DIFFERENT NATIONS OR TRIBES INHABITING THE KINGDOM OF ALGIERS ; THEIR PROBABLE ORIGIN ; MAN NERS ; CHARACTER, BELIGION, AND LANGUAGES. TUA RIKS. The Turks, though an original people, are mere sojourners as conquerers in Africa ; they gradually mix with the Moors, and if they were not con stantly recruited from abroad, would soon cease to be a distinct class in the Algerine population. They are strict Mussulmans, and their language is the political language of the government. The ancient name of the Moors, Mauri, is, I pre sume, a generic term, designating all the inhabitants of Morocco and Barbary ; but as every thing relating to these countries is very loosely fixed, I have tak en the liberty for the sake of convenience, to apply it specifically only, to the portion of the population of Algiers here described. The Moors then, who form the great majority of the population of the cities of this kingdom, are a factitious race de scended from the ancient Africans, the Arabs, and emigrants from Spain ; and are constantly adulter ated by the mixture of Turks, and of the different African tribes, who, on settling in the cities, by time, change of manners, and intermarriage, lose their primitive character, and become, to all intents SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 85 and purposes, Moors. They speak a dialect of the Arabic, which may properly enough be termed the Moorish ; they profess the Mohammedan faith, and though of multifarious origin, constitute a peo ple possessing a distinct national character : in this respect they bear much analogy to the inhabitants of Great Britain, and the United States. From the native genius and versatile character of the Moors, it appears to me that under favourable cir cumstances, they are capable of attaining the high est degree of civilization. The Arabs inhabit the plains of this kingdom ; they live in tents, and are constantly changing their positions according to the seasons and abundance of pasturage. Their manners are purely pastoral, and they probably possess both the virtues and the vices of their Asiatic ancestors. How far these Arabs have mixed with the ancient inhabitants of the plains of Mauritania which they have conquered and appropriated, must be matter of mere conjec ture. They speak the Arabic language, profess the Mohammedan faith, and their physical and moral character, and their manners and customs, are so precisely those of the Arabs of Asia, n ho have been described by so many illustrious travellers^ that it seems superfluous to attempt a description of them here. The Arabs are tributary to the Algerine govern ment, but in other respects they live in a state of quasi independence under their own Sheichs, and 86 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. their own laws. When they find the despo tism of the Beys press too hard upon them, they wander into another jurisdiction, or into the Sahara, beyond their power. In this manner have the fer tile plains of Bona, in the province of Constantine, been of late years nearly depopulated by the de sertion of the Arab tribes from a tyranny and op pression which they could not endure. In the lat ter case, they have generally taken refuge in the kingdom of Tunis. The auxiliary cavalry that serves in the provinces with the Turkish troops, is furnished by the Arabs. The Biscaries inhabit the southern region of this kingdom, on the borders of the Sahara, south of the great salt marsh, called the Schott. They are a swarthy, serious people, differing very much in ap pearance, as well as in spirit and manners from the Arabs and other African tribes ; though as they speak only a corrupt dialect of the Arabic, it seems probable that they are a fragment of that celebrat ed people, who by having become sedentary, and mixing with the Africans, have changed their man ners. This conjecture is strengthened by the fact of their inhabiting a district of territory over which the stream of Asiatics, who invaded and conquer ed this portion of Africa in the seventh century, must necessarily have passed. The Biscaries are subject to the Regency, and are their most quiet subjects ; a Turkish garrison is maintained in their territory, under the orders of a Kaid, though in this SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 87 city they enjoy the privilege of living under the jurisdiction of their Amin, resident here, who is re cognised by this government. The Biscaries ap pear to be an acquiescent, faithful people ; they are employed as confidential servants by the principal people here ; they have the monopoly of the bake houses, they are the only porters in Algiers, and are exclusively employed as labourers on the public works ; they are also agents of the trade between Algiers and Gadames. Blindness appears to be an infirmity of this little nation, which is probably owing to circumstances of the desert which they inhabit ; there are many blind Biscaries in Algiers, who are entrusted with the care of the streets, and interior gates of the city during the night. They are purely Mohammedans. The Beni Moizaab of Shaw, or Mozabis, inhabit a district of the desert about twenty days journey of a caravan south of Algiers, and at least five days beyond the limits of the Regency, without water. I say about twenty days from Algiers, because however strange it may appear, I cannot ascertain the distance positively, some having assured me that it was forty days' journey. There is a mistrust and fear of the government about all these people ex cept the Kabyles, that cannot be overcome. The result of my information, which I have reason to believe is correct, is that this little nation is formed of five districts, viz. Gordica, Betigan, Wargala, Engoussa, and Nadeama. These places are noted 88 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. in Major Rennel's Map of Africa, and are placed between the 31 and 33 degrees of north latitude, which distance does not correspond with my infor mation, unless a day's journey of a caravan be re duced to fifteen miles: but as I suppose the posi tions of these countries were never fixed by actual observation, there may be error in both. A Thaleb of this country, who is resident here, informed me, that each of these tribes is governed by a council of twelve notables, elected by the people ; that their population, he thinks, amounts to two hundred and fifty thousand souls, but this num ber is probably exaggerated ; that he has no know ledge of their ever having been engaged in war with any foreign people, but feuds amongst themselves are common ; that it seldom rains in that country ; that they obtain water from wells ; that they cultivate some barley, but dates are their most valuable pro duction. That the country is surrounded by high rugged barren mountains, where there are mines of gold ; that they are acquainted with Tombuctoo, but have no intercourse with the interior of Africa except through Gadames, and Tafilet. The Mozabis are a quiet, industrious, and com mercial people, noted for their probity and good faith in all their dealings ; they are entirely inde pendent of this government, and have express stip ulations with the Regency respecting their privile ges and their trade, by which they have an Amin, or Consul, resident in Algiers, whose civil jurisdie- SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 89 tion is supreme over his countrymen. They appear to be a much favoured people here ; they are the principal agents in the trade of Algiers with the interior, and they enjoy the prescriptive mo nopoly of the public baths, the butcheries, and mills of the city. The Mozabis are a white people, re sembling however, the Arabs in features and com plexion ; they profess the Mohammedan faith, with some diflferences that I cannot explain ; they refuse to worship in the public mosques, and have one authorized for their special use in a mill without the city. I am informed that the reason why they refuse to worship in the public mosques is, because there are common sewers running under them, and that they are consequently unclean places. The Mozabis speak the same dialect which is common to all the Barbary tribes usually called Kabyles, except that it is more refined and polished, owing, proba bly, to their commercial character and peaceable pursuits. This fact, together with their geographical posi tion, seems to imply that they are an original, un- conquered people, but whether a relic of the ancient Getuli, or a colony of Kabyles, must re main doubtful. The Mozabis, in exchange for foreign manufactures and grain, import into Algiers slaves, gold dust, ostrich feathers, camels, and dates ;* but I have reason to believe that this trade * On the arrival of thc^se caravans in Algiers, 1 have often pur 12 90 SKETCHES or ALGIERS. is very limited. The Thaleb with whom I con versed, was well acquainted with the Tuariks, he said they were a ferocious nation of robbers, in habiting the desert, who speak the same language as his nation. I showed him the coloured prints representing the persons and costume of the Tua riks in Captain Lyon's travels, which he recognised immediately, and after examining them with great attention, said they were a most exact representa tion of that terrible people. The people of this northern portion of Africa who deserve the most attention, are the Kabyles, who have always maintained their independence of the Algerine government, and are probably rem nants of the ancient Numidico-Mauritanians, who have never been completely subjected by any of the conquerors of this part of Africa, from the time of the Carthaginians to the present day. They have obtained the national denomination of Ka byles from the Arabic term kabyleah, meaning tribes: which, however undignified, is expressive enough of their political condition ; for they inva riably inhabit the mountains, from the main Atlas throughout all its branches eastward, and derive specific appellations from the names of those moun tains in the Arabic tongue, as Beni Snouse, Beni Zerwal, Beni Zwowah, Beni Abbess, &c. which chased packages of dates, of the choicest quality, consisting of a sin gle select branch or cluster, inclosed in dried goat skins, and weigh ing from six to ten pounds, for less than a dollar. SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 91 are terms in that language meaning children, or inhabitants of the mountains indicated ; and the inhabitants of each constitute an independent state, or republic. These people are also termed Bere- bers, or Brebers, from which is probably derived the actual denomination of Barbary, which this part of Africa is known by, being probably a cor ruption of Bereberia, the term in use at this day to designate this country in the Spanish language. But now they are mere classical terms, for these people are unconscious of being either Berebers or Brebers. The Kabyles are a white people,* of middling stature, muscular, athletic, and active, as is usual with mountaineers, but never corpulent ; and are of lively, social manners, and of ingenious disposi tions ; many of them are of light complexions, with hair approaching to flaxen, resembling rather the peasants of the north of Europe, than the inhabi tants of Africa. Doctor Shaw mentions a tribe of these people inhabiting the mountains of Auress (Mons Aurasius,Mons Audus, south of Constantine, where was situated the ancient Lambesa), where they are all of this complexion. These mountains have been since visited by Bruce, who confirms Doctor Shaw's account of them. \ *In describing the Kabyles as a white people, I merely mean that they appear to belong to that class of our species so denominated, in contradistinction to the Negro, the Hindoo, the American Indian, &c.; though 1 have seen some of these mountaineers of the fairest com plexions, with light flaxen hair. 92 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. These facts, together with the unqfrican moral qualities of the Kabyles, led me to the belief of their being a remnant of the Vandals, Avho after the destruction of the Vandal empire in this coun try by Belisarius, had taken refuge in the moun tains and perpetuated their race there ; but the ab sence of any trace of the Teutonic in their language, destroys this presumption, and their origin must be sought for elsewhere ; though a mixture of Vandal blood with theirs may be probable. The Kabyles invariably inhabit the mountains even to their high est summits, where they dwell in stationary villa ges, Dashkerahs, composed of huts built of mud and wattles ; they never descend into the plains but for the purposes of war, or as adventurers. Their governments are a mixture of aristocracy and democracy, very inefficient and unequal to restraining a turbulent and warlike populace ; their chiefs are elected for indefinite periods from amongst the notables, and are able to exercise but a feeble authority ; they inform me that safety amongst them for person and property depends chiefly upon the strength of their families ancl alliances. The Kabyles are nevertheless an ingenious and industrious people ; their flocks and agriculture furnish them with a sufficient subsistence, but, be sides the woollen manufactures for home use, com mon to all Barbary, the principal portion of the oil consumed in this country proceeds from their industry ; they extract and smelt the iron ore of SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 93 their mountains, from which they furnish a variety of rude castings, and implements of agriculture to the Moors ; and they understand the art of converting it into steel, and fabricate from it all sorts of arms, as also a great variety of common cutlery. They are also well acquainted with the manufacture of gunpowder. As they consume little or nothing of fol'eign manufacture, from all these sources their mountains may be regarded as containing consider able tnasses of metallic wealth. The Kabyles con stitute the most numerous class of the Algerine population, and if they were capable of union, they must soon be the ruling power in the country ; but they are divided into a thousand petty republics, and are usually at war amongst themselves. The Algerine government seek to promote these feuds, and avail themselves of their factious dispositions to divide and control them. But their independ ent spirit is unconquerable ; there is no instance in Algerine history of the complete submission of a tribe of Kabyles ; they sustain war to the utmost, and if broken up, the remnant joins some other tribe. The Turks are so well aware of this spirit, that in case of war with them, they seek only to ravage their territory, in which, from a better com bination of their means, they usually succeed, and compel the Kabyles to a renewal of peace. The most powerful of these tribes inhabit the mountains of the province of Constantine. 94 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. The Beni Abbess, who command the passes in the mountains between the cities of Algiers and Constantine, are alone capable of coping with all the force of the Regency, if they were capable of giving a skilful direction to the means which they possess. In the maritime parts of this province, the Kabyles may be regarded as at perpetual war with the Turks. They are masters of the country' that surrounds the gulph of Stora; where their hostili ty to strangers, whom they probably regard as Turks, is such, that they not only pillage but mur der all who have the misfortune, in whatever way, to fall into their power. Under the treaties of peace with the Regency, great numbers of all these tribes seek employment in Algiers and its neigh bourhood, as shepherds, and field labourers, and with foreigners, as house servants, and as such they are found intelligent, industrious, and faithful. The jealousy of the Algerine government, of the intelligence and spirit of the Kabyles, excludes them from all employment in private families, or in any of the public or private establishments of the city. It is only within about twenty years, that the foreign Consuls have shaken off the prejudice inculcated against the Kabyles, and have employed them as domestic servants. The wages usually paid to them are about two and a half dollars per month. These people are strongly attached to their native home ; they can rarely be persuaded to remain here six months at a time, without revisiting their SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 95 mountains, at the risk of losing an employment in families where they have formed attachments, and where they are kindly treated. Their public spirit is such, that I have had all my servants leave me suddenly, alleging that their country was engaged in war, and had a paramount claim upon their per sonal services. While within the grasp of the Algerines, who are inexorable on the article of religion, which, indeed, constitutes the main spring of their government, they publicly profess the forms of the Mohammedan faith ; but this, they inform me, is not required of them in their own country, where, however, they do not pretend to have any substitute for it. There is a founda tion in this city for their instruction gratis. The Kabyles speak a language which there is much reason to believe an ancient and original tongue. Doctor Shaw says that in the Atlas it is called the Shillah, and in the rest of Barbary the Showiah, without being able to give any ac count of their derivation. I cannot discover that these terms are now known at all ; but hereafter, in speaking of this language, I have selected the latter, though, if it were not too great an innova tion, I should feel disposed to denominate it the Libyan, as more dignified and expressive. All the other inhabitants of this part of Africa may be traced to a probable origin ; the Kabyles alone remain to be accounted for. They differ so much in personal appearance, manners, and char- 96 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. acter, from all the people of this country, who claim affinity with the Arabs, and speak so pecu liar a dialect, that their origin must be sought for amongst people anterior in this country to the latter. History does not justify a belief that this section of Africa was ever completely subjected to Car thage. That trading nation appears to have carried her views no farther than the establishment of factories, or colonies, on the maritime coast, and of ruling Africa by her commercial influence. The second Punic war fully demonstrates this fact, when her rival negotiated offensive treaties with the independent princes of Africa, and derived from them the most capital advantages, during the con test between Scipio and Hannibal. The Carthaginian empire in Africa appears to have resembled that of the British at this day in India, where the great objects sought for were commerce and revenue. But such a rule, as ex perience has abundantly taught, is not likely to give the laws, institutions, and language of the predominant power to the people under its con trol or influence. Rome followed a different poli cy, and one which seems calculated to overcome all difficulties in this respect ; her institutions and her language invariably followed in the train of her conquests : yet in Greece and Asia, and even in Calabria, she could never establish her language as other than the legal medium of those countries, when the seat of government of the empire was SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 97 transferred to Constantinople, the Greek language gradually supplanted the Roman, and finally ren dered it obsolete. In Africa, every trace of the Roman language appears to have been eradicated by the Saracen conquest. The same facts may be remarked in British his tory ; at the Norman conquest, all the power and address of the conquerors, could not establish the French language upon a firm footing in Bri tain ; as soon as the government ceased to be foreign, our obstinate ancestors resumed their na tional dialects, and finally expelled that of their conquerors. The Celtic also exists to this day in all its vigour and abundance in several districts of Europe, where foreign conquest has been imper fect. If the policy of Rome, so wise, so deep laid, so persevering, could not, in a long course of em pire, impart her language to the African tribes, it may fairly be presumed that the Carthaginians did not, and consequently that the Showiah is anterior to the Punic in Africa. If this language were of Punic origin, it would belong to the class denominated Shemitic, and must naturally bear some analogy to the Hebrew, and to the Arabic. Of this I cannot judge, but I have the assurance of the learned Shaw that it does not, and his opinion is corroborated by that of the Jews and Arabs of this country : and if it is not derived from the Punic, it seems to follow of course, that its origin must be as ancient as that of any 13 98 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. Other known tongue, and that the people who speak it, descend from a stock of the remotest antiquity. Herodotus has the following remark : " Speaking with all the precision I am able, the country I have been describing is inhabited ,by four nations only ; of these, two are natives, and two strangers. The natives are the Africans and JCthiopians ; one of whom possess the northern, the other the south ern parts of Africa. The strangers are the Phoeni cians and the Greeks."* And the veracity and exactness of this ancient historian are most remarkably corroborated by late travellers in Africa. This account by Herodotus of the origin of the early inhabitants of Africa, is so natural and plain, as to require no excess of credulity, no violence to the imagination to believe ; while, I apprehend, no reflecting person acquiesces in the opinion of Sallustjf that this part of Africa was peopled * Melpomene, 197. fSome persons appear to attach considerable importance to the form of the Numidian tent, which is described by Sallust as resem bling- that of a ship or vessel turned bottom upwards, as proof of the correctness of his theory of the origin of these Africans. It is true that this resemblance holds good in a certain degree to this day. But it appears to me that the general fact, that man in his primitive state always adapts the form of his dwelling to the most convenient mode in which his materials for building can be put together, affords a much better reason for it. The primitive Numidians had only stakes and skins, or cloth, made of the wool, fur, or hair of animals, to construct their dwellings of; they could, therefore, have hardly adopted any more convenient form of building than that which would SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 99 by the vagabond fragments of the army of Hercu les, disbanded in Spain ; and the pretended columns of Procopius, with Punic inscriptions, purporting that its first inhabitants were a colony of Canaan- ites, driven from their own land by the " robber, Joshua," do not appear to be entitled to any more respect, than the account of the disentombing of the skeleton of the giant Antfeus, sixty cubits long, by Sertorious, as related by Plutarch, in his life of that illustrious Roman. It is true that Europe may have been overrun at some former period, as she has been since, by mi grating hordes of Asiatic barbarians, who might have passed from Spain into Africa, and the tradition of the event be preserved under the fiction of the con quests of Hercules ; but this supposition is evident ly gratuitous. I shall add in the Appendix, a sample of the Showiah, or language of the Kabyles, as far as, with the means in my power, I have really bear much resemblance to an ancient vessel turned bottom upwards. For the same reason, the barbarians inhabiting the west ern coast of Africa, the islands of tlie Pacific ocean, and the continent of America, whose materials for building generally consist of bam boos, canes, the slender branches of trees, reeds, grass, and leaves, have invariably adopted the conical form ; which, under such circumstances, is obviously the most natural and convenient. We may pursue this argument still further, and allege, that all over the world, man has been found to have in«ented the war club or mace, the bow and arrow, the spear, and the dagger, as the primitive of fensive arms. But Sallust frankly declares that he adopts opinions respecting- the origin of the Numidians, which are not those of bis time and country, and we have no documents to show what degree of credit may be due to alleged Cai-thaginian authority. 100 SKETCHJIS OF ALGIERS. been able to investigate it, with the vocabularies of the same, collected by Doctor Shaw, and other writers on this country. None of these tribes possess any other alphabet than the Arabic, and I am una ble to learn whether they even write with it their own languages. I am well aware of my incapacity to discuss a question of this nature and importance, but as my object is only to draw towards it the at tention of those who are able to do it justice, I trust that the following remarks will not be regarded as impertinent, in addition to the preceding. The Showiah is spoken by all the tribes inhabit ing the Atlas, and its various branches throughout Algiers and Tunis ; and by those inhabiting the desert from Morocco to Siwah, the supposed Oasis of Jupiter Ammon, except such portions of the countries in question as were accessible to, and conquered by the Arabs ; and with so little varia tion, as to be reciprocally understood by all ; that is, by numerous tribes inhabiting an immense por tion of Africa, who exhibit traits of original char acter, and of resemblance to each other, both phys ical and moral. Although the Kabyles are an ingenious people, and of dispositions the most tractable and social, they do not discover the commercial propensities of the Moors and Arabs ; independence appears to be the principal object of their existence, and with it they cheerfully endure poverty in the most rigorous climates. Such at least is their actual political SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 101 condition. From various causes, they may have thrown off their surplus population amongst their neighbours, and even sent out colonies, in a coun try that does not appear to have ever been perfect ly settled ; yet under such circumstances, there would be few inducements for strangers to mix with them in their mountains, where their lan guage might in consequence remain uncorrupted, for an indefinite succession of ages. A people thus circumstanced, having no distinct religion of their own, might easily enough accept that of their neighbours, when nothing was hazarded by it ; and particularly Islamism, which requires little instruc tion, and seems peculiarly adapted to the concep tions of a barbarous people. The Kabyles at this day are regarded as mere nominal Mussulmans. From what is related of the Touariks, by the respectable travellers Horneman and Lyon, they are also a white people, numerous, brave, warlike, and of an independence of manners and deport ment, that displays a remarkable contrast with the servility in practice at the court of Fezzan. Home- man terms them a great people, and Captain Lyon says they are the finest race of men he ever saw. They occupy the vast region comprehended between Fezzan, the country of the Tibboos, the Soudan, Tombuctoo, Morocco, and the southern frontiers of Barbary : the greater portion however, of this immense expanse of territory, must be un inhabitable desert Horneman, in treating of Siwah, remarks, that they speak the language of 102 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. the Touariks, of which he gives a short vocabulary. It seems that there may be some relation between the terms Siwah and Showiah ; also one of the villages of this little district is called Agrmi, which may be derived from Agarum, bread, meaning a country abounding in bread, and expressive of its fertility. Lyon remarks that they speak the language of the Berebers, who inhabit the mountains of Mo rocco and Barbary, which they term Irthna, but he gives no vocabulary of it ; that they boast of the antiquity of their language, and pretend that it was spoken by Noah in preference to anjf other ; that they do not understand the Arabic at all ; and that they have no knowledge of Islamism beyond its forms, to which, however, they are most supersti- tiously attached. Both of these travellers relate that there are several tribes of the Touariks, who are still pagans. From these facts, there appears to be nothing unreasonable in believing that the Touariks are an original, unconquered people, and the depository of an ancient language, which, being identified with that of the Kabyles, the Showiah, naturally leads to the conclusion, that it is one of ther most ancient in the world, which has withstood and survived the conquests of the Carthaginians, the Romans, the Vandals, and the Arabs. It may further be remarked that the great diffi culty of making conquests in Libya from the east, may have preserved her languages from adultera tion. Egypt, which was a populous and powerful SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 103 kingdom from the earliest historical periods, with her dreary deserts on each side, must have formed an insurmountable barrier against such inundations of Asiatic barbarians into this country, as Europe has been so often flooded with, like torrent suc ceeding torrent, and sweeping into one common ruin civilization, institutions, and languages ; and which may be assigned as a cause of there being so great a number of dialects in use in a space comparatively so small as Europe. The invasion of Libya by the army of Cambyses, from Egypt, is the only one of this character re corded in history, previous to that of the Arabs, after the complete conquest of Egypt ; and this army perished totally in the desert. The march of Alexander from Egypt to the temple of Jupiter Ammon, approaches to the miraculous ; at this day, according to the itinerary of Horneman, it would not be practicable. It would therefore appear that the nations of Libya remained in the state in which they may have been in at some ante-historical peri od, with no other moral agents acting upon them, than the maritime colonies of the Phoenicians and Greeks, until they came to be more generally known through the Carthaginians and Romans. From these periods, in winding through the labyrinths of history, we sometimes have a glimpse of these Afri cans under the names of Numidians, Mauritanians, Getuli, Massylians, Massasylians, &c., always re sisting, always vanquished, but never subdued; and such is their condition at this day. 104 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. CHAPTER V. A SKETCH OF THE POLITICAL HISTORY OF THE REGENCY OF ALGIERS, FROM THE YEAR 1810 TO 1825. Banditti like the Algerines, who, in the pride of barbarism and ignorance, despise the arts, the science, and the improvements of civilized society, would not merit the attention of history if they had not by a strange fatality, alike dishonourable and injurious to civilization, been incorporated into the political system of Europe. Pampered and en couraged by the two greatest maritime powers of the world in their arrogant disavowal of the laws of nations, these pirates appear to have been foster ed by them as fit instruments for harrassing the trade of the minor maritime states, and thereby monopolizing it themselves. The bombardment of Algiers by the fleets of Louis XIV. is mentioned by Voltaire as one of the most brilliant achievements of the reign of that vainglorious monarch ; and that of 1816 by the British and Dutch fleets," seems to be held in equal consideration : but neither of these achievements were any thing more than an unequivocal display of power over a most contemptible enemy, and one which taught them that if the interests of France and Great Britain were respected, they were at liberty to prey upon the rest of the world at dis- SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 105 cretion. For in both cases they were humbled to the dust, and it depended only on the conquerors to suppress their piratical practices entirely ; but they appear to have preferred an influence in the Algerine councils, as to what powers might be de clared against and harried, to the glory of ridding the civilized world of a nuisance. And this influ ence has been struggled for here ever since by those two governments, with various success, ac cording to the preponderating fortunes of either. It is true, that the ill conducted and unfortunate -expeditions of Spain against Algiers, as well as the incapacity and supineness of the Portuguese in a long naval war, which they waged against them, have tended to give a dignity and importance to the power of the Algerines, which are manifestly without any foundation in their own merits. I have not in my possession the documents necessary to enable me to investigate the early periods of Al gerine history ; but if I had them, they could fur nish only a detail of sanguinary atrocities here, too shocking to excite interest, and of mean conde scension, on the part of the governments of Europe, to the insolent pretensions of these barbarians, dishonourable to civilization ; and the want of them is therefore not to be regretted. My intention then is, only to attempt a summary account of their uars and foreign relations since the year 1810, the era of their greatest power and pretensions, and which appears to approach the period of their total decline. 14 106 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. Immediately after the peace of 1783, when the United States became known as an independent power, Algiers, in virtue of her recognised rights, declared war against them, and in 1785 captured two of their vessels on the ocean. These events excluded their trade from the Mediterranean ; but Portugal being at war with the Regency, according to the usual policy in such a case, maintained a naval force .in the straits of Gibraltar, which was generally sufficient to prevent the Algerine cruisers from passing out into the ocean, where the Ameri can trade was in consequence not so much exposed to their depredations. The maritime trade of the United States remained in this equivocal state un til the year 1793, when the British government suddenly negotiated a truce between Algiers and Portugal ; on which the cruisers of the former imme diately spread into the ocean, and at their first sweep in that year, captured eleven sail of American mer chant vessels, which with their crews they brought safe into Algiers. This event augmented the' number of American captives in slavery in Algiers, to above a hundred citizens, and the sympathy of the nation vvas strongly excited in their favour. The United States were, at the period in question, just emerg ing from the difficulties consequent to the revolu tionary war, under the happy influence of their present constitution, which offered the most bril liant prospective views ; but under the pressure of SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 107 a heavy national debt, and without any naval force, this Algerine war was a very serious national in convenience. An attempt at negotiation with Al giers for the liberation of their captive citizens held in slavery there, and for security by a treaty of peace against further depredations, on the best terms practicable, was obviously the only measure in the power of their government, and was adopted accordingly. Colonel Humphreys, the minister of the United States at the Court of Lisbon, was ap pointed by the President to conduct the negotia tions. He ill consequence commissioned Joseph Donaldson, who proceeded to Algiers, and in Sep tember 1795, negotiated a treaty of peace with the Regency, with a special agreement binding the United States to pay to the Algerines about seven hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars, which sum included the ransom of one hundred and one surviv ing captives, and such presents, gratifications, &c. as were then usual ; the Dey of Algiers engaging on his part to procure treaties of peace for the United States, with the Regencies of Tunis and Tripoli. The finances and credit of the United States were at this period in such a state that much diffi culty was found in raising the sums necessary to carry the provisions of this negotiation into effect, and the consequent delay was such as to excite the apprehensions of the Regency, and to stimulate them to make new demands. As I have it not in my power to consult the official records on this 108 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. subject, I can only state generally, what seems siifficient to the object I haTe in view, that Joel Barlow commissioner of the United States ad hoc, succeeded in 1796 in terminating this troublesome negotiation, by making the payments stipulated by Mr. Donaldson in the year preceding, and by new sacrifices, which, including the losses incurred in raising the necessary funds, probably enhanced the cost of this peace to much above a million of dollars. By this treaty, independent of the above sacrifices, the United States became tributary to Algiers in the annual sum of twelve thousand sequins, about twenty-two thousand dol lars, payable in military and naval stores, which from an arbitrary valuation here, that, from circum stances, could be but feebly resisted, probably amounted to nearly double that sum ; and they also agreed to pay whatever was usual, in the way of periodical or incidental presents, with other tributary powers. Thus were the United States compelled by im perious circumstances to become tributary to Al giers ; and subsequently, in consequence of the extraordinary extension and increasing value of their commerce, the demands of the Algerines rose and multiplied with the readiness of the American government to pay, in order to avert a rupture of the treaty, which at different periods of its dura tion must have been attended with immense pecu niary loss, as well as political embarrassment. SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 109 Such was the nature of the relations of the United States with Algiers, until they were grc^tuitously broken by a declaration of war by the latter. The relations of France with the Regency of Algiers, appear always to have been of a more in terested if not of a more amicable character than those of- any other power. France having been the first christian state that formed alliances with the Ottoman Porte, and also the first to arrest the depredations of the Algerines, and to chastise their insolence, deep impressions were in consequence made upon the minds of the Algerines, favour able to her policy. It is a popular saying with them to this day, that Algiers should never pro voke the hostilities of France. Previously to the revolution, the French government enjoyed at a moderate annual stipend, the exclusive trade of the province of Constantina, with the coral fishery on its coast, through concessions which authorized them to maintain a military post at La Cala, near Bona ; and under the direction of a chartered company, Compagnie d'Afrique, they improved these advantages with the spirit and industry that characterize that intelligent people. The maritime trade of Marseilles with all the countries accessible through the Mediterranean sea, was immense ; and the hostilities of Algiers against the Italian states, left her flag without a rival in the Mediterranean, except those of Great Britain and the northern powers. Her policy here was grounded 110 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. upon these circumstances ; it was refined, insin uating, persuasive, and persevering. Her agents were generally men of abilities, and were acquaint ed with the interests of their country, viewed in this light ; and they conciliated by seasonable presents and bribes, the favour of the individuals composing the Algerine government and their dependents, keeping always in view, as a paramount considera tion, at whatever sacrifice of money, or even of dig nity, the interests of the French commerce. The Al gerines, well aware of their policy, have frequently taken the most insolent liberties with the French flag, well knowing that the discussions in conse quence, must necessarily terminate to their advan tage; though it is probable that the French agents have occasionally reminded them, and with effect, of the danger of encroaching too far upon the pa tience of a great and powerful government. France never condescended to the infamy of paying tribute to Algiers, but her presents were always munificent and well timed. It is even probable that indirectly she pays here in the ag gregate, more than any other people, and she has ever been ready to render them any obsequious service, sometimes even in direct violation of the laws of nations. The revolution interrupted this state of things, and on the invasion of Egypt by France, the Algerines were compelled by the Porte to declare war against her ; which however, being contrary to their wishes and, as they believ- SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. Ill ed, their interests, was a mere nominal war. Na poleon on his accession to the consulate, renewed the peaceable relations between France and Al giers ; and subsequently, through intrigue, ancient impressions in her favour, and prospective dread of her power, he compelled the Regency to liberate the slaves belonging to the different portions of Italy, that were successively added to the French empire, and to recognise and respect them as inte gral parts of it. But the influence of France declined in Algiers, as the British maritime superi ority rose and acquired a permanent character ; the coral fishery and concessions of Bona were taken from her and given to Great Britain, and at the period in question, she had nearly sunk under the superior fortune of her rival. Spain, since the disgraceful peace which she made here in 1785, consequent to her unfortunate expedition under Count O'Reilly in 1774, and sub sequent useless bombardments by Admiral Barcelo until 1784, useless because not persevered in, has enjoyed no influence in Algiers ; a contempt for her capacity to use her power, has been the motive for the most humiliating vexations, through which she has suffered enormously. She has always since been subject to forcible exactions of money in Al giers, on the most frivolous pretexts. Holland deserves to be mentioned separately, only from the circumstance of her having been the first civilized state that ever paid tribute to Al- 112 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. giers ; her policy here was consequently a mere mercantile calculation, without dignity or influence. The policy of the northern powers here, has ever been confined to maintaining the peace on the best terms they could respectively; their integrity and good faith in fulfilling their obligations, have some influence on the Algerine mind ; though generally they are treated in the way the Algerines think most useful to their interests, or rather to their avarice ; as they occasionally disregard their treaties with them entirely. The policy of Great Britain in Algiers, has ever been of a different character from that of France, though she has obviously aimed at the same objects. In times of general tranquillity little attention has been paid by her towards flattering the pride and arrogance of the Algerines, and on ordinary occa sions she has been very sparing of her presents. Her agents here appear to have been promiscuously appointed, consequently possessing by accident only, the requisite abilities ; they have also always been subordinate to the commanding admiral in the Mediterranean, or to the governors of Minorca, Gibraltar, or Malta. Probably from the want of proper instructions, they have frequently erred, and not unfrequently been recalled on complaint of the Regency. But Great Britain, without the steadiness or design of France in her policy to wards Algiers, has always claimed, and not in vain, to stand here, at least upon an equal footing with SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 113 her in all respects ; and in time of war, has con descended to rival her in acts of complaisance towards these pirates, quite unbecoming her char acter. I am inclined to believe, from the blundering course of policy which has been followed by Great Britain in Algiers, that in so vast a concern ?.s that of her government, Algiers has been viewed through the medium of ancient impressions, when Holland was a formidable maritime rival, and that its real importance has not been properly appreciated ; for I do not find that the British government have gene rally intrigued here against any other power than France ; and before 1816, when they have med dled in favour of their friends, though they may have quickened the negotiations, they have seldom obtained any better terms than could have been had without their interference. There is no other way of accounting for her strange occasional condescen sion towards a power, if the Algerines may be so termed, incapable of doing her any mischief, or of rendering her any essential service. There never could have been any necessity for bombarding Al giers, at an immense expense of valuable lives and treasure, if the Algerines had not been absurdly flattered, by ill timed condescension, into the belief of their being capable of coping with the first rate powers, consequently with Great Britain herself. Such were the relative political positions of the different states known and represented at the court 15 114 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. of Algiers, in 1810. When Portugal was struggling for her political existence ; when that kingdom was either overrun by her enemies the French, or in the military occupation of her ally ; and the rem nant of her trade exposed to the depredations of the Algerines, who had recently captured one of her finest frigates single-handed, in a manner most disgraceful to the Portuguese navy ; Great Britain, determined to exert her influence here in favour of her unfortunate ally, and free her, at least for the present, from that intolerable grievance. Accord ingly, the British secretary of legation at the court of Lisbon proceeded in the month of May, of the same year, from that capital to Al-iers, where he negotiated a truce, or, more properly, preliminary articles of peace, between Portugal and the Regency, on the condition that the former should pay to the latter the sum of six hundred and ninety thousand, three hundred and thirty- seven dollars ransom for six hundred and fifteen Portuguese subjects held in slavery here. Great Britain engaging to continue her influence for the conclusion of a definitive treaty. In the course of the following year, the ransom was paid, and the slaves in question liberated. In the year 1812, a definitive treaty was con cluded through the agency of Mr. A'Court, Minis ter of Great Britain to the Barbary States, by which Portugal paid to Algiers the further sum of above half a million of dollars ; engaged to pay an SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 115 annual tribute of twenty-four thousand dollars, the usual Consular present, and the biennial presents. The British Consul was, in consequence of this treaty, appointed and installed Consul of Portugal, which post he still holds, and for which he re ceives a salary and the usual contingencies. This negotiator. Sir William A'Court, has since be come eminently conspicuous as the representa tive of his sovereign, in two highly important trans actions, and will doubtless not be overlooked by the historian of the decline of the British influ ence on the continent of Europe. In the same year, 1810, when the violence of the belligerents had driven neutral commerce from the ocean, the powers tributary to Algiers, and amongst others, the United States were, in consequence, unable to send thither the contributions of naval and military stores, stipulated for by their respect ive treaties. The Algerines werey therefore, on the point of being reduced to the distress of sus pending their piratical depredations, when Great Britain had the unaccountable generosity to relieve their embarrassments by sending to Algiers, under convoy of a vessel of war, two large ships and a brig, Ibaded with masts and other spars, cables, cordage, powder, cannon balls, and other necessary articles, which arrived here on the sixteenth of May of that year. The Algerines always regarded these as gratuitous gifts ; though payment for them has been since demanded, which was insisted upon by 116 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. Lord Exmouth, and was probably compelled by him after the bombardment in 181^. In September, 181 1 , a small Algerine coasting ves sel was captured and sunk by a Sicilian privateer, called the Rondinella ; and on the twenty-second of the same month, a Spanish privateer, commanded by a Captain Barcelo, arrived in Bona for refreshments, when he was immediately accused as the author of the above act, and the Algerine Governor demand ed of the Spanish Vice-Consul that the rudder and sails of the privateer should be taken away, until the matter in question was investigated, and satis faction made. The most satisfactory proofs were exhibited of the innocence of the accused, but to no effect ; his immediate arrest was required. The Spanish Captain, having no confidence in Algerine justice, departed on the following night, leaving his papers in the hands of the Vice-Consul. The Dey of Algiers, on being informed of this affair, ordered the Sp'anish Vice-Consul to be brought to him, in chains. This old man, sixty-five years of age, was conducted in irons to Algiers, put to hard labour in the stone quarries, and treated with the utmost inhumanity. The cap ains and crevvs of two Spanish vessels then in the port of Algiers, shared the same fate, and their cargoes, to the amount of upwards of twenty thousand dollars, were confiscated. The clearest proofs of the innocence of the Spaniards of the facts alleged against them, were SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 117 produced, but nothing was listened to ; and the Bashaw demanded an exorbitant sum of money from the Regency of Spain as the price of the re newal of peaceable relations. In this distressing dilemma, the Spanish government had recourse to the mediation of their powerful friend and ally, Great Britain. The consequence was, that the British line-of-battle ship, the Undaunted, was despatched to Algiers, with upwards of seventy thousand dollars, which had been collected amongst 'the smoking ruins of Spain as a peace-offering ; her commander. Captain Adam, was charged with the negotiation, in which he succeeded, through representing the inability of Spain to collect more money at that time. At the same time, in order to aid and consolidate this negotiation, the Spanish Vice-Consul here was raised to the dignity of Consul General, and the present customary on such occasions, was made through the aid of the British government. Subsequent to the above transactions. Great Britain, being in the complete occupation of Sicily, appears to have thought it proper to protect the coasting trade of that island, and the wretched inhabitants of its shores from Algerine depreda tion, particularly as they could allege that the various ports of Italy, in the power of the French, were thus protected. Her influence was according ly exerted in Algiers to this effect, and a truce was obtained for Sicily, without however liberating 118 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. the natives of that island who were held in slavery here. I have never been able to learn whether any thing was paid for this truce or not. In April, 1812, a letter from the Prince Regent of England to the Dey of Algiers was brought by the Drogoman of the latter to the late Colonel Lear, then Consul General of the United States in Barbary, on the pretext of obtaining a correct translation of it into the lingua Franca, and the following is a copy of the notes taken by him of it at the time. " The Prince Regent, in the name of his father, George the Third, &c. states, that the long continued illness of the King has prevent ed him from answering the letter of the Dey, which had been carried to England by his ambas sador, Hadgi Hassan ; expresses the strongest friendship for the Dey, founded on their treaties, &c. ; assures the Dey that he will protect his capital with his fleets, so long as the present friendship shall subsist between the two nations ; declares that the British fleets are masters of every sea, and are the terror of all maritime states, and that whoever attempts to oppose them, will be subdued, &c. ; begs the Dey not to permit those who are enemies of Great Britain to lessen the harmony now subsisting between the two nations, and that he will not hearken to their evil sayings ; says that his ambassador will inform him how well he was received and treated in England, and that SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 119 he sent by him some of the manufactures of his kingdom, as presents, &c. " Given at the Court of Carlton House, the fourth of January, 1812." This extraordinary document, which was signed by the Prince Regent, and countersigned by Lord Liverpool, and which, indeed, amounts to an obli gation of defensive alliance on the part of Great Britain, on the sole condition of the Algerines re specting existing treaties with her, fully demon strates the consideration in which these barbarians were then held at the " Court of Carlton House." At this period, the Algerines were at the zenith of power and consideration ; their favour was courted by the greatest maritime states; they be lieved that by the capture of an European frigate, single-handed, they had established their naval prowess upon a solid basis ; their war with Tunis had been entirely successful, in which they had also captured a frigate ; and they had even ven tured to insult the dignity of the Grand Seignior, by capturing a number of Greek vessels under his flag. At this time they arrogantly boasted of being second only to Great Britain as a naval power. Under such flattering circumstances, the Regen cy decided on adopting the fatal policy of declar ing war against the United States, which, either directly or indirectly, has drawn upon them great er calamities than they ever before encountered, and its effects will probably cease only with the 120 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. extinction of their independence as a piratical power. The Regency adopted this measure on the advice of certain Jews, who were then in great credit, and at the head of a commercial establish ment of much importance here ; a sort of jackalls to the Algerine lion. By them they were inform ed of the prodigious expansion of the maritime trade of the United States, and of the meekness with which they had borne the unprecedented de predations of the belligerents upon it. These Hebrews naturally enough concluded that Algiers might obtain the same results, and probably an immense sum for the renewal of a treaty of peace ; and, calclulating upon the ordinary course of hu man affairs, they ought not to be taxed a priori with gross error. They could not foresee that at the time they gave such advice, the United States had actually declared war against Great Britain, which must necessarily remove all their ships from the ocean, and the fate of the war be determined by events over which Algiers could claim no control. The epoch which was selected by the reigning Dey of Algiers for a declaration of war against the United States, gave to it a character of the most deliberate and determined hostility. On the seven teenth of July of the above year, an American ship, called the Alleghany, arrived here, with the tribute in military and naval stores which was then due from the United States to the Regency. This SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 121 vessel was received with demonstrations of appar ent satisfaction, and was begun to be unloaded, when the Dey sent for the invoices and bills of lading of all her cargo. When they were explain ed to him, he expressed the utmost discontent at not finding the quantity of powder, and large ca bles, that he pretended to have positively required, and great indignation at the same vessel having been made the means of conveyance of some gun- barrels for Morocco, that were landed at Gibraltar, and of some small quantities of private property ; which he affected to regard as personally disre spectful. He ordered, in consequence, that the Consul should pay in cash the amount due from the United States to the Regency, and depart on the twenty- fifth of the same month, with his family and all American citizens that might be here, on pain of the ship and cargo being confiscated, and himself, his family, and his countrymen here, reduced to slav ery. The Consul, keeping steadily in view what he regarded as the interests of his country, made all proper remonstrances against this arbitrary pro ceeding, but in vain, and was compelled to depart on the day named. In September following, a small American brig, of little value, with a crew of eleven persons, was sent into Algiers as a prize to their cruisers. This insignificant prize proved to be the only advantage that they ever obtained from a war which they had declared with so much arro- 16 122 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS, gance, and, in theii* opinion, with prospects of the most brilliant success. In the following year, the American government made an indirect attempt to ransom their captives in the power of the Alge rines, who positively rejected any negotiation on the subject, alleging that they regarded their Amer ican slaves as above any pecuniary ransom. The Emperor Napoleon had compelled the Bar bary states to respect the persons and property of the inhabitants of such parts of the shores and islands of the Mediterranean as had come under his dominion, as has been before noticed ; but on the total decline of his fortunes, these barbarians again began their depredations upon the defenceless states of Italy. Holland, on separating from the French empire, and joining the coalition- for the restoration of order, liberty, and legitimate government in Eu rope, drew upon herself a declaration of war from the same. Sweden, also, having joined the same coalition, for the same objects, fell into a similar predicament ; for the Algerines, making a delay in the arrival of her annual tribute the pretext, issued orders for the capture of Swedish ships, and in July, 1814, seven sail of prizes, under the flag of that nation, were sent into Algiers. Four of these cargoes, consisting of linens, sugar, coffee, salt, and lumber, to the amount of nearly half a million of dollars, were confiscated. The expected tribute ship having at the same time arrived, under con voy of a vessel of war, the Swedes obtained the SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 123 renewal of peace, with the restoration of their ships, and a portion of their cargoes, which was proved to be bond fide Swedish property, abandon ing the rest, to the enormous amount above stated, to the captors. During the same cruise, two ves sels captured by the Algerines, were, by some ac cident or other, anchored in the bay of Gibraltar. There they were taken in charge by the British naval commander and sent up to Algiers, under convoy of a brig of war, where they arrived in the month of August of the same year. One of these prizes was under the British flag, and was of course liberated ; the other, a Spanish vessel, was confiscated. This year, 1814, forms, perhaps, the most re markable period in the history of the civilized world. A war of many years duration, which, in its progress, gradually involved all nations, was brought to a close by the dissolution of the most colossal mass of power that man ever contemplated. The peaceful transatlantic republic of the United States, which had been impelled into the vortex, concluded an honourable peace with Great Britain, on the twenty-fourth of December of thisyear, which extinguished the last hostile spark throughout Chris tendom. This contemptible nest of banditti alone dared to interrupt the general repose of mankind. In the latter part of this year, the representatives of all the civilized states of Europe assembled in Congress at Vienna ; where it was confidently 124 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. asserted, that the independence and happiness of all nations were to be secured and mutually guar antied upon the broad and solid basis of justice and equity. Standing committees were appointed to discuss and report upon all the great questions of interest to Europe, and the Congress continued its sessions until late in the succeeding year, when it was interrupted by another great event. How far the labours of this illustrious assembly justified the fond expectations of its friends, it is not my business to investigate ; but as questions were agitated there of so general a character as the universal suppression of the African slave-trade, and strenuously supported by all the vveight and credit of a great maritime power, upon principles of abstract humanity, religion, and philanthropy, it was no more than reasonable to expect that the anti-social pretensions of these barbarians, who then held above two thousand European captives in slavery here, would be inquired into, and measures be taken to suppress entirely their piratical prac tices, so vexatious, and so dishonourable to civili zation. Great Britain, who justly held a prepon derating influence in this assembly, appears to have exerted it entirely upon the question of the African slave-trade, in which, she was opposed, upon the ground of interest and of right, by Fraiice, Spain, and Portugal. The suppression of the indepen dence of Italy, of Poland, of Venice, of Genoa, and even the partition of the ancient and respecta- SKETCHES OF ALGIERsi/'\> 125 '^ j] ble state of SaXony, in favour of h&iiij^^cious^^^j^'^ allies, appear to have been feebly opposed by her ; while she turned an ear utterly deaf to every pro position respecting the Barbary pirates. Her principal minister there, when subsequently ques tioned in parlianient on this subject, alleged the treaties subsisting between Great Britain and the states of Barbary as an excuse. The historian of the Congress of Vienna does not hesitate to tax the conduct of the British Ministers there as self ish, interested, and oppressive.* But an event was preparing, of a nature to defeat the views of this power in favour of the Barbary pirates, and to rend^ any further serious support of them unavail ing. Immediately after the ratification of the treaty of Ghent, the Congress of the United State.s, then in session, spurning the idea of any longer paying tribute to the Algerines, declared war against them, and made the appropriations neces sary to send into the Mediterranean a sufficient naval force to either compel the Regency to con clude peace, or to protect their trade from Algerine depredation. On this occasion I was appointed by the President a commissioner to treat of peace With Algiers, conjointly with Captains Bainbridge arid Decatur, comriianders of the naval forces des tined for this object. I sailed from New York with the latter, vvhb commanded the first division ?Appendix, C. 126 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. ordered upon this service, consisting of three frig ates, a sloop, a brig, and three schooners, in May, 1815. We arrived early in June in the Mediter ranean, and on the sixteenth of the same month we fell in with and captured, off Cape de Gatte, an Algerine frigate ; two days afterwards we met with and captured a large brig, and on the twenty- eighth of the same month of June, we appeared off Algiers, and, agreeably to our instructions, pro pounded to the Regency the terms on which they might renew peace with the United States. The Algerines appeared to be completely confounded by these events, and having all their cruisers abroad, they agreed to the terms of peace which we dicta ted, almost without discussion. The treaty was signed on the thirtieth of June, and on the evening of that day, 1 landed in Algiers as Consul General of the United States, to which post I had also been appointed by the President in the event of our con cluding peace. These events so rapidly succeeded each other, that I could hardly realize them ; that the far fam ed Regency of Algiers should yield entirely on the first thrust of the lance, appeared to me incompre hensible ; but a slight investigation discovered them to be a ridiculous phantom, and led me to regret that our instructions did not justify our in flicting upon them a more exemplary chastise ment.* After my installation here as Consul * Appendix, D. SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 127 General upon a footing of peace, and despatching to the government a copy of the treaty for ratifi cation, by the United States brig I'Epervier, the commission was dissolved. Commodore Decatur now proceeded with the squadron to Tunis and Tripoli, where he compelled those governments to refund the full value of several prizes sent in there during the late war by an American cruiser, and which had been seized in those ports by some British vessels of war, contrary to the laws of na tions, and the faith of treaties subsisting between the United States and those Regencies ; thus giving a practical lesson to the Barbary powers, that has made a deeper impression than any other they have ever received since their infamous exist ence. At this period, the Emperor Napoleon, who had realized the fable of Antaeus, met in renovated Strength the confederate arms of Europe, on the field of Waterloo, and was a second time over thrown ; when the victorious sovereigns of Europe again convened, either in person, or by their repre sentatives, at Paris, to deliberate on the destinies of human kind. Here they received the news of the chastisement of the Algerines by the American squadron, and of the peace concluded in conse quence between the United States and the Regen cy of Algiers. This event would, in ordinary times, be too unimportant to excite much interest, except with the parties concerned ; but as Great 128 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. Britain continued to press, with all her mighty in fluence, her favourite question of the abolition of the slave-trade, the Algerines were shown by it in so contemptible a light, that her refusal to concur in measures for relief against their depredations, must appear exceedingly ungracious ; and from this period, the British government appear to have partially changed their policy towards the states of Barbary, as will appear evident in the sequel. About the middle of July of this year, a Dutch squadron, commanded by a rear admiral, consisting of four frigates, a sloop, and a brig, appeared off Algiers, and through the medium of the British Consul, offered to renew their former tributary treaty with the Regency ; but the propositions of the Dutch admiral were refused, unless he would agree to pay the arrearages of tribute, presents, &c. amounting to a very large sum. This not being agreed to, the negotiation failed. During the remainder of the year, and the subse quent winter, the visits of British vessels, of war to the bay of Algiers, rapidly succeeded each other, and appeared to be the precursors of some extraor dinary measures then in agitation. In the mean time, I was repeatedly informed, on such authority as I cannot doubt, that the Regency had adopted the belief that the demonstration of power made in the Mediterranean by the United States, was a mere gasconade, that could not be supported ; and that by firmness on the part of Algiers, the Ameri- SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 129 cans might again be compelled to pay tribute to screen a trade from depredation, which they were unable to protect. It must also be confessed that the deranged state of the finances of the United States, and the consequent depression of their credit in Europe, at the period in question, of which the Algerines were well informed, were facts very likely to give currency to such an opinion. In April, 1816, the British commander in the Mediterranean, Admiral Lord Exmouth, arrived in the bay of Algiers with a fleet of twenty-five sail of vessels, of which six were of the line ; and un der these imposing appearances of coercion, he propounded to the Regency terms of peace with the kingdoms of Sardinia and Naples ; which, af ter a very slight discussion were agreed to on the following conditions. The king of Sardinia en gaged to pay five hundred dollars for each of his subjects held in slavery here ; to return all Algerine captives in his possession free of ransom ; to pay a Consular present not exceeding five thousand pounds sterling in value ; and to be placed in all other respects upon the same footing as Great Bri tain herself. The king of Naples engaged to pay to Algiers one thousand dollars for each of his sub jects held in slavery here ; to pay the customary Consular and biennial presents, and annual tribute upon the same footing as Portugal does ; the slaves to be liberated on payment of their ransom, in three equal divisions in the course of two years, of 17 130 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. which the first division immediately, on a guar anty for the amount of their ransom by the Bri tish negotiator. These treaties of peace were re ciprocally guarantied by the mediating power. A remarkable fact, which merits the notice of history, is, that on this occasion, thirty-three persons, na tives or denizens of Gibraltar and Malta, were liberated from slavery here without ransom, as British subjects ! This treaty in favour of Sardinia was unques tionably a more liberal one than, on general princi ples, she had any right to expect, and would en title Great Britain not only to the gratitude of that power, but to the applause of the world, if it were not known, that it was the price of the indepen dence of the ancient republic of Genoa, which was sacrificed by her, contrary to her faith publicly pledged to maintain it.* The same cannot be said of the treaty concluded at the same time for Na ples, which was not even a service rendered ; for there can be no doubt that on the payment of the enormous sum here stipulated as ransom for her *In the year 1814, Genoa was invested, by sea and land, by the British forces under the orders of Lord William Bentinck. The French Governor evacuated Genoa by capitulation, and on the twen ty-sixth, of April of that year, his Lordship, the British Commander in Chief, published a proclamation, pledging the faith of the British nationfor the restoration of the institutions and independence of that ancient republic. It is true that at the Congress of Vienna, the British Ministers made the same plea in this case, as did the Roman Senate of old in that of the capitulation of the Caudin,e Forks, SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 131 captives (much above a million of dollars), Naples might have obtained terms of peace at least equal to these, without incurring the appearance of obli gation to a third power. In every view that can be taken of this part of the negotiations, it appears not very consistent with the character which Great Britain claims, and in many respects is justly en titled to ; for it sanctions the insolent pretensions of these barbarians, and assures to them a premium for their depredations upon the civilized world. Immediately after the departure of the British fleet, the Dey of Algiers, who had evidently yield ed to hostile suggestions against the United States, availing himself of an unavoidable delay in restor ing a brig which had been captured by Commodore Decatur's squadron, previously to the pealSe, and sent into Carthagena, where she was detained by the Spanish government, on the pretext of her having been captured within the jurisdiction of Spain, declared the treaty of June of the preceding year to be violated by the United States, and null and void in consequence. I retired on board of the American squadron then in the bay of Algiers, and there concluded a verbal convention with the Al gerine government, by which the questions in dis pute were referred by the Dey himself, in a sealed letter to the President, and the treaty was to remain in force until his reply was received. In virtue of this convention, I returned again to my post* * Appendix, E.- 132 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. In the succeeding month of May, the British commander returned from Tunis with his whole force, into this bay, in consequence, probably of fresh instructions. The exact tenor of the propo sitions which he then made to this government cannot be known, but it appears that they contain ed conditions subversive of those which had been solemnly stipulated one month before. Such versatile and undignified conduct, might have as tonished and confounded a more enlightened cabi net than that of Algiers. The Bashaw acted on this occasion with great firmness, prudence, and discretion ; he submitted the demands made upon him, not only to the Divan, which was assembled on this occasion, but also to the soldiers in the bar racks, who unanimously agreed to support him. He then replied to the British Admiral, that the Regency^ of Algiers, being a dependency of the Ottoman Empire, he could not agree to his propo sitions before consulting his Suzerain, me Grand Seignior, and required six months as the time ne cessary to make the reference. Lord Exmouth threatened the immediate de struction of Algiers, if he persisted in this refusal to comply with liis demands, and gave him the tertn of three hours to deliberate upon a definitive reply. The Bashaw then reproached the Admiral with the inconsistency of his conduct, which pre cluded any reliance upon whatever engagements he might make with him ; rejected his propositions ; SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 133 and required him to withdraw his ships from under the guns of his batteries. Lord Exmouth now retired on board, from whence he again gave no tice of his intention to attack the place. On his way down to the marine, he, with several of his officers, w^ere insulted in the most gross and inde cent manner. The British Consul was arrested and confined to his house, and his wife and child ren driven into town from his country residence, in a manner the most scandalous and insulting. The Dey of Algiers appears to have regarded a war with England as actually begun ; and amongst other measures of safety consequent to the threats of the British admiral, the execution of which, to every resident here, certainly appeared imminent, he despatched messengers to Bona and Oran, with orders to the Governors of those places to arrest and secure the persons of all British subjects, or others under the British protection there. These orders were executed with rigorous precision in Bona, where was a great number of Italians and Corsicans, engaged in the coral fishery, under British license and protection, many of whom, in consequence of their resistance, or efforts to escape, were massacred. These people were accused of resisting an order of the Algerine government to arrest and secure their persons, surely a competent authority to issue such an order ; they were con sequently reduced by force of arms, as they would have been in any other country, under similar cir- 134 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. cumstan'ces. But it must be inquired Avhy the British admiral did not on his way from Tunis with a powerful squadron, on a mission to Algiers of this character, detach a sufficient force for the contin gent protection of these fishermen, or at least, why he did not warn them of the danger in which they might be involved, in consequence of his opera tions. In the mean time, the affairs in dispute here were provisionally settled without hostilities ; the British admiral agreeing to allow the time necessa ry to consult the Ottoman government on the points in question. The Bashaw agreed to admit the new kingdom of Hanover to a participation of the advantages of the treaty subsisting between him and Great Britain, as a dependancy of that em pire, for which he received, as is customary, a valuable present ; the British frigate, the Tagus,, was placed at the disposition of his Highness, for the purpose of transporting his Ambassador and presents to Constantinople ; Lord Exmouth ex changed swords with him, and accepted from him a present of a horse and other animals. Thus every hostile feeling on either side appeared to be appeased. To an indifferent spectator, it was a curious spectacle to see, immediately after such hostile demonstrations, the Ottoman standard displayed on board of a British frigate, in consequence of hav ing the honour to receive an Algerine Ambassa- SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 135 dor on, board ! The receipt in Europe of the news respecting the negotiations of the British Admiral in Algiers, excited universal indignation, and drew upon the British government the imputation of entertaining views respecting the states of Bar bary, interested, and oppressive to other nations. It is however, nothing more than common justice to suppose that the objects which the British gov ernment had in view were not attained through these negotiations ; and as the national honour had obviously been committed here, another and more efficient expedition became necessary, as a natural consequence of the failure of the first. Ac cordingly, a powerful squadron was immediately ordered to be equipped at Portsmouth, which sailed for the Mediterranean in July, was reinforced in Gibraltar by a number of gun-boats, and by six Dutch frigates, under the orders of Vice-Admiral the Baron Vander Capellen. The combined fleets sailed from Gibraltar on the fourteenth of August, under the command of the same" British Admiral, Lord Exmouth, and arrived before Algiers on the morning of the twenty-seventh of the same month. Notice of this expedition had been received here in July, through the French papers, and rendered partially abortive the mission of a British sloop of war that was sent to withdraw the British Consul and his family from the danger to which they must inevitably be exposed in the event of a battle. The ladies of his family? however, had 136 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. the good fortune to elude the vigilance of the Al gerines under the disguise of midshipmen, and es cape on board with an infant child ; on the discov ery of which, the Consul, and the officers and crews of two boats of the sloop, then on shore, were arrested and closely confined, the former in his own house under a guard, and the latter in a Bagnio. The British Admiral on arriving before Algiers, sent in a flag with the ultimatum of his government, to which he required a reply within a limited time. The Bashaw appears to have acted on this occasion with a degree of indecision unbe coming his character, for he not only suffered the flag to depart without an answer, but he subse quently permitted the combined fleets to take their positions of attack without any molestation.* Physical intrepidity, ignorance, and presumption were opposed to discipline, valour, and skill ; the result could never be doubtful. Algiers, after a sanguinary battle of nine hours, was laid prostrate at the feet of the conqueror, who then, declaring that " Britain did not make war for the destruction of cities," required, as the price of peace, the im mediate and unconditional surrender of all Chris tian slaves ; the restitution of about three hundred and fifty thousand dollars, which had been paid by the kings of Naples and Sardinia for the ransom of their captive subjects liberated in the preceding April ; * For the details of the battle of the twenty-seventh of August, see Appendix, F. SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 137 and the renunciation in future of the right of redu cing to slavery any subject of a Christian European power. These conditions were of course promptly agreed to, and peace was restored between Great Britain and Algiers. The Baron Vander Capellen, Commander in Chief of the Dutch naval forces in the Mediterra nean, took an active and conspicuous part in this battle, and in consequence, in concert with the British Admiral, compelled the Regency of Algiers to conclude peace with the United Netherlands upon a footing of independent equality. This chief immediately afterwards proceeded with his squad ron to Tripoli, where, with the laurels of victory still fresh on his brow, he also concluded a treaty of peace with that insignificant government, by which the United Netherlands agree to pay Tripoli an annual tribute of five thousand dollars. The battle of Algiers was regarded in England as a signal triumph of the British arms, which gave her a claim to the gratitude of nations. Titles, decorations, and pensions, were distributed on this occasion by the Prince Regent, with a prodigality unusual in that country, except in cases of a great national jubilee ; and much effect was undoubtedly expected from this achievement at the then ap proaching Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle. Of the valour, constancy, and skill exhibited hy the combined fleets in the battle of Algiers, there can be no difference of opinion ; if this were even 18 138 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. their first essay in war, it would entitle them to very high professional claims. But the policy of exposing such a gallant band to a contest with banditti like the Algerines, entrenched behind the most solid stone walls, opposing batteries of three tiers of cannon to their attack, for no more impor tant objects than are stated or implied in the ulti matum of the British admiral, may well be ques tioned. Had the Algerines opened the fire of their truly formidable batteries upon their enemy's ships, as soon as they came within reach, it is probable that they would have been so crippled in their ap proach, as to be unable to take the positions of attack which they arrived at without molestation, turning and rendering useless the principal Algerine batteries, and the British fleet have suffered the mortifying affront of being foiled and beaten by Algerines. The suppression of this community of pirates evidently formed no part of the plan of the British government on this occasion, for though the kind of force employed was not well calculated for conquest, yet Algiers was completely subdued ; and I have foundation for saying, that if the attack had been renewed the next day, the city would have been evacuated by the Turks, and might have been occupied by the marines of the squadron. That so signal a chastisement, attended with immense loss, the liberation of all Christian slaves, and the compelled obligation to make no more, were gene rally useful to the civilized world, is undeniable ; SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 139 but it is a fact that they did not go the length of engaging the Algerines to change their policy ; they still remain a nest of banditti, waiting only for a favourable occasion to be as mischievous as ever. Immediately after the conclusion of this peace, the Algerine government turned all their attention towards repairing their losses ; they despatched a minister to Constantinople ; with the most ac tive industry, they repaired the damage sustained by their fortifications ; and by the end of the year replaced them in as perfect a state of defence as they were in previously to the battle- Meantime the President, on receipt of the Ba shaw's letter written in April of this year, appoint ed me, conjointly with Isaac Chauncey, Esq. commander in chief of the naval forces of the United States in the Mediterranean, Commissioners to treat of the renewal of peace with Algiers. It is evident that after the events above related, the adjustment of the difficulties in question could meet with no important obstacle ; accordingly, a treaty dictated by us was signed here on the twenty- third of December following.* In September, of the year 1817, one of those violent revolutions so common in this barbarous country, deprived Omar Pashaw of his life, and placed upon the throne of Algiers a man by the name of Ali Khodgia. As Omar was one of the " Appendix, G. 140 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. most remarkable personages that have swayed the precarious sceptre of Algiers in latter times, I have thought that a short sketch of his life might be acceptable. After what has already been said, it is hardly necessary to remark that, according to the funda mental institutions of Algiers, none but foreigners are eligible to any of the high offices of state. The corps of Turks, which comprehends foreigners of all nations who come to Algiers as Janissaries, and from which officers are selected, is kept in exist ence by cpntinual importations from the Levant, and these, as before mentioned, are generally of the lowest orders of men in those barbarous countries. On arriving in Algiers they are enrolled as common soldiers, and depend on their own merit or accident for promotion. The incidents in the life of an ob scure adventurer would probably afford little of interest if they could be known ; but when genius extricates itself from a chaos of ignorance and ob scurity, and appears with advantage upon the great theatre of human affairs, the individual possessing it becomes worthy of notice and of inquiry into his character and actions. Such appears to be the case of the late Omar Pashaw. He was born in the classical island of Metelin, the ancient Lesbos, and at his accession to supreme power in Algiers in 1814, was about forty-three years of age. It is said that his family are renegade Greeks. In stature he was about SKETCHES .OF ALGIERS. 141 five feet ten or eleven inches, robust, active, and well made ; his complexion was dark, with a thick, shining black beard silvered with grey ; his feat ures were manly and regular, and he had fine ex pressive black eyes, which however seemed to meet those of any other person with reluctance, and only by furtive glances, even in conversation. His coun tenance was thoughtful ; when in good humour, he was agreeable and prepossessing ; when displeased, dark, gloomy, and forbidding. His manner was al ways dignified, sometimes cordial and friendly, and he was never known to lose the equilibrium of his temper on any occasion. He spoke with hesitation and embarrassment ; it would seem that his pride did not hide from him the view of his igno rance. Omar was a man of strong natural good sense, quick perception, and great dignity of character. When he projected writing a letter to the President he enquired of me if the Turkish language was un derstood in America ? I replied that it probably was not, but that there were persons there who understood the Arabic. He remarked that it did not become him to write in any language except his *own, but that he would cause an Arabic transla tion to be made of his letter in order to facilitate its comprehension to the American government. His intrepid courage had early in his career acquir ed for him the distinctive appellation of " the ter rible Omar," but in private life he is said to have 142 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. been of exemplary moderation, and strict morals, according to the rules of the faith which he pro fessed. He had but one wife, by whom he had three children, and with these he passed his leisure time in great apparent domestic happiness. After the business of the day was over, it was no uncom mon thing to see the Bashaw retiring to his own pri vate dwelling, attended by a single servant carrying a lantern before him. After he rose to sovereign power he was noted for several acts of friendship and gratitude, and I have not heard him accused of an instance of private injustice. Omar came to Algiers about thirty-three years since in company with an elder brother, as com mon adventurers. His brother appears to have been a man of merit, as he early obtained the post of Kalifa, or intendant, of the eastern province. As Omar always accompanied his brother, he early acquired an accurate knowledge of the internal af fairs of the kingdom ; and the war with Tunis, and the troubles and insurrections with which Algiers was at that time agitated, gave him opportunities of establishing his character as a brave and intelli gent warrior. About twenty-four years ago his brother became suspected, and was put to death by order of Achmet Pashaw ; Omar escaped the same fate by taking refuge in the barracks, where he was protected by the soldiers, with whom he ap pears to have been always a favorite. Achmet perished shortly after, and was succeded bv Ali, SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 143 who after a short reign of a few months gave place to Hadji Ali Pashaw, who by his sanguinary cru elties, acquired the surname of Tiger, and is also noted for his declaration of war against the United States. This chief raised Omar to the important post of Aga, or commander in chief In this ca pacity he distinguished himself by the vigour of his administration, and particularly by his successful energy in quelling a rebellion of the Bey of Oran, which threatened the political existence of Algiers. While acting in this quality he is accused of great and unnecessary acts of cruelt}^, particularly in the latter case. The accusation is probably not unfound ed, but I should rather suppose these acts a neces sary effect of the barbarous manners and character of tliis people, than of a ferocious propensity in the Aga. Even the modern history of civilized nations furnishes as many instances of violence and cruelty, as of moderation and justice. But there are some circumstances relative to the elevation of Omar, which do not appear to admit of the same excuse, and which chill the blood with horror. While he was absent with the army in the interior, the tyrant Hadji Ali was murder ed, his capricious cruelties having become insup portable. An express was sent to the Aga with this intelligence, who immediately returned to the capital, and was offered the purple by unanimous consent, which he could then have accepted without a crime. For some reasons which are un- 144 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. known to the public, he refused the precarious honour, and insisted on investing the then Hasna gee, or prime minister, with the sovereign authori ty. Little is at this day known of this personage, except that he was a moderate, just man, and far advanced in years. He also refused the danger ous post, until he was informed that he must either reign or perish. Fourteen days afterwards, this old man was murdered without any apparent rea son for it, and the Aga seated upon the throne. Hadji Ali Pashaw, though a decrepid old man, kept a numerous seraglio ; these women were respected during the ephemeral reign of his immediate suc cessor ; by order of Omar on his accession, they were all put to death ! It is difficult to assign any plausible excuse for such gratuitous acts of barba rous cruelty ; though his subsequent conduct was blameless, many persons are yet in doubt as to his real character. The folly and presumption of Hadji Ali, had in volved Algiers in open war with the United States, and with Holland ; the Ottoman flag had been in sulted, and the relations of France and Spain with the Regency rendered doubtful ; the part therefore, which Omar had to act on his accession, was a very difficult and delicate one. What remains to be said of this remarkable personage, relates princi pally to the political epochs of his reign which have been noticed above. They rapidly suc ceeded each other, fairly tested his abilities. SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 145 abilities, and on the whole, exhibited him to the World in a light not less advantageous than con spicuous. From the consideration in which Algiers has ever been held by the maritime states of Europe, it is not surprising that they should attach a great de gree of importance to their power, and believe that all nations anxiously deprecated their hostility. This charm was dissipated by the capture of two of their ships by Commodore Decatur, and his subsequent appearance off Algiers with his victori ous squadron, while theirs was at sea. Omar had the good sense to comprehend the danger of his position, and, yielding to circumstances, accepted the terms of peace offered to him by the victor. If he afterwards equivocated, and showed a disposi tion to renew the war, it ought rather to be attrib uted to a course of policy which has been too long tolerated to Algiers, and in which she has always found her account, and to misrepresentation of the policy and resources of the United States, than to absolute bad faith in the Bashaw. Pursuant to negotiations of the leading powers of Europe, after the peace of Paris in 1815, Great Britain was induced to make a change in her poli cy towards the states of Barbary, and in conse quence. Admiral Lord Exmouth was detached to Algiers with a powerful fleet in April, 1816, as above related. However public-spirited and lauda ble the conduct of Great Britain may appear in this 19 146 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. case when viewed upon general principles, yet when judged upon the ground of the subsisting re lations between these two powers, it can hardly be reconciled with the strict principles of international justice and good faith. Algiers had given no of fence to Great Britain, nor had furnished any pre text for hostilities against her. The massacre of Bo na was subsequently alleged as an outrage justify ing war ; but when viewed with candour it will surely be found deficient in this character, for it was an accident arising out of the exercise of a right inherent in all governments ; it resembled al most exactly an event that occurred in the previous year, in the Dartmoor depot of prisoners of war in England. Algiers was called upon to give up the very principles upon which she had established her political credit and importance, with the consent of the world during a succession of ages ; which con sequently placed Omar in a position of great diffi culty and responsibility. The circumstances of these negotiations, and the results of the war consequent to them, have been narrated above. The arrest and confinement to his house, under a guard, of the British Consul, under the circum stances of the case, are excusable as a neces sary measure of safety, without recurring for pre cedents to the usages of the Ottoman Porte ; but his subsequent confinement in a dungeon, loaded with the heaviest chains, would accuse the Bashaw of vindictive ferocity of character, if it could not SKETCHES OP ALgIeRS. 147 be Otherwise accounted for. The indignation of the Algerine populace had been excited against the British to the highest pitch imaginable ; during the battle, many Turks (probably skulkers), were con stantly passing in and out of my house, and in their ceiiversations all breathed vengeance against the British Consul; the moment of his removal and con finement in chains in the criminal prison, was that wien the battle was obviously lost, atid when an attack upon him by a furious populace might be expected. He was therefore saved by it, and I have always believed that this rigorous treatment was expressly ordered by the Bashaw, as the only probable means of saving his life. During the battle of the twenty-seventh of Au gust, the conduct of Omar was that of a brave and judicious man. Perhaps the only fault which he can be accused of on that occasion, was that of not firing upon the enemy's ships before they took their po sitions, and this was consequent to a resolution he had indiscreetly adopted, not to commence hostili ties. As he had refused to reply to their flag, this was an inexcusable and fatal error. He was al ways at the post of danger ; he personally recom menced the fire of the marine batteries, and con tinued the fight until any longer resistance was vain. He yielded only to the entreaties of his offi cers and friends, when he accepted the terms offered him by the British Admiral. The Chevalier An- karloo. Consul General of Sweden, who was re- 148 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. quested by Omar to go on board of the Admiral as a messenger, informed me that he witnessed this scene, and that the Bashaw discovered the most unequivocal reluctance to agree to the terms pro posed. His own opinion, often repeated, was, that they should abandon the city and retire under their tents. In the subsequent negotiations he maintain ed the same calmness of temper for which he was ever so remarkable, requesting of the British nego tiator, that he would inform him once for all, of the extent of the claims which his government had upon him. It must be admitted that the man who always shows himself equal to the circumstances in which fortune places him, cannot want capacity. The results of the battle of the twenty-seventh of August gave the Bashaw an opportunity of demonstrating the firmness of his mind, and of developing his great abilities for business. The Algerines may be styled, without injustice, a turbulent, fac tious, and superstitious banditti. Their fleet was destroyed, their military works laid in ruins, and their political existence seemed to be suspended ; they had long entertained the opinion that their chief was unfortunate, an opinion which a Dey of Algiers seldom survives for any length of time, and on this occasion they discovered the most unequi vocal disposition to sacrifice him to their despair. Omar, aware of his danger, visited the barracks and harangued the soldiers. He represented te SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 14& them that though their misfortunes were g^eat, they were not irretrievable ; that they had still great resources remaining, by a prudent use of which, with patience and courage, the power of Algiers might be restored upon even a better footing than before ; that by disunion amongst themselves, and listening to violent counsels, every thing might be lost ; that in short, if they believed him to be an obstacle to the restoration of that power, he there offered himself to them as a victim. This dis course, together with a judicious distribution of money, and the influence of his friends, most effect ually quelled a fermentation, which if left to itself might have terminated in the most violent excess es. In the mean time he caused workmen and materials to be transported from the remotest parts of his dominions to the capital, and through the most indefatigable perseverance and activity, su perintending every thing in person, he actually placed Algiers, by the end of the year, in a better state of defence than it had ever been in. . At the same time he engaged a number of Neapolitan divers, and cleared the port of all the sunken wrecks ; purchased and equipped four efficient cruisers ; laid a sloop of war on the stocks ; and adopted suc^ other measures as were required for the ultimate restoration of the maritime credit of Algiers. In the month of October following the battle. Commodore Chauncey, arrived off Algiers with the 150' SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. Washington, Java, United States, Constellation, Erie, and Peacock. In the state they were then in, this force was equal to the annihilation of their defensive works, and the destruction of the city. The Algerines vvere in the utmost consternation, and when I went off to the squadron, they were unable to conceal from me their apprehension of being attacked, notwithstanding my assurances that the visit was a peaceable one, and that nothing would ever be undertaken against them by the American forces without due notice being pre viously given by me. Oh my return from on board of the squadron I was received by the Bashaw at the quarters of the Port Admiral, a very unusual proceeding, and indicative of great anxiety. I ex pressed to him my mortification at such manifest want of confidence in the national honour as had been showed, and assured him that even should the disputes pending between the United States and his government, result in hostilities, they would be prosecuted on our part in the strictest concordance with the rules of honourable warfare. Omar ap peared to feel the reproach, and alleged in excuse that he could have no certainty of the ships in view being American, and that I had been a witness how far he had been a victim of false appearances ; for the Algerines have always affected to believe that they were surprised by the combined fleets under the false pretext of a flag of truce. On the following day. Commodore Chauncey with the com- SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 151 manders of his squadron, paid a visit to His High ness, who seemed to be sensible of the attention. In concurrence with the advice of Commodore Chauncey, I embarked with him on board the Washington, in order to be together on the receipt of our expected despatches. On arriving at Gib raltar we received by the United States brig Spark, our appointment as commissioners to treat of the renewal of peace with Algiers ; and, together witli our instructions, a letter from the President to the Dey in reply to that which he had addressed to him on the twenty-fourth of April preceding, as above stated. The Commissioners who had by this time become well acquainted with the Alge rine character and policy, determined to present a note to the Bashaw, together with the President's letter, which should contain their ultimatum.* Pursuant to this determination, they proceeded off Algiers with the Washington and Spark, where they arrived on the eighth of December, the rest of the squadron receiving orders to rendezvous at Port Mahon. The extremely boisterous weather rendering it imprudent to anchor in the bay, it was determined that I should land and pursue alOne, on the terms agreed upon, the objects of our mission. The negotiation was begun on the seventeenth, by the delivery of the President's letter and the note of the Commissioners to the Bashaw, in per son. It was conducted on the part of Omar with * Appendix, G. l52 Sketches of algierS. great courtesy, though with the most artful en deavours to evade the conclusion, or rather the re newal of a treaty of peace, which there is the strongest presumptive evidence for believing that he had pledged himself not to do. He complained of the length of time which the President had tak en to r'°ply to his letter, and calculating it exactly on his fingers, claimed the same indulgence. He appealed to my personal feelings by quoting me as a witness to his recent misfortunes, which had placed him in our power, and affirmed, that as an honourable man I ought not to avail myself of such fortuitous circumstances. Waving the discussion of such delicate points, I replied that whatever might be my desire to do what would be agreeable to His Highness, I was acting with my colleague un der instructions from the President, which were not framed with a knowledge of his misfortunes, as a reference to their dates would prove, and that I could not transgress them without incurring the penalties of disobedience. Finding me inflexible, or rather feeling that the conditions of peace which we required, could not be evaded, he assumed an air of cheerful good hu mour, and told me that, as misfortune had deprived him of the means of resistance, he would agree to the terms proposed, or to any others that I might see fit to dictate, provided that I would give him a certificate under my hand and seal, that I had com pelled him to do so. I replied, that as the reason- sketches OF ALGIERS. 153 able terms of peace which had been proposed to him by order of the President would be insisted on, under any circumstances whatever, I felt no hesi tation in giving him a certificate to that effect.* The treaty of peace was in consequence concluded, and signed on the twenty-third of December. Omar had long lain tinder the ominous imputation of being unfortunate. The' plague which broke out in the summer of 1817, and raged with violence in Algiers, confirmed the prejudice, and Ali Khod gia, who was regarded as a profound theologist, availing himself bf it, succeeded in organizing a fac tion amongst the Janissaries to depose the Bashaw. The plot must have been conducted with uncom mon address, or the Bashaw had relaxed in his customary vigilance ; for on the morning of the eighth of September of that year, he was surprised in his palace by the conspirators, who informed him that he must die. After some vain efforts to obtain a capitulation, he quietly submitted, and was strangled on the spot. It cannot be doubted that Omar possessed great moral qualities, but he was a bigot in religion, and in his notions of politi cal government ; the slightest offence against the former was, during his reign, punished with indis criminate rigour ; and could he have resolved to depart from ancient customs so far as to remove his residence into the citadel, where he would have been secure from sudden attempts of faction, * Appendix, G. 20 154 sketches of aLgiers. he might, in all human probability, have been to this day upon the throne of Algiers. I will close this digression by noticing several traits in the character of Omar within my own knowledge, which attest his clemency, and do great credit to his disposition as a man. In the latter part of the year 1815, a conspiracy was formed against him, at the head of which was Abdallah, then minister of Marine. This man had been a chief of banditti in the neighbourhood of Smyrna, and subsequently, in Algiers, chamberlain, confidant, and minister of the " sanguinary cruelties of Hadji Ali, whom he finally murdered with his own hand, as a partisan of Omar, who, in recom pense, raised him, on his accession, to the post of minister of Marine. It is not _^nown that Abdallah possessed any respectable quality ; in him avarice, cruelty, vindictiveness, and brutal ignorance were associated with inordinate ambition. Fortunately the plot to murder the Bashaw, and place the su preme power in the hands of this monster, was fully discovered, and he was arrested on the twelfth of December of that year. Instead of taking his life, which is the usual course in siich cases in Algiers, Omar caused him to be embarked with his family and effects for the Levant at the expense of the governm.ent, leaving to his brother the enjoyment of all his real estate, which was considerable. The man who succeeded Abdallah in the adminis tration of the marine had bee=n a Tchaux, and sketches of ALGIERS. 155 he also was not distinguished by any respectable quality ; ignorance and brutality were his leading characteristics. In the battle of the twenty-sev enth of August, he was accused by the populace of connivance with the enemy, and his decapitation was demanded with clamorous violence. Omar or dered him to be confined. Never did the affairs of Algiers more imperiously demand a victim than on this occasion, yet the Bashaw refused to take his life, and by the first occasion caused him to be embarked with his family for the Levant. On the accession of Omar to the supreme power, he sent for his mother and remaining brother, who arrived in Algiers in the summer of 1816. It seems that he must have regarded his situation as preca rious, for his brother returned immediately after the battle, and in the month of January following, he embarked his mother and his eldest son on board of a Swedish vessel chartered for the pur pose, to return to their native island. Before the departure of this vessel, he sent for the Swedish captain, in company with the Consul of his nation ; and made to the former a munificent present, recom mending to his kindness arid care his mother and bis son, as the dearest objects of his solicitude. On this occasion he could not restrain his tears, which flowed, as the Swedish Consul informed me, in abundance. It is possible that the two former in stances of humanity may be accounted for upon principles of state policy, but the latter cannot be misinterpreted. 156 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. This character of the late Bashaw can only be duly appreciated by taking into view what a Dey of Algiers usually is. To the most brutal violence, atrocity, and insolence, had succeeded, in the per son of Omar an appearance of propriety, decency, and decorum. Fortunately this laudablp example continues to be followed by his successors. Ali was a man of intelligence and good natural abilities, but he was principally remarkable for his presumption and intemperance of character. In vio lation of usages which had ever been held sacred in Algiers, he seized two young women, the one an English Jewess, the other a Sardinian, and incor porated them into his seraglio ; he sent the Algerine fleet to sea on a cruise, while one hundred and fifty persons were dying daily of "the plague in the city ; they sent in a Sardinian ship of considerable value, which was confiscated on a frivoloiis pretext ; and several French and Spanish vessels, that were af terwards liberated. These cruisers also boarded and contaminated every vessel they met with, ex cept American, which, on account of the squadron of the United States, then cruising-in their neigh bourhood, they thought it prudent not to meddle with. Ali Khodgia was a studious man, and proba bly master of all the literature of Algiers ; from this notion he received the cognomen of Khodgia from the Turks, although he was never aggregated to that body. After his elevation to the throne, amidst the most sanguinary proceedings, he always affected the man of letters. SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 157 When on public occasions he was visited by the foreign Consuls, they, after stumbling over scores of murdered carcasses in their way to the hall of audience, always found the Bashaw superbly dress ed, surrounded by his guards, with a book in his hands, in the contemplation of which he would af fect to be interrupted, and precipitately lay it aside on their entrance. This man appears to have re garded himself as capable of restoring the ancient credit and importance of Algiers ; and as if deter mined to demonstrate to the world the inutility of the battle of the twenty-seventh of August, by showing his entire disregard of the parties therein concerned, he also compelled the brother of the Jewess above mentioned, a British subject, to em brace Islamism, and become his personal interpre ter. And nothing but sudden death by the plague, as is generally believed in Algiers, prevented him from seizing upon and incorporating into his se raglio the daughter of the British Consul, and the Dutch Consul's sister. These secrets of the seraglio were published after his death. The Janissaries soon discovered that they had exchanged a magnanimous, patriotic prince, for a selfish, capricious, sanguinary tyrant, and intrigues were set on foot in the barracks to remove him ; but they were discovered in time by Ali Khodgia, who, before they could be matured, transferred his residence, together with the public treasury,* from * On this occasion, several persons believed that they could esti- 158 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. the ancient palace of the Deys of Algiers into the citadel, where he organized a guard of natives for his protection, and set the Turks at defiance. This chief appears to have formed the project of sup pressing entirely the corps of Janissaries, and pro bably that of rendering the sovereignty hereditary in his family. He persecuted the Turks with un relenting ferocity, and it is calculated that above fifteen hundred of these praetorians perished by violence during his rule. The short reign of Ali Khodgia, which was terminated by the plague early in the year 1818, was a period of humiliation and misfortune to the Regency. His successor, Hus sein Pashaw, continues to prefer the secure resi dence of the citadel. On being informed of the depredations of the Algerine squadron above mentioned, I represented to the Bashaw, that as it was not known that he was at open war with any nation, it was expected that while the plague continued in his dominions, he would instruct the commanders of his cruisers not to visit, and thereby contaminate any Ameri can merchant vessel ; that the damage in conse quence, through the quarantine, to which vessels so visited must necessarily be subjected, was too mate the amount of the public treasury, by the time that was taken to transport it by mules into the citadel. It was spoken of at the time as amounting to the enormous sum of fifty millions of dollars. I cannot protend to have any distinct opinion upon this subject, but there is no doubt of its amounting to a very important sum. SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 159 great to be' patiently borne, and in short would not be submitted to. The Bashaw in reply expressed much regard for the United States, and a desire to do every thing practicable that might be agreeable to them, but he pleaded his right to ascertain by visit on the high seas, who were friends and who not. He finally proposed that a signal should be agreed on by which American vessels might be known without boarding. In April, of this year, the American squadron, commanded by Commo dore Stewart, arrived in the bay of Algiers, when the same remonstrances were repeated to the suc cessor of Ali Khodgia, who, without discussion, agreed to the conditions required, which were faithfully adhered to. This agreement I caused to be published by a circular throughout Europe, for the information of whom it might concern. In June following, the British frigate the Spar tan, and sloop of war the Spey, arrived in Algiers on a special mission from the British government. The consequences of this visit were the restora tion to their liberty and religion of the two young women before mentioned, with an indemnity of five thousand dollars each ; the payment of the amount, about thirty thousand dollars, of the Sar dinian ship and cargo, which had been captured and confiscated ; and, as was then reported, an en gagement not to send any cruisers to sea during the prevalence of pestilence in their dominions. At the end of the same year, the great sovereigns 160 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. of Europe again assembled in Congress at Aix-la- Chapelle, in order, as it was understood, to fix up on a solid basis the general interests of the civiliz ed world. The deliberations of that illustrious assembly have not been promulgated, and the in terests of mankind appear to be as unfixed as ever ; but in September, 1819, a combined French and British squadron arrived in the Bay of Algiers, and their commanders conjointly signified to the Dey, that, pursuant to a determination of that august body, the states of Barbary were prohibited in future from cruising or making war upon any Christian European power. The Bashaw, after several days' deliberation, refused to agree to this arrangement, alleging the rights of Algiers, which had been re cognised by solemn treaties, and respected by all the world during a succession of ages.* It yet re mains to be shown whether ^he Congress of Aix- la-Chapelle were really in earnest on this occasion, or were cajoled and misled by the reports of the parties charged with the execution of their decree respecting the states of Barbary. The Algerines, who are seldom unmindful of their interests, had sent an embassy to London, early in this year, 1819, which was conveyed thither, with an appropriate present of horses, lions, ostrich es, &c. by a British sloop of war sent for the pur pose ! Their minister was received at Carlton * Appendix, H. SKETCHES OP ALGIERS. 161 House' with the demonstrations of respect and at tention usual on such occasions. The objects of this extraordinary mission as far as they can ba known, were, to ascertain distinctly, whether or not they could, without drawing upon themselves the animadversion of Great Britain, continue their customary practice of violating their treaties with the minor powers, as caprice or policy might dic tate ; and of depredating the commerce of such states as were not represented in Algiers. These questions were, it appears, left undetermined by Lord Exmouth. I have it from authority that I cannot doubt, that the Algerine minister propounded to Lord Bathurst the following question : Whether, as his govern ment had engaged to make no christian slaves, their cruisers might, without offending Great Brit ain, put to death such of their prisoners made at sea, as they could not by treaty reduce to slavery ! This minister appears to have mistaken the blan dishments of the Prince Regent and his court, for a concurrence in the pretensions of his govern ment ; for on his return, he induced the Regency to believe by his reports, that they might, as usual, calculate upon the friendship and protection of Great Britain. The Algerines were intoxicated with joy on the occasion, and began with alacrity to equip their cruisers for sea. TheSe flattering prospects were however obscured a fortnight after by the arrival, as above mentioned, of the combin- 21 162 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. ed squadrons, which again threw a cloud of doubt and uncertainty over even their political existence. During the period of Algerine history which is here treated of, France having ceded the empire of the seas to her rival, her relations with the Regen cy became purely defensive. Late in the year 1815, an agent of the restored monarch was sent here ; and since this epoch a system of the most absurd and expensive concessions, and of conde scension towards these pirates, unbecoming a great and powerful nation, has been followed, and has in Consequence prostrated the character and political credit of France in Algiers. It would be invidi ous to record here the details of these disgusting transactions. The government of Joseph Napoleon in Spain was never recognised in Algiers, the British influ ence preponderating here during the revolution consequent to the efforts of the emperor Napoleon to establish his brother' upon the throne ; and dur ing this period of time the expenses of the rela tions of Spain with the Algerine government, which have ever been enormous, were defrayed by loans obtained of certain Jews here, at exorbitant interest, by her Consul. In 1813-14, the Bey of the province of Oran rebelled against this govern ment, and marched an army within three leagues of Algiers. After various vicissitudes of fortune, this rebellion was quelled by the late Dey, Omar Pashaw, who was then Aga, and the Bey was made SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 163 prisoner and executed. In the mean time, a con fidential Jew eloped from Oram with a portion of the Bey's treasures, and as it has since been ascer tained, took refuge in Gibraltar, after having first landed in Malaga. Omar, after his accession to the throne, chose to believe that this Jew had been protected in Spain, and in consequence established a claim upon that government for a vast but indefinite amount of treasure, with which he was supposed to have eloped. The Spanish government has at differ ent times demonstrated that this claim is entirely unfounded, not only in justice, but in fact ; and finally sent a squadron here in 1817, whose com mander distinctly declared, that so far from being allowed, it would never again be admitted to a discussion. This claim is now stated in round numbers to be three hundred thousand dollars. In the mean time the claims of the Jews upon Spain, augmented to an enormous sum by compound usury, were ceded to the Regency, and with the , other, form an aggregate of about one million three hun dred thousand dollars, which they continue to de mand of Spain. The latter has been constantly endeavouring, since 1815, to obtain a reasonable adjustment of these demands, but in vain. The Re gency constantly refusing any considerable relaxa tion in their pretensions, appear however satisfied with keeping their claims alive, probably reserving to themselves the right of enforcing them by war 164 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. whenever circumstances offer them a fair prospect of success. After the revolution, the constitutional government of Spain feeling that such equivocal relations with a paltry power like Algiers, were alike injurious to her honour and her interests, di rected her Consul to demand of the Regency an equitable settlement of the affairs in dispute, and in case of refusal to withdraw himself from Algiers. This message was brought to Algiers in June 1822, by a combined Spanish and Dutch squadron ; the latter having joined the former in consequence of a defensive treaty of alliance against the Barbary powers, concluded at Madrid in 1815, between Spain and the Netherlands. The reply of the Bashaw to the demands of Spain being unsatisfac tory, the Consul embarked furtively on board of the squadron, and these powers remain in a state of quasi war. In September 1821, the Algerines despatched a squadron of eight sail of vessels into the Levant to aid the Turks in suppressing the rebellion of the Gree]j.s in the Morea. This force was successively augmented by the remainder of their navy, and af ter the unsuccessful naval campaign of the Capou dan Pashaw in the gulph of Patras, returned here in October 1823. The Bashaw, elated with the repu tation acquired by his navy in the Levant, and rely ing upon the dark policy of the great maritime states of Europe, appears at this peripd to have conceived the boldest projects. He determined to test the SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 165 validity of the convention stipulated with Great Britain through her agent Lord Exmouth, in 1816 ; to declare war against Spain in the face of her al liance with Holland ; and to renew in Algiers the golden days of christian slavery. The .facts recorded in this chapter appear to demonstrate the consideration in which the mari time states of Europe, and particularly Great Brit ain, have affected to hold the Barbary Regencies, especially Algiers ; her reluctance to agree to any arrangemement by which the lawless depredations of these banditti on the trade of the civilized world were to be repressed, even while she was pleading, in the sacred names of religion and philanthropy, for the abolition of the trade in negro slaves ; and that she was finally compelled to agree to their sup pression as pirates, through the measures adopted towards them by the United States, since the peace of Ghent ; measures which tend to render their longer toleration ridiculous. As to the slave trade, which has become the paramount question of the day, there surely can be but one opinion upon it with the enlightened and virtuous classes of man kind ; but it is as surely not more atrocious now, than when the British nation was actually bribed into pacific measures at the negotiations which ter minated in the treaty of Utrecht, by the cession in her favour of the celebrated privilege of Assiento ; or during the sixteen years' debate in Parliament on this interesting question, before it could be carried 166 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. in that illustrious assembly. Time, that unerring agent which never fails to bring into open day the motives of human actions, will place this question in its true light, and give credit only where it is due. As to the advantage, to the honour and to the interests of the United States, of compelling the Barbary powers to respect our flag in every sea, instead'of propitiating them by tribute, arid intermi nable gifts which have long since ceased to be gra tuitous, they appear too obvious to need any fur ther illustration here. I would fain believe that the character of the high contracting parties at Aix-la- Chapelle, justifies the, presumption that effect will ultimately be given to their agreement in congress there, respecting the states of Barbary. When that shall be the case, it appears that a very small force stationed in the Mediterranean may be sufficient to maintain the system which has been so gloriously established by the United States in relation to these powers ; but until then, an efficient squadron is the only means by which it can be maintained. To recede from this system, would be to abandon the high character which has been established here ; to verify, the invidious predictions of our rivals ; and to place our commerce in the Mediterranean under the precarious and inglorious safeguard of indefinite tribute. SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 167 CHAPTER VI. THE PROBABLE DESTINY OF THIS FINE REGION ; THE BEST POSITION IN AFRICA, FROM WHENCE TO PROSECUTE DIS COVERIES IN, AND COMMERCE WITH, THE INTERIOR ; IN FLUENCE OF THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A EUROPEAN NATION IN NORTH AFRICA, ON CIVILIZATION, AND THE SUPPRES SION OF THE TRADE IN NEGRO SLAVES. In the preceding pagesj I have endeavoured to give a correct view of the real power, resources, and policy of this absurd empire ; and I trust that I have shown the Algerines not to possess even the means requisite for the maintenance of peace with the commonwealth of nations ; much less those upon which may be founded the insolent pretension of living without the pale of civilization with im punity. Their three centuries of political exist ence as freebooters, has not been owing to any in trinsic merit of their own, but to the prevalence of political maxims highly illiberal, and absolutely dishonorable to the present enlightened age. The crazy state of the Ottoman empire, which now appears to be tottering on the brink of ruin, must remove the last pretext upon which the anti social existence of these banditti can be tolerated. To a citizen of the United States, who justly ap preciates the power and independent policy of his country, the tolerating, or not, of these pirates must 168 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. be quite indifferent ; indeed, the former, by com pelling the United States to maintain a naval sta tion in the Mediterranean, for the protection of their honour and their interests, has ever been, and continues to be, of the utmost advantage, in the improvement of their navy. The scenery, where the infant Hercules was nursed, is still agreeable to him in the pride of youth and manhood. But upon general principles, it seems to be worth in quiry what may be the destiny of this fine region, situated so near to the centre of civilization ; pos sessing all the natural means of supporting a dense population ; unrivalled in point of climate ; and with the elements of power second to no other portion of the globe of the same geographical di mensions. In the possession of a civilized and industrious people, this portion of Africa might, even within our own time, aspire to every sort of prosperity ; and to the glory of civilizing a vast continent, whose inhabitants are as yet enshrouded in the night of barbarism. The position of Algiers ap pears to be the only proper one to be selected for this last and highly important object. Sufficient has already been said in the preceding pages, to demonstrate the incapacity for improvement of the Algerine government under its actual form, and such are the barbarous character and ignorance of the Turks, as to forbid any hope of a change for the better. A dissolution of this ridiculous gov- SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 169 ernment must necessarily follow the entire sup pression of their claims to pursue the trade of pi rates, which, in the natural order of things, cannot much longer be delayed. Then, from the debased state of the natives, and the total absence of all political instruction, it appears probable that the population of this country would break up into separate tribes ; that the wars growing out of their petty local jealousies, and naturally inconstant and ferocious character, would extinguish every spark of improvement here ; when its inhabitants must re trograde towards the savage state ; and leave this beautiful country a derelict. To attempt to do away the political objections, if any there be, to the occupation of this country by a European power, forms no part of my pur pose ; though, since the Holy Alliance have, in their wisdom, judged it proper to reduce Spain to about a level with the " legitimate " empire of Morocco, in point of political importance, it is probable that all their power would be opposed to any attempt to occupy and civilize Barbary. Neither does it appear necessary as a preliminary, to discuss the question of colonies ; their positive inutility to the states founding them, when under taken and conducted upon the modern principles of colonization, that is, of monopoly, has been fully demonstrated by almost all the nations of Europe. The United States have been and continue to be of more value to England as a separate empire, 22 170 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. through the all powerful influence of a community of language, manners, and laws, than they ever could have been as dependant colonies. An ex periment remains to be made on the principles upon which the ancients founded colonies ; and as far as human reason, aided by experience, can foresee, there seems every probability of its complete success, if undertaken upon a judicious lo cal choice, and with the means necessary to insure protection and prosperity during the incipient stages of colonial existence. Great Britain, in her career, has discovered an ambition, and a spirit of self-aggrandizement, that have been often dangerous to the independence and repose of other states; she may justly be ac cused of many abuses of power ; but from the na ture of her institutions, and the peculiar relative position in which she now stands to the rest of Europe, her power has become rather an object of solicitude than of apprehension with all who do not believe in the divine right and infallibility of kings. She is also the only European power of modern times that has founded colonies upon constitutional or chartered principles ; whose inhabitants have in consequence, discovered a love of civil liberty, and an aptness for self-government, not inferior to their ancestors in their best days ; while those of all the other European colonies have hardly shown them selves fit for any thing else than willing slaves to their mother country. SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 171 In the view, therefore, which I take of this sub ject, it would be for the general interests of the world that Great Britain should determine to occu py and colonize this portion of Africa. It may be objected that she is already encum bered with colonies in all parts of the globe. But these colonies are, from distance and peculiar cir cumstances, incapable of ever becoming integral parts of the real strength of her empire. Those of North America will inevitably, in the fulness of time, join the confederation of the United States ; those of the American Archipelago, and on the continent adjacent, are mere plantations, whose fate appears to be already drawing to a crisis, and they will probably, at no distant period, experience the lot of St Domingo. Her empire in India is held by too uncertain a tenure to justify any cal culations being made upon it ; it may serve for many years yet to furnish lucrative posts to the dependants of her government, to enrich a colossal corporation, and furnish the means of corruption. That these may be national benefits, it is not my province to affirm or to deny ; but it appears obviously, that the British empire in India can never, under any circumstances, become a portion of her national st^rength. The advantages which mankind at large would derive from the establishment of a nation of Eng lishmen in Numidia, under the free institutions of the mother country, so organized as to secure to 172 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. this new state a certain independence in the matu rity of time, without imposing upon her any other obligations than such as naturally result from na tional affection, the recollection of past benefits, and a community of interests, appear to be vast beyond the range of human calculation. In rela tion to their mother countries, such were in anti quity Carthage and Syracuse ; at the present day^ such are the new states of the American confedera tion ; and such would Ireland be, under a reason able system of political government. The western coast of Africa between the tropics, appears to furnish eligible situations for the estab lishment of plantations, but here a powerful empire may be founded. Under such circumstances, this portion of Barbary would become more aliundant in the staple productions of corn, wine, oil, silk, wool, and cattle, than any other country ; the sources of interior African trade, through which several cities in this part of Mauritania rose, under the Roman domination, to a degree of opu lence and splendor which at this day seems incredi ble, would be re-opened ; and through these chan nels, the produce of the arts, and the principles of European civilization, would penetrate into the very centre of this benighted continent, eradicate the inhuman traffic in slaves, and perhaps operate as great a change in the - general condition of man kind, as did the discovery and colonization of America. Sound principles of political economy SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 173 demonstrate how rapidly a territory may be set tled that possesses a benign climate and fruitful soil ; when adequate means are applied to such an object, their effects, as experience has shown, ap pear almost supernatural. If the surplus popula- _ tion of Great Britain, which has already become an intolerable burthen to her, were, upon a regular system, gradually transported hither, and her im mense capitals employed in developing the natural resources of this country, it seems probable that she might duplicate herself here in the course of a century. As I have before remarked, I meddle not with any political objections, if any there be, to such a measure, but having mentioned it as a possible course of human affairs, and a question of great curiosity and interest, it becomes my duty to de monstrate that the idea is at least not an absurd one. It is, I think, unquestionable, that the portion of Barbary called " the kingdom of Algiers," unites all the physical and relative properties that would naturally be sought for, if such a plan were really intended ; such as a temperate and healthy climate, a fruitful soil, that appears proper for every species of agriculture ; a great extent of sea coast, with several fine harbours ; and being situated so near Europe, as to render this territory perhaps the only portion of the globe where a plan of coloniza tion from thence, could be undertaken with a reasonable prospect of success in a short space of time. 174 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. This country also offers a very important moral advantage in such a case, in the relative smallness of its population, which would be greatly bene fited by the change, and which is of such a charac ter as to admit of amalgamation with the colonists by intermarriages without dishonour to, or deterio ration of the pure blood of Europe. To the gen erality of Europeans, this remark may appear trivial, but a citizen of the United States, accus tomed to contemplate his own country, unfortu nately encumbered with a mass of black popula tion which cannot be thus disposed of, will feel its force and importance. As to the ability of these people to resist conquest, little needs to be said in addition to the foregoing chapters. If fleets should be sent to attack their triple tiers of batteries of solid stone masonry, and mounted with above a thousand pieces of ordnance, they might probably enough be crippled and defeated, if even more powerful than those commanded by Lord Ex mouth in 1816 ; but they have no means of resist ing a combined attack by land and sea, by even a comparatively small force^ A people of less than a million of souls, consist ing principally of shepherds, unarmed and unin- structed, spread over such an extent of country, could not, under any circumstances, offer any efficient resistance to an organized invasion by regular troops. The Turkish power in Barbary is piratical, as well by land as by sea, as far as it SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 175 extends, and is in consequence, entirely destitute of popularity. It is probable, though, that, from the force of habit, and the influence of fanaticism, considerable multitudes would obey the call of the existing authorities, and flock down to the defence of the capital, in case of invasion ; but incapable of any efficient resistance, their opposition would be like a fire of straw, which would cease in a few days, from the mere want of subsistence ; and after the fall of the capital, and consequent destruction of the Turkish power here, they could never again be re-assembled. It is, however, probable, that a desultory Numidian resistance would be made, and continued for some time, in the interior, which it would be the province of policy rather than force to reduce. On the reduction of the city of Algiers, it ap pears probable that all the semi-civilized Moors, and even the Turks, would immediately submit to a government established upon the broad basis of respect for existing prejudices, and affording pro tection to all professions of faith, as well as to persons and property. Under such a dispensation there is no reason to suppose that this description of inhabitants would not become as quiet citizens, as the corresponding. classes in Calcutta and Ma- drass ; for there does not appear to be any thing' in Mohammedan faith more contrary to civilization and social order than in any other religion, when unconnected with the strong arm of power. The 176 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. greatest grievance which the inhabitants of this country have to complain of, is the almost total prohibition to export the products of their soil and industry ; the removal of this grievance would probably conciliate all the African tribes, as it would almost immediately create abundance, and comparative wealth. The materials of Avar existing in this capital, together with the public treasury, the fruits of three centuries of depredation on the trade of the world, and which has been rated as high as fifty millions of dollars, would naturally, in such an event, become the prize of the conquerors, and in all probability would be equal in amount to all the expenses of the conquest. It would appear presumption in me to attempt to fix the amount of force that the conquest and occupation of this country would require. If it were undertaken by Great Britain, she would find in the memoirs of her wars and conquests in Asia, precedents for every thing that could occur here. SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 177 CHAPTER VII. Extracts from the Jotirnal kept in the Consulate of the Uniteb States at Algiers. DISTURBANCE BETWEEN THE KABYLES AND ALGERINES ; THE AMERICAN CONSUl's PROTECTION OF HIS KABYLE SER VANTS ; PROTEST OF THE FOREIGN CONSULS ; DIFFEREN CES OF THE BRITISH CONSUL WITH THE GOVERNMENT OF ALGIERS ; HE IS COMPELLED TO LEAVE THE CITY, AND HIS AFFAIRS ARE ENTRUSTED TO THE AMERICAN CONSUL ; ATTEMPTS AT A CONCILIATION BETWEEN THE BRITISH ADMIRAL AND THE ALGERINE GOVERNMENT ; OBSTINACY OF THE BASHAW ; INTERVIEW OF THE AMERICAN CONSUL WITH THE BASHAW ; BRITISH BLOCKADING SQ,UADRON STATIONED IN THE HARBOUR ; FINAL SETTLEMENT OF DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE BRITISH AND ALGERINES, ON VERY EXTRA ORDINARY GROUNDS ; AMERICAN VESSEL WRECKED ON THE BARBARY COAST, AND THE OFFICERS AND CREW REDEEMED FROM SLAVERY BY THE CONSUL ; DUTCH NEGOTIATION AT ALGIERS. 1823. October 22c?. News was received here yesterday of a rupture between the Kabyles in habiting the mountains of Boujaiah and the govern ment of that place. In their first hostilities several were killed on both sides, and a Turkish MuftiVas made prisoner and carried into the mountains as a hostage. The little community in question furnish, on the faith of their treaties with the Regency, many labourers to Algiers, and particularly domes tic servants to the Consular families, by whom they are esteemed for their fidelity and cleanliness. 23 178 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. This, day a message was received from this gov- ^nment^at all the Consulates, by their respective drogomans, requiring that all the individuals of the little nation in question, in their service, should be delivered up, to be treated as prisoners of war, as rebels, or as hostages, as the case might be. The Consul was at this time on a visit to the British Consul in the country ; the drogoman was there fore informed that no message could be given un til his return. In the mean time, the Kabyles were obtained, as demanded, at the Consulates of Sweden, Denmark, and Sardinia, by either fraud, force, or persuasion. The British Consul, who had a number of these unfortunate people in his service, replied with becoming dignity, that he would never consent to deliver up his domestic servants, grounding his refusal upon the laws of nations, and the usages of this country, where the rights of hospitality are regarded as sacred, and form, indeed, the only barrier against indiscrimi nate violence. In the course of the day three several messages were received at the British Consulate, all requir ing their delivery, and alleging various plausible pretexts for insisting upon it ; but all were firmly refused. On returning home, the Consul visited in his way the Consul of France, and found that he had made the same plea, but he appeared undeter mined as to what he should do if the demand were persisted in. SKETCHES OF ALGIERii, .-—==^179 -tl >' 2Sd. This day the drogoman came^ti^iitbr-a se&s^^ ond message of the most friendly character, imply ing, that this government, sensible of the inconve nience of the Consul's being deprived of his family servants, who, doubtless, could not be easily re placed, desisted from demanding the Kabyles under his roof, requesting only that he would prevent them from appearing in the streets, where they might be arrested, according to general orders giv en to that effect. To this message the Consul returned a suitable reply. 2'ith. Several messages were in the course of this day sent to the British Consulate, requiring the delivery of the Kabyles, but without effect It is reported that the French Consul discharged those in his service, advising them to lake care of them selves. This man, educated in the Levant, is im bued with incomprehensible prejudices ; he speaks the Turkish language fluently ; talks much and plausibly, but he cannot with safety be relied on. 25th. This morning, before the Consul was up, the drogoman came and reported, that the Regency were determined to have delivered up to them the Kabyles who had taken refuge in the different Consulates ; that the Hasnagee, in consideration of the friendship sO long subsisting between him and the Consul, had done his utmost to obtain an exemption in his favour, but without effect, and now advised his friend to avoid inevitable violence, by delivering up the men in question, assuring him 180 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. that they should be kindly treated, and returned to him in the course of a few days. The Consul directed his steward to say as from himself to the drogoman, that he could not be visible before nine o'clock as usual ; that it was well known that he would never consent to deliver up the men demand ed ; and in the mean time, he, the drogoman, as an intelligent public servant, should take such steps as he thought likely to succeed, to avoid the de mand being insisted on, and the scandal that might ensue. In the mean time, an interpreter, M. Bensamon, was sent for, and at nine o'clock, the drogoman returned with a positive demand for the delivery of the Kabyles, and a most earnest request from his ancient friend the Hasnagee, that he would comply with it, assuring him that strong, armed detachments had gone to the British and French gardens, to carry into execution the same requisi tion there, and that an armed party was actually stationed at the door of this Consulate for the same purpose. The Consul charged the drogoman to return his sincere thanks to the Hasnagee for his friendly attempts to serve him, and with the proper compliments to the other public authorities, to say that they required of him what he could not agree to without both public and private dishonour ; that the rights of hospitality were held sacred by the Turks and the Arabs, as fundamental laws, and should be respected here, as far as it depended on SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 181 him ; that he was unable to repel force by force, and should not attempt to oppose the armed public authority, but if they obtained the men in question, they must seize and drag them from the most sa cred part of his dwelling. He then called the Ka byles and placed them in his cabinet. The drogoman shortly after returned from the Minister of Marine and Foreign Affairs, accompa nied by an officer, who remained at the door, with the guards ; he brought the most soothing assuran ces from the Minister, of good treatment of the men, and of their being speedily returned to him, and the most earnest entreaties that he would not resist a positive order of the Bashaw, that must be executed at whatever hazard ; to which the drogo man added all his own eloquence of tears and la mentation. The Consul replied, that the Bashaw and his ministers had nothing within their power that could engage him to shrink froin his duty, and dishonour the post that was confided to him ; that if the men in question were taken from him, it must be by seizing and dragging them by force from the position where they then were at his feet ; and if such were the determination of the govern ment, the sooner the deed were done the better. The drogoman, finding the Consul inflexible, de parted, and shortly after the guards were with drawn. Information was subsequently received that the British Consular house in town had been forcibly 182 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. entered, and two of the people in question seized and confined to hard labour in chains. Rather late this evening, further information was received, that an armed party had proceeded to the British garden, and made a peremptory demand of the delivery of the Kabyles employed there, which the British Consul firmly refused, placing the national seals on his doors, and displaying his flag over them ; not withstanding which, late in the day, and by a pos itive order of the Bashaw, they broke the seals, forcibly entered, and ignominiously searched his house, not even respecting the apartments of his wife and daughters, his sacred harem ! This in Mohammedan countries, is the greatest insult that can be offered, and never occurred during the ex asperated civil wars of the Mamelukes in Egypt. It is now correctly known that yesterday the French Consul, after having an interview with the Minister of Marine, returned home, when he called his Kabyles, whom he paid off and discharged from his premises, in presence of his drogoman and Guardian ; that is, he indirectly delivered them up, and thereby abandoned all pretension of his gov ernment to vindicate the laws of nations in Algiers. 21th. The Consul was this day consulted by the British Consul on the propriety of drawing up a general protest against the late violent proceedings here. He replied that he was ready to enter into any measure that might be thought advisable, with him, the British Consul, but that he declined act- SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 183 ing in concert with men who had shrunk from their duty and abandoned their posts. 28th. Every thing appearing quiet, the Consul went out to tbe British garden, where he met the Consul of Holland, and learnt from him with much pleasure, that the honour of his post had been maintained. On learning what was passing he as sembled his Kabyles and offered to them their choice of remaining under the protection of his flag, or of escaping. They chose the latter, and his premises were not violated. It is also necessary to mention, for the honour of Denmark and Sweden, that the Consulate of the former was vacant here under the charge of a Guardian only, and that of the latter was administered by a Secretary in the absence of the Consul on leave. Arrived the Algerine squadron of eight sail of ves sels of war from the Levant. November 26th. The British Consul continuing to testify a wish that a general protest should be entered into against the proceedings of the Regen cy from the twenty-second to the twenty-fifth of last month, the Consul, to avoid any appearance of sel fishness, finally consented to concur in it, on the condition that he should not be required to sign any paper which should contain any thitig contrary to his own views of the subject. Accordingly all the Consuls met by appointment this day at the country residence of the Consul of Holland, when a project of a protest offered by the Consul was accepted nem. con. 184 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. December 2d. All the Consuls assembled to-day at this Consulate, where they breakfasted, and sign ed a protest against the proceedings of this govern ment from the twenty-second to the twenty-fifth of October last, which at one o'clock they present ed in a body to the Minister of Marine and For eign Affairs ; which he received and promised to communicate to the Bashaw. l^th. This day the Consul is informed on suffi cient authority that the two young men who have found protection under this roof have been condemn ed to death, and ordered by the Bashaw to be in stantly executed if caught without these walls. 21th. Arrived, and anchored in the bay, two Neapolitan frigates, which after communicating with the British Consul, departed on the same day. 1824. January 9th. Arrived a British schooner from Smyrna with sixty recruits. On the arrival of this vessel some Algerines went on board, and for some unknown reason, grossly insulted and even beat the master in an outrageous manner. 10th. Sailed an Algerine squadron consisting of two frigates, a polaccre corvette, a brig, and a schooner, on a cruise under the command of Musta pha Rais. These vessels, on departing, hoisted the Spanish flag under their respective bowsprits, which is regarded here as a declaration of war. 12th. Arrived a French schooner of war from Toulon in five days. SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 185 16th. The Consul of France communicated to t*he Consul a copy of an official letter from him self to the British Consul, announcing that his government viewed with the utmost indignation, the conduct of the Regency towards the foreign agents here in October last ; that they regard the foreign Consulates in Algiers, as inviolable, and direct him to act in concert with the British Con sul in any measure that he may be instructed to adopt in consequence of those events, should it even lead to war. This note was also immediate ly communicated by the British Consul. 24^^. Arrived an Algerine schooner from their squadron with a prize under the Spanish flag. This event excites the most enthusiastic joy in the Algerine populace ; they hail it as a new era of pros perity in Algiers, '21th. The British Consul sent his drogoman to remonstrate against the officers and crew of the prize brig being treated as slaves, as contrary to the provisions of the treaty of 1816. To this message the Bashaw ' replied distinctly, that the treaty in question was concluded for the term of three years only ; thafthe Spanish officers and crew were al ready in chains as slaves ; and that from this day Christian slavery began anew in Algiers ! 28th. Arrived and anchored in the bay the Brit ish frigate Nay ad, the Honourable Captain Spencer, detached from the Tagus with despatches for the British Consul relative .to the affair of October last. 24 186 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. He confidentially communicated his instructions from his government to the Consul ; they distinct ly approve his conduct, and have sent him addition al articles to the treaty, to which the signature of the Bashaw is required, and by which all the rights called in question in that affair are unequivocally stipulated for upon the broadest basis. 29th. Arrived two other Spanish vessels of small value, prizes to the Algerine squadron. The Con sul is informed that the Dey hesitates at signing the articles presented to him by the British Consul ; he affects to believe that they are not authentic, on account, as he pretends, of their wanting the proper seal of office, &c. As they are imperative, they cannot be modified. The Consul is confidentially informed, by the British Consul, of his intention to embark his family, which he strongly recommends ; as, if the question as yet in dispute should even be amicably settled, that respecting the renewal of slavery in Algiers is of a fundamental character, and of the utmost importance to Great Britain ; and as, since it cannot be known what measures she may adopt in consequence, those interesting persons might be detained as hostages. The Consul at tended the ladies of the British family, with all the children, on board the Nayad on pretence of breakfasting with Captain Spencer, with the Con suls of Sweden and Holland, and the lady of the latter. They returned at two, and at the entrance of the port they met, with surprise, the British Consul going off with Captain Spencer. SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 187 The Consul was subsequently informed by a note from the British Consul, that the negotiations would in future be conducted on board the Nayad, and that no part of the sine qua non of his govern ment woul,d be ceded ; recommending to the Con sul's care and protection his servants, houses, and all effects whatever, left in Algiers, in case of a failure of the negotiations. Mrs. McDonell and her fami ly having embarked nearly destitute of all necessa ries, even linen, the Consul recommended to the person having charge of the British Consul's do mestic affairs, to pack up their effects ready for embarkation, to demand permission through the drogoman to send them on board, and in case of refusal, which appears improbable, to apply to him. It has been signified to the Regency by Captain Spencer, that the Nayad will wait for a definitive answer until Saturday noon, this being Thurs day. SOth. No remarkable occurrence this day. It is reported that a Divan is held at the palace for the discussion of these important transactions. Qlst. The Bashaw sent off this morning by the Port Admiral, Hadji Ali Rais, who is esteemed for his intelligence and liberal views, a message that seemed much in favour of peace. He renounced distinctly, the pretension of reducing the Spanish prisoners to slavery, and promised that they should be liberally treated as prisoners of war ; that the instrument sent him should be signed ; and he even 188 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. pleaded but feebly for the question of hoisting the flag in town, which is the most obnoxious article. It appears that these questions were discussed yester day in Divan, where the Dey continued obstinate in the opinion that Algiers ought to cede nothing, but found himself compelled to yield to a majority of the whole. Under these appearances Captain Spencer landed, and a quantity of baggage belong ing to the British family which had been prepared by the Consul's order was sent off; he having pre viously informed this government by his drogoman, that the baggage in question, being composed of necessaries for women and children, against whom war ought not to be waged in any case, he hoped they would not refuse to let it go, as he should thep apply to send it off under his own flag. Subsequently, Captain Spencer sent by the Brit ish interpreter to say, that he regarded the negotia tions as ended, and wished to see the Consul. He informed him that the Algerines had assumed a very dry manner towards him ; that they would not cede the question of the flag, though they pleaded the most pacific feelings ; that the Bashaw would write a letter to the king of Great Britain, but that he preferred war to dishonour, &c. Captain Spencer, upon whom these negotiations appear to have now devolved, replied that, he having no discretionary powers, the Bashaw must sign unconditionally the papers submitted to him, or he should depart. They inquired if his departure would be a declara- SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 189 tion of war. He answered that he should follow his instructions, which he could not communicate. He renewed the recommendation to the Consul's care and protection, of every thing that Mr. McDonell is compelled to leave behind on this occasion. The Consulates of Naples, Portugal, Austria, and Tus cany, whicK were administered by the British Con sul, are left, together with his pecuniary affairs, in charge of a M. Louis Granet, who has been Ions; in his employment- Captain Spencer, after receiving the Consul's as surances that he would do every thing to meet the views of his friend, the British Consul, in anv con tingency whatever, that came within the range of his power and was compatible with his public duty, went on board, and by two o'clock the Nayad, together with a brig, the Camelion, which had join ed this morning, were under weigh. Previouslv to the departure of Captain Spencer, the Consul sent his drogoman to inform the Minister of Marine, that he knew that the departure of these ships would be a real commencement of war with Great Britain, the most powerful of maritime states, and that ruin to Algiers might ensue. This message was received with petulance by the Minister. As soon as the ships were under sail, the Consul went down to the ^Minister of ^Marine and Foreign Affairs, attended by his drogoman, and by M. Gran et as interpreter, and informed him that, as he. the Minister, well knew the relations of hospitality sub- 190 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. sisting between him and the late British Cousul, he would not be surprised at all his effects and con cerns here being left in his charge ; and that in consequence it was his intention to hoist the flag of the United States at the late British garden, which had been ceded to him, and generally to take under his care and protection every thing that had been left behind by Mr. McDonell. The Minister replied that the Bashaw would no doubt be satisfied with such an arrangement. The Consul answer ed that he thought he was exercising a right in doing so ; that he only came to announce that such was his intention, and to request that he would fur nish the necessary guardians for the security of the premises, &c. He remarked to him at the same time, that private friendships had nothing to do with public war ; that the Minister well knew that as an American, it must be indifferent to the Consul what the nature of the relations of this Re gency with Great Britain was ; in short, that he was a friend to both parties ; that he knew his rights and should exercise them. The Minister acquiesced, and gave orders accordingly. The Consul immediately gave orders to send up the flag and arms of the United States to the British villa, and proceeded there himself, and took pos session at about four o'clock. At this time an Algerine cruiser, a small polac cre corvette, was seen in the offing, and the British vessels in chase ; at about a quarter before five SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 191 they were within musket range, and fast closing, when they began a constant fire upon the Algerine, who bore it with uncommon fortitude, until a quar ter before six, when darkness screened him from our view, and the firing seemed to have ceased. At five o'clock a shot was fired from the marine batteries, and a flag hoisted, probably as a signal that war existed. The resistance made by this Algerine, for he occasionally returned the fire, was really astonishing, and would do credit to any service aBit appeared that during three quarters of an hour, the British ships were firing upon him within half pistol shot, without compelling him to surrender. February 1st. This morning the drogoman, and American servants arrived at the garden with the flag and arms of the United States, which at nine o'clock, replaced those of England over the late British Consulate in Algiers. The drogoman brought the Consul a friendly message from the Bashaw, implying his satisfaction at his taking possession of the abdicated premises of the late British Consul, and assuring him of full protection in the same. He added, however, that the Consul of the United States was the only person in Al giers whom he would permit to do so. The poor Algerine is seen anchored in the bay totally dis mantled, and firing signals of distress. He was towed in, in the course of the day. It is reported that he lost four men killed and eight wounded : 192 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. which small loss can be accounted for only from the crew having run below. The British disarm ed the vessel, took out the commander and seven teen Spanish prisoners, anchored her in the bay, and abandoned her. They are not in view this morning. 2d. The drogoman who had been employed on a message from M. Granet, respecting the Con sulates left in his charge, returned, and reported that the said M. Granet, not having come to this country as Consul or Vice-Consul of anv. nation, could not be received in any such character in the case in question. That he could, if he chose, re main as secretary to the Consul, who would be regarded as the responsible person in any case oc curring relating to those Consulates. Arrived an Algerine brig from a cruise, with a small Spanish schooner, prize to the same. 3d. In consequence of the message of yesterday, the Consul went down to the Marine, attended by his drogoman, and Mr. Bensamon, as interpreter, and represented to the Minister, that he presumed, from the message of yesterday, that his position here had been misapprehended ; that it was his duty to render every friendly, independent service in his power to officers, and even private subjects of governments at peace and amity with the Unit ed States, in cases of emergency ; but that the laws of the United States forbade, on very severe pen alties, his meddling with any political affair, where SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 193 the United States are not a party, and then only under the instructions of the President. That he should be very happy to render to the government of Algiers, or to either or all of the august sove reigns in question, any service depending upon him, that is consistent with his paramount duty ; yet if such were their desire, which, in this in stance, could not be the case, for they did not even know that such a person as himself existed, he could not accept of any employment or commission, implying obedience or responsibility to any other authority than his own government. The Minister remarked that so many Consulates ought not to remain unrepresented ; to which the Consul replied, that this was a case in which he could not even give an opinion. The affair was compromised on the above principles, namely, that M. Granet should be regarded as secretar} to the Consul, and in that character be permitted to attend to the affairs of the Consulates in question, under the instructions which he held, and in case of any difficulty, which is very improbable, the Consul should give his ad vice as a common friend. Shortly after this interview, the Bashaw sent a most friendly message by the drogoman to the Consul, thanking him for the arrangement made with the Minister, and saying that he expected only, as M. Granet was now under the American pro tection, that he, the Consul^ would aid him with his advice, when wanted, as he was anxious that 25 194 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. those Consulates should not suffer in their affairs, through the absence of their legal representative. The Consul is now informed that the British Consul and Captain Spencer would have been ar rested by the Algerines if they had believed them in earnest. Ath. Arrived a small Sardinian vessel from Mar seilles, bringing private letters, newspapers, &c., for the Consul. By this vessel arrived a number of packages of trees, plants, family stores, and some valuable articles of merchandise, intended for the Neapolitan present due next spring, for the late British Consul ; all of which were landed under the franchises of this Consulate, without inquiry, and placed in safety. 8th. Arrived in the bay, and without communi cating, sailed the same day, a Dutch brig of war, from Mahon. By this vessel, the Consul is in formed of the squadron of the United States being in that port. 10th. The Consul is informed, from his ancient friend the Hasnagee, that the British Vice-Consul at Oran having been arrested, and seals of seques tration put upon all his property and effects there, on his, the Hasnagee's, representing to the Bashaw that this person was also the agent of the Consul General of the United States, an express was forthwith despatched with orders to set him at liberty, and to respect him as the American Agent. The Consul made up a packet of despatches to the SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 195 Secretary of State, under cover to the Minister in London, to be forwarded by an imperial brig that sails to-morrow for Leghorn. 11th. Arrived in the bay a French squadron of four frigates and a sloop of war.> 12^A. The French squadron in the bay in com munication with their Consul, and at the same time arrive two Algerine frigates from a cruise. The French Commodore landed, and was refused admittance at the palace with his side arms ! It has been omitted to remark before, that the same was refused to Captain Spencer ; which is a new pretension, the Consul having introduced many American officers to the Bashaw, and always with their arms. In the evening, the Commodore returned on board, and the squadron departed ; they are from Tunis, and brought letters from Doctor Heap, Charge d'Affaires of that Consulate. 13^^.. The Consul is informed that the Consul of France, taking advantge of the actual state of affairs, and of the presence in the bay of a squadron of his nation, demanded of this government the decision in his favour of a question respecting the right to a house and garden in Bona, the actual residence of the British Vice-Consul there, that had been seven years in litigation between the French and British governments ; which was granted, and an order for their occupation by France given ac cordingly. 196 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. I4th. The Consul sent M. Bensamon to the offi cers of this government who are accessible to him, to say from the Consul, as a neutral friend, that in his opinion they ought to reflect that they are at war with a great and powerful nation ; that unless they are determined to push this war to the utmost extremity, in which case he would not intrude any counsel or advice whatever, they ought, in good policy, to refrain from any measure that has an ir ritating tendency, and may make the breach wider ; that the delivery to the French Consul of the house at Bona, under the actual circumstances, would be regarded by Great Britain at least as an aggravation, and might probably shut the door to an easy ar rangement of subsisting difficulties ; that on the part of the French Consul, it was a wide departure from the forbearance and generosity expected from all public agents in similar cases, and would not, in the Consul's opinion, be approved by his gov ernment. He therefore recommended to them, if peace was their object, to suspend this cession, and to refrain from any irritating measure whatev er, in the mean time. 15^^. M. Bensamon returned, and informed the Consul that he had delivered his message to the Aga, to the Admiral, and to the Master of the mint, who all appeared to feel its force, and immediate ly represented the case to the Bashaw, who ex pressed his conviction that he had been too hasty, and gave orders to suspend the cession in question. SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 197 The Bashaw and all his ministers sent a most friendly message to the Consul, thanking him for his advice, and requesting him to inform the Bri tish government of their readiness to do every thing practicable for the renewal of peace. The Consul, with suitable compliments, directed M. Bensamon to say further, that if they really desired peace, the best way to obtain it, would be to remove, voluntarily, every obstacle to it, and particularly, to send home the Spanish prisoners forthwith. 16th. Arrived a Sardinian brig from Leghorn, in which came passengers Mr. Carstensen, Danish Consul General, and his family. M. Bensamon came and informed the Consul, that his advice to the Regency had been kindly received, and that the Minister of Marine and Foreign Affairs wished to see him at one o'clock. At that hour, the Consul went down to the Marine, attended by his drogoman, and M. Bensamon as interpreter, and had a long private conference with the Minister and the Admiral. They opened the conference by the complimentary assurance that the Consul was the only man here, whom they could prudently consult in the present crisis of their affairs. He repeated what he had already said through M. Bensamon, which brought on a discussion of all the acts of this government, which have led to a state of actual hostilities with England ; in which he spoke with the utmost freedom, and thinks that be demonstrated their errors, and proved the neces- 198 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. sity of their adapting their policy to the great changes operating in the political, state of the world, as their pretensions to violate the rights of inde pendent states would certainly no longer be tolerat ed. If they really wished for a renewal of peaceful relations with their actual enemy, he recommended that they should refrain from every demonstration of useless hostility, and as far as was in their power, to remove all obstacles to a negotiation. He particularly urged that they immediately send home the Spanish prisoners, as in his opinion, the renewal of Christian slavery here, was the only question in dispute of difficult adjustment. He assured them that in his opinion, the question of displaying the British flag in town would not be insisted on by that government, on representations being made to them that it was contrary to the religious prejudices and feelings of the people here. They listened with great attention and apparent complacency, to all these arguments, except that relating to their sending home the Spanish prison ers, which they discovered great reluctance to agree to, and proposed that the Consul should write in their favour to the British government. He explained to them the impossibility of such an in terference, but assured them that as a neutral friend, he should ever be ready to render them any ser vice in his power, that was compatible with his public'*character. They requested him to forward a letter from the Bashaw to the British govern- SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 199 ment, which he informed them he would do through the Minister of the United States in London, re minding them of the dangers of the sea, and un certainty of the mail. 11th. The drogoman brought a despatch, purport ing to be from the Dey of Algiers, and addressed to Earl Bathurst, which the Consul put under cov er to Mr. Rush, with a letter suited to the occasion. Yesterday" the Consul received a letter from his agent in Oran, who is also the British Vice-Consul there, advising him of his arrest, and the seizure of all his property in a manner the most rigorous. The Consul complained of this violation of the rights of his agent, who is not an English man. The Minister replied that orders had al ready been sent several days since to restore him to entire liberty, as agent of the Consul of the United States, and gave him a written order for the resto ration of a brig that had been seized on account of its bearing the British flag, on his proving to the Bey of that province, that she is bond fide his property. 21s^ Sailed a small Sardinian bombard for Marseilles. By this occasion the Consul forward ed the despatch from this government above men tioned, under cover to Mr. Rush. 22d-. Appeared in the bay a British line-of-bat tle ship, with a Vice-Admiral's flag. 2Sd. The British Admiral still in the bay, with a frigate that joined during the night. ' The Min ister of Marine sent for the Consul, and requested 200 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. him to go off as a common friend, to inquire of the British Admiral the object of his mission here, and assure him of the pacific dispositions of this gov ernment. The Consul requested written notes for his guidance and instruction on this delicate subject. The Minister replied, that as the Consul was well acquainted with all the questions in dispute in the case in question, they left it to his own honour and discretion to say what he thought proper. The Consul then went off, attended by his dro goman, M. Bensamon as interpreter, and Mustapha Rais, Captain of the Port. On arriving on board the Revenge at two o'clock, he was politely re ceived by Vice-Admiral Sir Harry B. Neale, Cap tain Spencer, of the Nayad, and the late Bri tish Consul. Having nothing to communicate, except the expressed pacific dispositions of this government, his having forwarded for them a des patch to Lord Bathurst, through the American le gation at London, and the safe condition of the late British Consul's establishment and effects left in his charge, he confined his mission to inquiring the intentions ' of the British Admiral, who very frankly communicated them in writing as follows : " Great Britain considers herself at this moment as being at war with Algiers. The Admiral has no instructions, except to enforce a rigid blockade, and to proceed to all measures of hostility, until the Dey shall consent to sign the declaration which was submitted to him by His Majesty's Agent and SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 201 Consul General." After settling, as he was au thorized to do with Vice-Admiral Neale, that flags should be reciprocally respected in case of active hostilities, for which the Consul pledged himself on the part of this government, and receiving the Admiral's thanks for his attention to British inter ests in Algiers, he returned on shore at sunset. He sent, through his interpreter and the Captairi of the Port, the result of his mission to the Ba shaw, with a sealed letter from the Admiral, which he assured him was to the same effect. 2^th. A cutter has joined the British squadron in the bay during the night. The Consul being confined to his bed by a severe nervous headach, could not attend a conference with the Minister of Marine as was requested by a messenger, who re turned and informed him from the Minister, that two fishing boats had been seized and detained by the British .ships during the night, that he dared not send a boat off for fear of detention also, with out the interference of the Consul, and requested that he would write to the Admiral. He,' being too unwell to write, offered, to pledge himself for the safety of the Algerine flag, or if they preferred it, he offered, them his own, which was accepted. The message sent off by the drogoman of the tJnited States, the Captain of the Port, and M. Bensamon, was, as he is informed from the Min ister, an agreement to every thing demanded, ex cept the right to display the flag in town, which 26 202 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. they have referred, by their despatch, to the British Ministry, and which, rather than cede, they appear willing to take all the chances of a war with Great Britain. 25th. This day the Admiral left his anchorage in the bay. The Consul, finding that a majority of the Al gerine cabinet are in favour of peace with Great Britain, determined to use all his influence in pro moting this object He therefore instructed M. Bensamon to warn the Minister of Marine and the Admiral of the danger of their position ; to repre sent to them that it was ridiculous for them to pretend to contend in arms with Great Britain; and that if the questions in dispute, which were of easy adjustment now, once became national, this war must necessarily terminate in the ruin of Al giers.- These hints were kindly received. 21th. This morning the Consul met the Aga by appointment, for the ostensible object of legalizing a contract, when he exposed to him with the ut-^ most freedom the dangerous position in which Al giers stood ; that there was no proportion in the strength of the parties ; that there was no dis honour in ceding to superior force ; and that if Great Britain once engaged in this war, no man could pretend to say what conditions of peace she might require of Algiers. The Consul had the satisfaction to find that the Aga, who is really a man of merit, understood him exactly. He ex- SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 203 pressed his wish that peace with Great Britain might be obtained through a cession of the terras demanded, and he conjured the Consul, by every thing he held dear, to persevere in the good work which he had undertaken, by which, in his opin ion, he would become the saviour of the country, and attach him, the Aga, personally to him forever. The Aga begged that the Consul would seek some pretext for an interview with the Bashaw, as he assured him that neither he, nor any other person in Algiers, dared to represent the truth to him. The Consul consequently sent to ask an audience of the Minister of Marine, whom, it being Friday, he knew to be in the palace, on the pretext of con sulting him respecting his own personal safety, in case of an attack, it having been ascertained that the house which he inhabits is mined by a powder magazine. This Minister had evidently received new impressions, and the conference was void of interest, or any useful effect. From this interview, the Consul passed to a requested audience of the Bashaw. His Highness received him with much civility, and affecting a gay, jovial humour, joked him on his apprehension of danger from shells, which, according to his Highness' notions, are very harmless baubles. The Consul, alleging his solicitude, as representing here perhaps the most friendly power, for the danger which he thought he saw pending over Algiers, advanced with en tire freedom the same arguments which he had so successfully used with the Aga. 204 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. These were replied to by others drawn from the most absurd notions of fatalism, and a ridiculous fatuity. The Bashaw remarked that the Consul ought, through his studies of ancient history, to be acquainted with the " fate of Nimrod, the most powerful monarch that ever existed, and who per ished by the stinj; of a fly ;" and then raising his turban, he affirmed that the destiny of every man was indelibly imprinted by the hand of Allah upon his front. The Dey even declared, that though he wished for an honourable peace with England, yet to obtain it he would never consent to the return of the late British Consul in that character here. It is worthy of remark that the gentleman in question has a large family of small children, is passionately fond of gardening and rural pursuits, and has never been noted for any abuse of power here. This prince, imbued with notions of fatal ism, must have also listened to some fatal counsel. The truth is, that all argument is lost upon him, and he will probably run wilfully into ruin. On this occasion, the Bashaw assured the Consul in the most impressive manner, of his confidence in the integrity of his intentions, and that in any event whatever, he might rely upon all the protec tion in the power of his government to give to his person and every thing under his charge; these assurances have also been repeatedly made by all the ministers. SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 205 March 2d. A frigate from the blockading squad ron came in under a flag of truce, and sent a boat in. The object of this flag appears to have been only to land a negro woman taken in a prize. Two brothers, who had served in the Levant, be lieving themselves skilful in the composition of fire works, on their first essay of a rocket of their in vention, blew themselves up this day, and mutilated a third person. ^th. Arrived a French frigate from Toulon. From some mistake respecting the character and intentions of this vessel, she was fired into by the British Admiral. 1th. Arrived a French schooner of war from Toulon, after examination by the blockading squad ron. The squadron has been fluctuating in num ber during several days past ; to-day it consists of the Admiral and six frigates. This day Sidi Hamedan, nephew to the master of the mint, and a principal merchant here, called on the Consul in the country, from the Aga and his uncle, to ask his opinion as to what they ought to do in the present dangerous crisis of their affiirs ; the Ba shaw remaining inflexible in his determination to brave the power of Great Britain. The Consul referred him to opinions which he had already given, and as to the inflexibility of the Bashaw, he recommended a deputation of the most illustri ous and respectable characters in the city, to con jure his Highness to listen to reason, and spare the 206 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. lives and fortunes of his subjects, by a timely ar rangement with a power that they are incapable of resisting. The Consul is informed by this person, that the letter from the Bashaw to the British gov ernment, which he lately forwarded at his request, contains the offensive condition relative to the re turn here of the late British Consul. He express ed to him his indignation at being thus deceived ; it being contrary to an express stipulation. He declared that if this government expected him to serve them in their affairs, they must treat him with candour and confidence, for that otherwise he should confine himself to his own, and no more interfere with theirs ; it being contrary to his principles and to his duty, to serve one party to the prejudice of the other. 8th. It is reported to the Consul that the Aga disapproves of the deputation recommended yes terday, as being likely to irritate the Bashaw's temper, and confirm him in his obstinate determi nation. , 10th. The mission of the French ships here is shrouded in mystery, though it is pretended to be serious. The truth is, that the French policy here, since 1815, has ever been of so mawkish a charac ter, and conducted in so scandalous a manner, as to inspire little interest, and no confidence. The Consul delivered a packet of despatches for Mr. Rush, under cover to Baring, Brothers, & Co. London, to the Consul of France, to go by the SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 207 French schooner now in the bay, whose departure is announced for to-morrow. 13th. Sailed the French frigate and schooner, the latter for Toulon. On board of the former were embarked the Spanish prisoners, who have been delivered to the French Consul, as prisoners of war, to be accounted for on the principles of exchange, if the war continues with Spain. As the Consul is informed, the Regency agrees to ac cept the mediation of France in her differences with Spain, on the condition that her claims against that power are recognised. It has been omitted to re- mark,that on the tenth, current, the Consul, having received information that the British Vice-Consul, and sundry British subjects at Bona, had been closely confined in irons, and in every respect treated with the utmost rigour, sent his drogoman to remonstrate against this unnecessary severity. The drogoman returned immediately with a civil message, importing that the severity complained of was unauthorized ; that an express had been des patched to Bona to order the immediate release of the persons in question, and that they be treated with all the indulgence compatible with their con dition of prisoners of war. 22d. The Consul despatched by express to Tan gier, through the agency of the Aga, despatches to the Secretary of State, Nos. 80 and 81, with a transcript of this Journal from January tenth to the twenty-first, current, under cover to the Consul in 208 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. Tangier, to be transmitted by way of Gibraltar, A schooner joined the blockading squadron last night, and this afternoon the Admiral anchored in the bay under a flag of truce, and sent a boat in with despatches for the Bashaw. 23d. The British Admiral still at anchor in the bay under a flag of truce ; he sent a boat in this evening, but nothing is known respecting his pro positions of either yesterday or to-day. Arrived in the bay a Dutch frigate from Mahon, by which the Consul received letters from Capt. Turner, of the United States' schooner Nonsuch, which is the first direct information he has received from . the United States' squadron, stationed in the Mediter ranean, since May of last year. 24th. Several flags passed this day between the British Admiral and the port! The jealousy of the Bashaw, inconsequence of finding himself in a solitary minority on the question in dispute be tween Great Britain and Algiers, has risen to such a height, that he will not employ any competent in terpreter ; and as he affects to believe the Admiral unauthorized either to make war or treat of peace, there appears to be a mutual misunderstanding. In this jealousy of the Bashaw, the Consul ap pears to be comprehended. The Consul received from the British Admiral, through this government, a London " Courier," of the tenth instant, which appears to have been sent for the purpose of prov ing that he has really received instructions from SKETCHES OP ALGIERS. 209 his government as late as that date, and which proves also, that the Algerines doubt his word, and the authenticity of his documents. 25th. Two flags passed this day between the British Admiral and the port. The only compe tent interpreter here, M. Bensamon, was not em ployed, as is supposed, for the above mentioned reasons. A reciprocal misapprehension certainly ex ists, in consequence, as the most absurd reports are circulated. 26th. A flag was sent in by the British Admiral ; and it is reported on sufficient authority, that the message was to inform the Regency distinctly, and once for all, that he was authorized to treat of peace with them, and appointed Saturday for re ceiving their answer. The Bashaw replied that he was ready to treat with the Admiral, on his exhibiting to him sufficient authority from his sovereign. 21th. A flag was sent in by the British Admiral, with a Captain of the squadron as his representa tive. After keeping this gentleman waiting above three hours, the Bashaw refused to see him, de claring that he would treat with the Admiral in person only, and provided that he was duly au thorized. The Regency have constantly refused to send commissioners on board the British squadron. 28^^. The Admiral landed, and had a conference with, the Bashaw. As it is reported, the latter continued to ex:press his doubts of the authority 27 210 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. of the former from his sovereign to either make war upon him, or to conclude peace with him. They finally agreed, however, upon all the condi tions of peace, except the return to his post of the late British Consul here, which the Bashaw posi tively and constantly refused to agree to. The Admiral Went on board, and in the evening sent in another flag. 29th. A flag was sent in this day from the Brit ish Admiral, on the return of which on board, he weighed anchor and left the bay. 30^^ M. Bensamon came and informed the Consul, that yesterday the Bashaw sent for him, and directed him to translate the British Admiral's letters. The first announced his being authorized to treat of peace with the Regency, and requested that Commissioners might be sent on board of the Revenge for' that purpose. Refused. The second announced, that through his great desire to obtain the object of his mission, he had commissioned a captain of his squadron, and sent him on shore with the necessary powers to treat with his High ness., Refused. The third was after his return on board from the conference with the Bashaw. It expressed his mortification at not having achieved peace ; that the refusal of the Bashaw to receive back the late British Consul, is a new insult to his government ; hopes that on reflection, the Bashaw will send off an answer favourable to the renewal of peace, which he would, wait for until the next day. SKETCHES OP ALGIERS. 211 The Bashaw directed M. Bensamon to write to the British Admiral on the back of one of his own letters, under his dictation, which, as he reported it, was in substance as follows. That he had not declared war against England, and does not be lieve that he had given any just cause for its being made by her against him ; that he was desirous of the restoration of peace, and willingly agreed to the terms that had been propounded to him by the Admiral, but that he would never, on any account whatever, consent to receive back here the late British Consul, Mr. McDonell. That he had just received information by express, of an attack made on the fifteenth instant by two British frigates, on his town and port of Bona, in which a neutral vessel was captured, much damage done, and sev eral of , his subjects killed and wounded ; which conduct he thought did not comport with the lan guage of the Admiral in conference with him the day before. This letter was written in bad English, signed by the Bashaw, and by his ex press order enveloped in a piece of dirty paper, and directed to the Admiral. The articles sent out for signature by the British government are the same as those first sent, with a modification, which relinquishes the right of displaying their flag in the city of Algiers ; with a separate article con firming the convention entered into here by Lord Exmouth in 1816, and renouncing forever the pretension to reduce any Christian captive to 212 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. slavery ; and guarantying the personal safety of all British subjects within the territory of Algiers. After making due allowa;nce for the arrogant petulance of barbarians, and for their ignorance of the. forms of diplomatic intercourse with other powers, the tameness exhibited by the British Admiral in this negotiation, offers but a very slen der guaranty for an honourable settlement of the actual war between Great Britain and Algiers. April 5th. Arrived and anchored in the bay a Neapolitan frigate, after communicating with the blockading squadron, with a Consul for Algiers. The Neapolitan Consul landed this day. The Consul offered to this person. Signer Magliolo, the hospitality of his house, until his own estab lishment is ready, which is accepted. The Con sul is informed that the Bashaw has finally yielded to the solicitations of the French Consul, and di rected that the house and garden at Bona be given up to him. 18^^. Early this morning, a French brig of war, that had passed the blockading squadron in the night, appeared in the bay, and a British frigate in chase ; at half past seven, the frigate fired several shots, when the brig tacked, and stood off to sea 'after the British ships. 20^^. Arrived and anchored in the bay, a Dutch corvette from Mahon, after communicating with the blockading squadron. The Consul is informed by this arrival, of the departure of the ships of the SKETCHES OP ALGIERS. 213 United States from that port sometime since, for Gibraltar. There is a strange partiality observed by the blockading squadron respecting the entry of public vessels into this bay, which seems irreconcileable with the laws and usages of war. May 9th. A frigate from the blockading squadron sent in a despatch for the Bashaw by a flag. 10th. Arrived a French schooner of war from Toulon in four days, after communicating with the blockading squadron. By this vessel the Consul received private letters and newspapers from his correspondents in Marseilles. 12th. It is reported to the Consul on sufficient authority, that the letter received by the Bashaw on the ninth instant, is from the British Admiral, who, having received fresh instructions from his government, again offers the conditions of peace which have been so often rejected by this Regency ; that the Bashaw immediately dictated a reply, by which, as heretofore, he agrees to every thing pro posed, except the return hither of the late British Consul, which he refuses on any conditions what soever. A flag was sent in, and received this re ply at three o'clock this afternoon. The Bashaw continues to doubt the British Admiral's authority to treat with him, and in this absurd belief he is countenanced by those who certainly know better ! The commander and officers of the French schoon er in the port breakfasted and spent the day with the Consul in the country. 214 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. ISth. Arrived and anchored in the bay, after communicating with the blockading squadron, a Neapolitan frigate, in eight days from Naples. By this vessel, the Consul received a friendly letter, with files of London papers, from the Honourable Captain Spencer of the British frigate Nayad, be fore this port. 16th. The commander and officers of the Nea politan frigate in the bay visited the Consul, and breakfasted with him in the country. The Consul of Naples remitted officially to the Consul a copy of a letter from his government to the Consul of the United States in Naples, by order of his Si cilian Majesty, expressive of his thanks for civili ties to his officers, and other services by the Consul in Algiers. 18th. The Consul completed a copy of this Journal from the twenty-first of March last to this date, which he despatched, under cover to the Minister in London, to the Secretary of State, to be sent to Marseilles, by the Neapolitan frigate in the bay. 20th. Delivered the above despatches to the Neapolitan Consul, to be confided to the Chevalier Balramo, commanding his Sicilian Majesty's fri gate in the bay, bound to Marseilles. Sailed the French schooner of war, the Torch. Arrived, and communicated with the Consul of Holland, a frigate and sloop x)f war of that nation. By this occasion, the Consul received letters from SKETCHES OP ALGIERS. 215 Commodore Creighton from Mahon, and through the politeness of the British Admiral, many private letters, newspapers, and a box of books, brought by him from Marseilles, and put on board of the Dutch sloop in the bay. Amongst these letters were three from the Minister in London,, of the nineteenth and twenty-third of March, and fourth ol April last The Consul communicated, by M. Bensamon, to the Aga and to the Admiral, a trans lation into Arabic of the letter just received from the Minister in London, which exposes the bad faith of this government towards him, when they engaged him to transmit their letter to the British government 21i'^. Sailed the Neapolitan frigate for Mar seilles. M. Bensamon returned this day with the thanks of the Aga and the Admiral, for the com munication made to them yesterday by the Consul, and assurances of their full confidence in his in tegrity and honourable motives of conduct, and of their entire concurrence in opinion with him res pecting the actual war. The Aga regretted that the Cousul's advice had not been followed at the time ; but now, considering the obstinate character of the Bashaw, he determines to leave him to his own counsel, and plainly insinuates his expectation, if not his wish, that he may fail in his unreasona ble pretensions. 29th. This day the Ramadan terminates, and is held by all Mussulmans as a high festival. The 216 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. Consul went down to the Marine, to pay his res pects to the Minister, as is customary on the occa sion, attended by his drogoman, and by M. Granet, who has been protected by this Consulate, in quali ty of the Consul's secretary, since the departure of the late British Consul. The Minister received him with the Cordial civility and attention which indicate respect and consideration. He inquired whether there were now any American ships of war in the Mediterranean, and why ihey had so long ceased to visit Algiers, as it was formerly customary for them to do. The Consul replied, that the American squadron had lately been reliev ed on this station, and that he was informed by letters from the Commodore, that the blockade had hitherto prevented him from visiting Algiers lately, but that he had determined either to come, or send a ship here in the first week in June next. The Minister remarked, that the blockade ought not to be an obstacle to his coming, as the British would certainly respect our flag. He discovered a great desire to ent^r into a discussion of affairs relating to the actual war, but this the Consul studiously evaded. June 3d. Arrived and anchored in the bay, the United States' sloop Erie, Captain Deacon, from Mahon, with despatches from Commodore Creigh ton, and was saluted as usual. On learning the state of things here, and by advice of the Consul, Captain Deacon determined to communicate. At SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 217 three o'clock, he landed, with the Consul, and was saluted with*five guns, as is customary. The Consul sent the drogoman to inform the Bashaw that if it was agreeable to him. Captain Deacon wished to have the honour of paying his respects to his Highness. To this the Bashaw sent a very civil message in reply, expressive of his satisfac tion at the proposal, and fixing one o'clock the next day for receiving the American commander and his officers. \th. At one o'clock, the Consul proceeded to the Casauba, and presented Captain Deacon, and a number of the officers of the Erie to the Bashaw, who received them with every demonstration of the most cordial civility. On his inquiring the news, the Consul informed him of the disaster of Governor M'Carthy, on the west coast of Africa, and that it was reported in Mahon, that Sir Harry Neale was waiting for the arrival of bomb vessels to attack Algiers. The Bashaw inquired if the Consul had received any intelligence from London respect ing the letter which he had forwarded from this government to Earl Bathurst. He replied that the letter was duly delivered, and that his own letter, written to the American Minister there at the same time, had also been communicated to Lord Ba thurst at his request, who expressed to the Minis ter, his dissatisfaction at the first, and his surprise that it did not correspond with the second. The Bashaw abruptly inquired what the Consul had 28 218 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. written. He answered, what he had been request ed to write by his Minister. The Bashaw com plained of the treatment he had received from the British government, and particularly, of alleged disrespect to him in not answering his letters ; he repeatedly asked the Consul's opinion of the ques tions in dispute, and seemed very desirous of , dis cussing all the causes of the actual war. The Consul, having no confidence in the interpreter on this occasion, pleaded his incompetency to give opinions, or to discuss such questions. On this visit, no objection was made to Captain Deacon and his officers wearing their swords in the Ba shaw's presence. 8/^. The Consul represented his actual situation here, which involves much attention and responsi bility to Captain Deacon, and requested that he would permit a young gentleman of his command, of good morals, and qualified as a clerk, to reside with him while the present state of affairs endures. He accordingly gave an order to Midshipman J. H. Pleasanton to report himself to him, and to remain attached to this Consulate until further or ders. Sailed the United States' ship Erie for Tu nis and Tripoli, and was spoken with in the offing by a ship of the blockading squadron. During the visit of the Erie here, the officers of. the Algerine government have behaved themselves with much civility and attention. SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 219 15th. The Consul having received, as a present from Captain Deacon, a very neat officer's rifle, of national manufacture, offered it, through M. Bensa mon, to the Aga, who is a most unexceptionable character, and very fond of arms. The Aga replied, that he held the compliment of a present from the American Consul in very great estimation, but it being well known that he had adopted the Consul's opinions respecting the actual war with Great Bri tain in their whole extent, he wished that the rifle might be sent to him privately. July 9th. During the last week, the blockading squadron of two frigates, has been successively aug mented by the daily arrival of vessels, in a manner that indicates a general rendezvous given off here to all the ships of the British Mediterranean squadron, at about this period. This morning, a vessel, that may be a store-ship or a bomb, towed by a steam vessel, that may also be a bomb, joined the block ading squadron. At evening, there were nine sail in sight. On the seventh instaijt a Dutch sloop of war, and a brig appeared in the bay ; the latter, apparently by permission, communicated with their Consul, but gave no intelligence. lO^A. This morning, the British Admiral in the Revenge was seen anchored in the bay ; he ap pears to have arrived in the night, unperceived by the blockading squadron. He left his anchorage at seven o'clock, and joined the other ships in the offing. The weather very foggy, and wind light. 220 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. It appears that the whole British force is not yet arrived. This morning the Algerines manoeuvred their flotilla of gun-boats in presence of the Ad miral. 11th, Early this morning, the Admiral anchored in the bay, at about three miles distance from the marine batteries, as near as it could be estimated from this position, and successively three frigates anchored in a double chequered line on each quar ter, south of the Revenge, at distances of about a cable's length. Early this morning, a French schooner of war appeared in the bay, and saluted the Admiral, but was not permitted to communicate with Algiers. In the evening, what appeared to be a bomb or store-ship, was towed in by the steam vessel, and anchored, but not in position. The Algerines manoeuvred a flotilla of twenty- seven gun-boats in presence of their enemy. 12th. A frigate anchored with the squadron in the bay this morning. They appear to be employ ed in taking angles, and are probably waiting for the arrival of bomb vessels. A cutter was detach ed and anchored rather far in advance towards the entrance of the port. This evening the Algerines sent out their flotilla to manoeuvre as usual, and judging the cutter within their reach, fired on her, at a quarter past six, when a general cannonade began between the squadron, the batteries, and the flotilla ; during which several shells were thrown by the Algerines, three of which were seen to explode SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 221 high in the air. This cannonade endured one hour, the shot falling short on both sides. It appears to have been provoked by the Admiral in order to as certain the range of the Algerine cannon, &.c. Thus hostilities have actually commenced here, and Great Britain cannot now recede without tarnishing her character. It is reported that the Bashaw has caused liberal donations of money to be distributed amongst the soldiers and seamen, and graduated rewards for acts of valour. 13^/j. Early this morning, the steam vessel was seen towing the store or bomb ship, out of the bay, and at about noon, when the sea breeze had freshened a little, the whole squadron weighed an chor, and stood out to sea, thus leaving us in doubt as to their ulterior intentions ; the most probable conjecture, however, is, that the Admiral is wait ing for the arrival of expected reinforcements. This evening the squadron consists of sixteen sail of vessels. It is reported that in the skirmish of yesterday, a man was killed and another wounded in one of the gun boats, and that three shot fell in the city, which implies that the British ships lay at a shorter distance than is above estimated. During the last two days, the heat has been excessive, the mercury fluctuating between eighty-two and eighty- eight degrees. l^th. Hazy weather, the mercury not rising above eighty-two degrees. Fourteen sail of Bri tish vessels were at several times counted in the 222 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. offing ; towards night they were reported to be twenty sail. This evening, as a contrast to the din of war, and the anxiety naturally produced by impending hostilities in such a country as this is, we were gratified with the spectacle of one of the most interesting phenomena in the economy of na ture. A Cactus grandiflorus in this garden began to bloom at sunset, and gradually expanding its ephemeral glory in a bright moonlight, filled the air, for many yards round, with its fragrant breath, in which the vanilla was sensibly predomi nant. 15th. During the greater part of this day, the horizon was covered with a dense fog, the ther mometer not rising above seventy-eight degrees, and the wind northerly. At about five in the eve ning, the haze partially clearing away, sixteen sail of British vessels were discovered in the offing. The beautiful flower that bloomed last night, was found closed this morning ; it withered and died before evening. 16th. Hazy weather, thermometer seventy-seven degrees, and wind easterly. The British squadron was discovered at several times in the day, west ward of cape Caxin. The blockade of the bay appears to be abandoned. 17^A. Hot, hazy weather, thermometer at from seventy-seven to eighty-five degrees, and wind easterly. The British fleet occasionally in sight. SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 223 18^^. Hot, clear weather ; thermometer at from seventy-seven to eighty degrees, and the wind easterly. Arrived in the bay a Dutch line-of-battle ship and a frigate, the former with a rear admiral's flag ; they communicated with the Consul of their nation, without apparent notice of the British squadron. 24^/i. The British fleet, which has been aug menting in number during several days, appeared this morning, twenty-two sail, directly off the port, with all the usual demonstrations of intention to take positions of attack. The weather exceedingly pleasant, thermometer at seventy-five degrees, and wind east-northeast. At twenty-five minutes past eleven, the Admiral filled away, and the whole fleet in succession ; four bomb ships, and two large cutter bombs appear intended to bombard the place. At twenty-five minutes past one o'clock, a bomb ship anchored in position. At thirty minutes past one o'clock, the batteries and flotilla commenced firing shot and shells with great vivacity, when the Admiral displayed a flag of truce, and detached a boat under the same ; the fire on the part of the Al gerines continuing many minutes, and until silenc ed by a signal from the Casauba. At two o'clock, the Algerines met the British flag at the entrance of the port. At a quarter past four, an answer was returned to the Admiral's message ; and at six, an other flag was sent in by the Admiral. In the mean time, the British were employed in forming 224 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. their line of attack, and the steam vessel busily engaged in towing into their positions such ships as required her aid. The British ships are moored in a curved line, opposite the town, of at least a mile in extent. Their distances, with a list of the number and force of their vessels, will be noticed when better ascertained. 25th. Hot, clear weather, the mercury fluctuat ing between eighty and ninety degrees, and the wind easterly, occasionally varying towards the south. This day is spent by the belligerents in negotiation and messages. 26th. At six this morning, the Consul received a message from the Honourable Captain Spencer, requesting a meeting in town. He went down and met this gentleman at his own house, at eight, who informed him that the Bashaw had acceded to all the demands of his government, except the return of the late Consul to his post here, he pleading that though he had no personal objections to Mr. McDonell, that gentleman had rendered himself so odious to the populace, that if he should land, he could not be responsible for his safety against their fury. This plea is totally unfounded in fact, but one which it is true he might render real by his own authority, if he chose to accredit his veracity by ordering, in a manner that could not be detected, a furious mob to greet the British Consul on landing. But it must be also remarked, that this government is one of the strongest in the world, in all matters SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 226 of police. Instead of rendering the Algerine gov ernment responsible for the personal safety of the British Consul, which would appear to be the ob vious course with such a -force before the place, the Admiral, from motives of humanity, had refused to permit him to expose himself to such a danger, and appointed a Pro-Consul to administer the Consulate here in the mean time. Thus this preposterous expedition has ended in realizing the fable of the mountain in labour. In the Appendix will be found copies of the authentic documents relative to this peace, which demonstrate that its conditions are precisely those which were offered to the British Admiral in March last.* The British force before Algiers consists of one line-of- battle ship, five frigates, four bomb vessels, carrying two mortars each, three cutters of one mortar each, a steam vessel of one hundred horse power, several sloops, brigs, and store-ships, in all twenty-three sail ; that is, sufficient to raze Algiers to its foundations. Their active force is moored in a most admirable manner, in the form of a crescent, of about a mile and a quarter in extent, each vessel of which is at about four thousand yards' distance from the light-house. The Consul visited the Admiral on board the Revenge at noon, and was received by him with his usual urbanity, and requested to aid the Pro- * Appendix, K. 29 226 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. Consul going on shore, who is a young, inexperienc ed man, with his counsel and advice if necessary. He also met there his friend, the late British Con sul, who, at an advanced age, with a large family of small children, appears to be the destined victim of these strange negotiations. The Consul landed at two, with the British Pro-Consul, to whom he offered the hospitality of his house, until he can organize his own establishment, which is accepted. Thus has Hussein Bashaw, through his obstinacy in persisting in a course of policy contrary to the advice of all his council, raised himself to a degree of moral power and consideration, that few Dey^ of Algiers have attained in modern times. Here after his opinions will be regarded as oracles. 29th. The miscellaneous transactions of the last two days are of little moment ; the British squad ron breaking up and departing in fragments. Yesterday the Consul despatched a copy of this Journal to the twenty-seventh instant, through the British Admiral to the Minister in London, for the Secretary of State. This morning the Admiral landed and returned the Consul's visit, with Cap tains Spencer, Clifford, Sir Charles Burrard, and several other officers. They ^proceeded from this Consulate to the palace, to take leave of the Ba shaw ; on their return, they partook of a cold col lation with the Consul, and returned on board af three o'clock. Received despatches from the Charge d'Affaires of the Consulate at Tunis, to which the Consul replied by the^ British squadron. SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 227 31 sf. The Consul being desirous of ascertaining whether or not his credit had in any manner suf fered through the late events here, requested an audience of the Minister of Marine, and met him by appointment at eight this morning, attended by his drogoman, and by M. Bensamon as interpre ter, when he was received by the Minister in the most frank and cordial manner. After the usual compliments, he stated the object of his visit to be that of thanking this government generally, and the Minister in particular, for their kind and respectful treatment of him during the late war with Great Britain. The Minister replied, that the character of the American Consul was well known and du ly appreciated by this government ; that they be lieved the motives of his conduct had been disin terested, impartial, and' friendly ; that they never hesitated to comply immediately with any request made by him that regarded his own interests, or those immediately under his charge ; and if some of his advice, regarding only themselves, had not been followed, it was not through distrust of his motives in giving it. The Minister cited several cases of liberality in their conduct during the war, and complained that that of the British did not correspond to it. He expressed his pleasure at the British Pro-Consul being at his house, as he thought there was no person here so likely to give him use ful advice as the Consul. In short this conference was as cordial as could be desired. 228 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. The Consul availed himself of this occasion to state to the minister the case of M. Granet, the British Vice-Consul, whose longer residence here has been refused to the British authorities, as being the only man who is able to settle and liquidate Mr. McDonell's pecuniary concerns, which he is compelled to abandon ; and requested, as a personal favour, that he might be permitted to remain until he can arrange the affairs of this unfortunate family. The Minister hesitated, and then replied, that if the Consul were informed of the reports made to them of the offensive conversations of M. Granet, he would himself approve of his being compelled to quit the country forthwith ; but in consideration of him, M. Granet should be permitted to remain un der his special protection for the object in question ; but he repeated many times, that this was a favour which would not be granted to any other person in Algiers. The Consul rendered suitable thanks to the Minister for this proof of good will, and with out attempting to refute the charges made against M. Granet, merely remarked, that he was an old man, respectable for his integrity of character, though certainly too much inclined to idle talk, which had doubtless been greatly exaggerated, and was, in his opinion, not worth serious attention. He again repeated, that he pleaded the cause of a ruined family of women and little children, and felt in proportion grateful for the fi^vour. SKETCHES OP ALGIERS. 229 August 2d. This morning about one half of the officers of the British frigate Nayad, remaining in the bay, sixteen in number, landed for recreation, and were received at this Consulate ; a collation was prepared for them at two o'clock, and they returned on board in the evening. The Consul dined on board of the Nayad. 3^. This morning, the Honourable Captain Spencer landed, and breakfasted with the Consul. The remainder of the officers of the Nayad landed for recreation, and were entertained at this Con sulate as yesterday. They are a remarkably fine sample of British youth. Arrived, anchored in the bay, and communi cated with the Consul of Holland, a Dutch cor vette from Port Mahon. 5th. This day precedes the Grand Byram. The Consul paid his respects to the Minister of Marine in the morning, and to the Bashaw at one o'clock, as is customary on this occasion, and was by both received with much civility. Since the arrival of the British squadron, the weather has been excessively hot, the mercury in Fahrenheit's thermometer fluctuating from seventy-six to ninety degrees in this house, which stands upon the sea shore ; at several residences of European Consuls in the country, where the sea-breeze did not reach, it rose to one hundred degrees. 11th. Departed the British frigate Nayad, for Malta. Previously to his departure. Captain Spen- 230 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. cer sent a very polite letter of thanks to the Consul, for attentions to himself and officers during his stay here. The transactions of the British agents here, since the peace, are not of a character to merit any further notice in this Journal. 13th. Mr. Danford, the British Pro-Consul, hav ing resided in this Consulate since his landing in Algiers, left it this day to go and occupy his own establishment in the country. He is a young man of amiable manners, and of respectable character and talents. 14ith. The Minister of Marine inquired, through the national drogoman, if the Consul would give passports to Algerine cruisers, provisionally, for the vacant Consulates here, namely, the Austrian, Tus can, and Portuguese. He replied that he could not, it being absolutely incompatible with his duty. The same application was subsequently made to the Brit ish Pro-Consul, who, in consideration of the Consul ates in question having heretofore been represented by the British Consuls, on the advice of the Con sul, agreed to do so on the principle of international courtesy. 18^/t. This morning the drogoman reported to the Consul, that a vessel had been wrecked on a part of this coast, eastward of Boujaiah, where the jurisdiction of this government does not extend ; that seven white men and a negro, supposed to be Americans, were in possession of the Kabyles of that district, and that the Bashaw had immediately SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 231 taken such measures as the case requires, to liberate them. The Consul requested that every thing practicable, might be done to this effect, and if they should prove to be Americans, he would pay all reasonable expenses incident to their liberation. Despatched a copy of this Jbnrnal, to this date, to the Minister in London, under cover to Campbell, Lavers, &, Co., Genoa. 19th. Arrived, anchored in tlie bay, and com- TOonicated with their Consul, a Dutch squadron, under a Rear- Admiral's flag, consisting of a seven ty-four, a frigate, a sloop, and a brig. The Dutch Consul, on his return, informed the Consul, that the Minister of Marine told him, in a very uncere monious manner, that if Holland did not annul her treaty with Spain, relative to Algiers, and agree to pay annual tribute and presents as formerly, war would be declared against her. It is reported to the Consul, on sufficient authority, that the brig AA'hich has sailed this day for Genoa, carries a similar declaration to the government of Sardinia. 20/A. Landed the Dutch Vice-Consul for Mar seilles, by-whom the Consul received newspapers and private letters from his correspondents. The Bashaw fixes to-morrow for an audience to the Dutch Consul. 21st. The Dutch Consul and Vjce-Consul breaks fasted at this Consulate on their return from the Casauba. They inform that a letter had just been received by the Admiral from their government by ^32 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. the brig of the squadron which is from Marseilles, that notifies the dissolution of the treaty between the Netherlands and Spain, respecting Algiers, which they had just signified to the Bashaw, who nevertheless requires, as the price of peace, that Holland shall become tributary, and pay as other such powers do ; as the only favour, he offers three months' delay, for receiving the definitive determi nation of the government of the Netherlands. At eleven, the Dutch Consul went on board to consult the Admiral as to the reply proper to be made ; he returned to this Consulate in the evening, and reports that the Bashaw will write to the King of the Netherlands, requiring of him annual tribute, and biennial presents, and that ninety days will be granted to make his election between peace on these terms, and war. 22d. Sailed the Dutch Admiral, frigate, and sloop, leaving the brig to take the Consul's des patches. The Bashaw very kindly remarks, that if his good friend, the King of the Netherlands, agrees at once to his propositions, tribute and pres ents will be required only from this date ; but if he pushes him to war, no peace will thereafter be made without the payment of all arrearages ; that is, from the time when they ceased here, by the annexation of Holland to the French empire. The Dutch Consul, very properly, on this occasion, ventured an appeal to the faith of treaties which had been solemnly contracted ; to which the Ba- SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 233 shaw replied, that what was past could not then be discussed, for Algiers was simply entering into the possession of her ancient rights. The Consul is informed from a friendly, and as he believes, an authentic source, that the question of American re lations here, has also been agitated in the councils of the Regency, and if their actual enterprises suc ceed, the same terms will be propounded to the United States. 25th. This morning several Dutch officers landed and breakfasted with the Consul. At twelve, the commander of the Dutch brig embarked. By this occasion, the Consul sent despatches to the Min isters at London and Paris ; also the semi-annual accounts of this Consulate to the fifth Auditor, under cover to his correspondents in Marseilles. It has been remarked in this Journal, February third, that the Consul had received information from an authentic source, that the late British Consul and Captain Spencer would have been ar rested and detained, if the Bashaw had been aware of their intentions. The Consul has no reason to doubt that something like this may have been said at the time, but common justice compels him to say now, that the character of the Bashaw, as it has been developed in the course of the ridiculous war in question, forbids the belief that he would in any case, resort to such a measure. The fifth instant appears to have closed the term 30 234 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. of excessive heat this year. Since then, the mer cury has not risen above seventy-five degrees. 28th. Arrived and anchored in the bay, the Brit ish frigate Phaeton, Captain Sturt, from Malta, with the captain of the Algerine corvette, captured in February last, and a number of Algerines cap tured in the course of the late war. In the night there was a violent squall from the land, when the British commander appears to have thought it pru dent to put to sea. 31s^. Returned and anchored in the bay, the British frigate Phaeton. Captain Sturt, with his lady, and daughter. General Sir Parker Carroll, and a young clergyman, by the name of Radcliff, called on the Consul, and partook of a cold colla tion, at three o'clock. They returned on board in the evening. Arrived, a French brig from Marseilles, by which the Consul received from his correspondents files of Paris newspapers ; also, two small patent ploughs, some garden seeds, and books from New York. September 1st. Rais Cadore, commander of the Algerine cruiser captured by the British in Febru ary last, in full view of Algiers, called on the Con sul, who complimented him on the gallant defence made by him on that occasion, and made him a present of ten sequins as a mark of his considera tion. Sailed the British frigate Phaeton, for Gib raltar and the Tagus. SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. 235 6th. Departed the Chevalier Ankarloo, Swedish Consul General for Leghorn, who retires from this post. 7th. This government, having for the first time given names to all their vessels of war, sent a list of them, with the number of guns with which they are mounted, &c. to this Consulate. 19th. Sailed a squadron of one corvette, two brigs, and two schooners, Algerine vessels, on a cruise. The flag of Hamburg was displayed, as that against which they intend cruising. 21 St. This-morning a letter without date was brought to the Consul by the lieutenant of the port, from a Captain S. Baker, stating that the schooner Harriet, of Philadelphia, from Baltimore, bound to Trieste, was upset by a whirlwind in the night, at about seventy miles distance from this coast * that himself, his mate, and six seamen saved themselves in the boat, and arrived on the sixth of August on the eastern part of this coast, where they were seized by the wild, independent Kabyles, in whose possession they still remain^ naked, with little to eat, and himself, bis mate, and two seamen sick. By the same occasion a letter was also received, in Arabic, which, on being translated, appeared to be a demand on the Consul, by the chief of those mountaineers, of four thousand pataks, about two thousand two hundred dollars, for the ransom of Captain Baker and his crew. There appearing in this case to be no alternative compatible with hu- 236 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. manity, or even good policy, for if the demand for these unfortunate citizens be withheld, they will probably be massacred, the Consul waited on the Minister of Marine in order to offer the ransom, and have immediate measures taken for their libera tion. The Minister assured him that every thing possible had been done to liberate these men ; that the Kabyles who held them were entirely without the jurisdiction and dependence of this government; and that if even Turks were in their possession, they must either be ransomed or left to their fate. At the request of the Consul, he engaged to send a small vessel to that coast with the ransom de manded, in charge of an officer of his confidence, and assured him that nothing should be neglected on the occasion. It appears that the agents iirst employed by this government to liberate these men, did not dare to disburse the large sum demanded for their ransom. 22d. It being found impossible to collect the sum required, in the old coin of Algiers, which alone is current in those mountains,, application was made by the Consul to the Bashaw to obtain it from the public treasury, which he granted with great reluctance, at the established rate of ex change. In this decision, there was an evident struggle between his pride as a prince, and his avarice as a Turk. He could not disguise his mortification at the imputation on the power of his government implied by the demand of the Kabyles. SKETCHES or ALGIERS. 237 He alone can furnish the means of their release ; by doing so, according to rates of exchange estab lished by himself, he loses at least twenty per cent. on the sum, and he cannot, in common decency, refuse the one or change the other. 23d. The money being provided, a sandal sailed for the eastern coast, under the special direction of this government, in order to effect the liberation of Captain Baker and his crew. By this occasion, the Consul wrote to Captain Baker, and sent a case, containing wine, coffee, sugar, &c. for the immediate refreshment of the unfortunate citizens in question. 25th. The Consul waited on his fi'iend the Aga, to compliment him on his return from a reported successful campaign against the Kabyles. On this occasion he presented the Aga with a small patent plough, with which he appeared greatly delighted. 28^^. Arrived and anchored in the bay, the United States' ship Ontario, last from Malaga. Captain Nicholson landed with the Consul at two o'clock, and on his representation, determined to wait for the return of the sandal which has been sent to effect the liberation of our unfortunate fel low citizens, detained in slavery by the Kabyles. On this occasion, the usual salutes were received and returned. 29th. Sailed, an Algerine corvette, on a cruise. 30th. Arrived, a Dutch brig from Mahon, «ith the news of the death of Louis XVIII., and of the accession of Charles X. to the throne of France. 238 SKETCHES OF ALGIERS. On the day following, this vessel departed for Tunis. October 3d. Arrived, anchored in the bay, and were saluted as usual, the United States' ships Cy- ane, Erie, and Nonsuch, from Tunis. 4ZMr. Esgarem. Breast, the, Ehaboae. Brother, Eguia. Butter, AoT alkak. Corn, Ynden. Camel, a, { ^^^^_ ElogS.' Cattle, flocks, Egenmy. Cow, a, Tisley Cheese, Abagsi. Day, the. Essa. Dates, Death,Descend, to. Do, to. Elmet, Elmaut. ' Ansoub. Anihdem. Ackeshiun. Tackeshiunt. Dog, a little, or puppy, Ackeshie. T-v .VI ( Tivourt, Door, a little, | ^^sien. Drink, to. Earth, the, or World, Dunit. or Soil, Mke\. Drink, to, Anisson. Earth, the, or World, Denia. or Soil, Elkaa. APPENDIX. 255 Eyes, the, Ellen, Sin Tit. Enemy, an. Eat, to. Ewe, an, Field, a, Feet, the. Face, the, Fever, a. Figs, Aaeou. Jaet seht. Tigsy. Zahal. Atar. ( Tib zin zin, or ( Tib kha zin zin. Eye, Enemies, plur Ewe, an, Field, a, Face, the, Fever, a, Fee.t, the, Atar, same as legs. Flesh, meat, Acksium. Fool, a, or madman, Forest, a, Friend, a, Fountain, a, Grass, the, Goats,Girl, a. Grapes, Go, get away, Girl, a little. Aaeou. Tuga. " Tagat. Tackschist. Tisurin. Rouha. {Tackschist tamsient. Give, to, Good,Great, Herd of cattle, Hill, a, Timmery. Horn, a, Isch. Head, the, Akaroy. 'l^aiids, the EfEu:, Effiis. Horse, a, Audin. House, a, .^kahan, Ackham. Hair, the, Eschebor. Hatie, to Have, to, HeD, Hillock, Honey, Ice, < , ^gris. {Tet, Emiza guin, plur. Atten. Ehaaeniou. Tigsi.Caha. Akaaeoum. Toula. Flesh, meat, Acksioum. Fool, a, or madman, Emabout. Forest, a Emadatamazorit. Friends,Fountain, a Grass, the, Goat, a. Girl, a. Grapes, Give, to, Good,Great,Herd of catde, HiU, a. Horse, a. Hate, to. Have, to, HeU,Hillock,Honey, Amiaeaktion. Elenser. Tuga. Tagat. Tackshist. Tisaren. Adakfka. EMy. Amekran. Egenmy. Tessount. Hodin. Kraaht. Gory. Ouzal. Tissoimt. Tament. 25,6 APPENDIX. Jackall, Ousherr. Light, the, Lemesebat. Legs, the , Atar. the Thigh, Emjat. the Feet, Atar, same as legs. Lentils, Laaeds. Lamb, a. Issimur. Lance, a, iEguget, Life, Life, Eder, Litde, a. Little, a, Amezian Chouilak. Love, to, Love, to, Bequeet. Moon, the, Eejur. Moon, the, Ayur, Man, a, .^rges. Man, a. Ergas. Boy, or Lad, Ackschesh. Boy, or Lad, Ackshish. Woman, Tamtotz. Woman, Tamtout. Girl, Tackschist. Girl, Tackshist. 'Mountain, a, jEderer. Mountain, a, Adrar. Mouth, the jEkermousch. Meat, flesh, Ack sium. Meat,- flesh, Acksium. Me, I, Nickhi. 1 Mule, a male, Eserdun. a female , Tesserdunt. My, mme, Inu. My horse. Audin inu. Go, bring me my horse, Rouha aeuid audin inu. Mud, Mheret. Mud, Acal. Mare, a, Mare, a, Tamgurt. Milk, Milk, Aifky. Money, Money, Edrenun. Mon^h, or moon. Month, or nwon, Agour. Much, Much, Bouan. Night, the, Gitt. Night, the -Eta. Nation, a, Medden. Nose, the, Tinfert. Noses, Enfern. Neck) the, Erkeba, or Agalib. No, Ella, Elda, iEsid, - Hasid, Mh. Old, ancient, Ameghar. Old, ancient, Amgar.. Ox, an. ^jug. Ox, an, Eyug. APPENDIX. 25^ Cow, Teffunest. Cow, Tesley. Calf, Adgerni. Oil, Zuit, Zeit. Oil, Ezit. Olives, Essemor. Olives, Tazunry. Olive tree Olive tree. Tazeraourt. Pen, a writing, EfTarujaseae. Prince, or chief, .^nresuar. Prince, or chief, Eghelid. Plain, a. Lota. Plam, a, Lauta. Partridge, a, Tescourt. People, a, Gashi.. Peace, Afia. River, a, Igasar. Rain, Laehuva. Road, or way, Ebbrid. Sun, the, Teffiickt. Sun, the. Yetig. Stars, the, Ithre. Stars, the, Yetran. Sky, the, Ajiggena. Sheep, a male, Ikeri, Sheep, a, Tigsi. plur. Ikerern. a female, Tegsi. a lamb, Isemer. "Stomach, the. Abbot. Snow, . Edfel. Snow, Adfel. Sand, .Srmel. Sand^ Ermel, Sabre, sword, krafe,Eschaenuy. Sit down, to, Kim or E^him. Sit you down, Kim kit shini. Stone, a, Mhhx, AWat. Stone, a^ Egnnhy. Sleep, to, Igen. Sickness, Sickness, Yoden. Slave, a. Slave, a, Akly. Shake, to, Shake, to, Azum. Something, Something, Ksa. Tent, a, Khabba. Tent, a, Elkba.. Tobacco, snuff, Skimma. smoking, Dockhan. Table, a, iEluha. Town, or District, Mourt. Take away, to, Elef. Thigh, the. Thigh, the. Emjat. To-day, .^uessa, or WeSsa. To-day, Essa. To-morrow, To-morrow, Aj^egua. Trecj a, Tree, a, Sigra. 33 258 APPENDIX Tamitut. Wood, (fire-wood) Sgaren. Valley, a, .^senick, meaning also a Street. Woman, a, Tamtotz, Woman, a, several women together Khaleth. Wood, fire, Osgraren. Write, to, Ectib. Writing, give paper for, Auviae el caret ectibu. War, Daemengry. Wind, the, Ato. Understand, do you .'' Eselit. Water,Week,World, the. Young, and Little, .S^msien, e. g. alittle door, Tevourt aem- sien ; a young man, Erges aemsien ; a little girl, Tacks chist taemsient. They have a further di minutive, meaning very lit tle, or very short, which is, Abestout. Yes, E E. JVum,erals. One, Yeoun. One, luon. Two, Sm. Two, Sin. The remainder in the Showiah are as in the Arabic ; as also are the names of the metals which are known to them. Water, Aman. Week, Gemha. World, die Denia. Young, Amsien. Pronouns. I, or me, Thou, He, We,You,They, Mine,Thine, Nickhy. Inu. I, or me, Thou, He, We, You, They, Mine, Tliine, Neky. Goug. Neta. Nekny. Kanouy. Numy. Enou. Inek. APPENDIX. 259 My hand. Thy faand, His hand. Your hands. Their hands. My horse, Audin inu. My hand. Thy hand. His hand. Your hands, Their hands, Ferbs. I love. Thou lovest, He loves, We love, You love. They love, Phrases. Afus. Aiiisis. Afusorien. Ifasen. Ifasen ensen. Neky thebit. Kecheny thebit. Kechy thebit. Nekny thebit. Kanouy thebit. Nutny thebit. Good morning. Good morning, Esbahala hare. Good evening, Hemselah hare. Esbahala haireh. Good evening, Umselah hairah. Have you heard .'' Eselit. Sit you down, Kim kit shini. Come hither, la garda. Give paper for writing Auviae el caret ectibu. Which is the way to the Eng lish garden ? Ensi aebbrid hat el genan Inglis ? Go bring my borse, Rouha aeuid audin inu. Go to your country, Rouha hat mourtik. Adou, friend, is a convertible term, meanmg also enemy, as in some other ancient languages, the Latin, for instance. VOCABULABT OF THE MOZABI LANGUAGE. Vocabulary of the language of the Mozabis, which appears to be a dialect of the Showiah. Obtained in Algiers, through the agency af MM. David Bacri and Joseph Bensamon, respectable Hebrew Interpreters. Ass, an, Arlun. Bird, a, Ageet. Bread, Argoum. Black, Abukan. Butter^ Filerzee. Boy, a, Atefly. "ZOU APPENDIX. Breast, the. 'Ijfadis. Light, Edaw J3ad, Dustin. Mouth, the,- Immy. Bai'ley,. Ti^nzeyenee. Month, a. Eyur. BodypAe-,- . Fristin benadem. Months of the yeai-. Camel, a. Ariun. lamunnsugas. City, a. Tamdint. Moon, the, Tezjeree: Chief, or magistrate, Temusny. Man, a. Erges. Countenance, the, Udem. woman. Tagenmeet. Chin, the. Tmaret. Meat, flesh. Assium. Cow, a. Tafoonesset. Milk, Amelelee. Day; or light, the, Duges. Mare, a, Afunest. Day, a, Assiguin. Mountain, a, Amzied. Dates, Tininee. Nose, the, Tinzar. Eye, the. •Titanin. Night, the, Dgeed. Ears, the. Temezguin. No, Eyuee. Enemy, an. Eladu. Prince, or chief. a, Temusny. Figs, Temshem. River, a. Luad. Field, Amezen. Sun, the. Tfouit. Friend, a. Amduglick. Sheep, a fema 6; Tizfrin. Fountain, a, Elen tiaman. Slave, a. Aberkan. Goat, a she, AU'eem. Tree, a, Zejereet. Grapes, AdiEee. To-day, Assu. Girl, a. Taysuit. To-morrow, Asha. Good, Douahdy. Tongue, the, Esick. House, a. Tadart. Wheat, Arden. Head, the. Tabegna. White, Ameleleen. Heavens, the. Ajenee. Week, a, Elguemha. Honey, Tenergom. Yes, Hehee, Ea, Ee. Horse, a, Izee. Year, a. Assugas. Lips, tlig. Amburen. Metals. Iron* Uzal. Copper, DazHga. Gold, Urag. Lead, Ezezau. SUver, Elfedet. JVumerals. 1. Egat, Ighem. 7. Sat, Sa. 2. Senet, Sen. 8. Temmetj Tam. 3. Sharot, Chared. 9. Tsat, Tess. 4. Eugest, Aquoz. 10. Mereou, Mrauw. 5. Semset. Semess. 20. Senet mereou, Se- 6. Zet, Sez. ni Dinrauw, Sic. APPENDIX. c. [Page 125.] NEGOTIATIONS ON THE ABOLITION OF TflS^JU^ Translated from ScIiodPs abridged History of Treaties of Peace. Vol. XL, article, Congi-ess of T'icnna. The origin of tlie slave trade dates from the beginning of tlie sixteenth century. The Portuguese had the sad honour of having imagined it. It was in 1513, that tliey introduced into tlie Spanisli colonies in America, the first negroes purchased in Africa. Bartliolomew Las Casas, believing that he saw in this traffic a means of preserving the aboriginals of tlie Antilles from destruction, proposed to Cardinal Ximenes to legalize this trade, and give it a regular form. The Minister rejected the project ; but in 1517, Charles the Fifth, formally authorized it. He grant ed to his favourite, Bresa, a monopoly for tlie annual intro duction of four tliousand black slaves, which he subse quently ceded to the Genoese. In England, tlie same trade was autliorized under the reign of Elizabeth. In France it was not done until the time of Louis the Thir- -teentli. The negroes inhabit all that portion of Africa soutli and east of the Sahara, as far as the twenty-second degree of south latitude. The Europeans drove this traffic at various places on the western, and at Mqzambique, on the eastern coast of Africa. Each nation that took pait in this trade, fre quented, in preference, certain places, where generally fixed establislmients were formed. It was there that mul titudes of slaves were brought from the interior, and ex- ciianged for brandy, iron, wortliless firearms, and other trifles. It is pretended tliat in tlie space of three centu ries, the Europeans have plundered Afiica, through this trade, of diirty raiUions of inhabitants. The fraternity of Quakere ^^'ere the first who emancipated their slavejs ; and 262 APPENtolK. since the middle of the ei^teenth century, they have constantly endeavoured to bring about the entire suppres sion of the slave Jtrade. In 1772, Granville Sharpe caus ed to be adopted in England the maxim which had pre vailed in France since the seventeenth century, that the soil of Europe gives liberty to the slave who treads upon it. Since the year 1780, the abolition of the slave trade has become one of the favourite subjects •of that philanthropic philosophy, to which we owe lh« French revolution. Clarkson, one of the most zealous d«fendeTs of tire rights of the negroes, founded the society known under the name of " The African Institution," the object 0:f which was the emancipation of this oppressed class. The majority of the United States of America abolished the slave trade ; Maryland, Virginia, the Carolinas, and Gebrgia, situated in a warm climate, thought that they could not dispense with negroes in the culture of tobacco and rice. The lot of the slaves in the British Colonies was meliorat ed by the law called " the consolidated slave law," which passed in 1784, and which furni^es to the negroes the means of acquiring an independent peculium. From this epoch, Wilberforce pleaded in the British Parliament the cause of this class of men. In 1768 William Pitt spoke in their favour in the House of Commons. He found ad versaries in'the merchants of Liverpool and Bristol, who represented to Parliament, that in ordc'r to maintain the number of four hundred and ten thousand blacks, which existed in the British colonies, an annual introduction of ten thousand head of slaves was required ; that the Eng lish purchased thirty thousand yearly in Africa, and re sold consequently twenty thousand to other nations ; tha* the acquisition of thirty thousand negroes caused the ex portation of productions of British manufacture to the amount of eight hundred thousand pounds sterling, which trade caused an importation into 'Grgat Britain of one APPENDIX. 263 million fonr hundred thousand pounds sterling ; and ia short, that the tax on slaves brought two hundred and fifty-six thousand pounds to the public revenue. Although the first attempt of the friends of the blacks was unsuccessfijl, they were not discouraged. Wilber force did not fail to reproduce, at each session of Parlia ment, his motion in favour of the Africans. His zeal, and the eloquence of Fox succeeded at last in 1792, in carrying the motion in the House of Commons for the abolition of the slave trade, to commence from that year, by a majori ty of only nineteen votes ; but the House of Lords reject ed this bill, as they also did that which Wilberforce caus ed to pass in the Commons in 1794, which prohibited the sale of negroes by British subjects to foreigners. Wilber force reproduced, in 1796, his motion for the abolition of the slave trade ; he was feebly seconded by Pitt, and the bill was again lost. However, it was easily foreseen that the cause of the negroes would ultimately triumph. Eighteen years discussion in Parliament had prepared the public mind for it, and the planters had had time to take their precautions. It was thought that in 1806 the mo ment had arrived, when, without serious inconvenience, they could render homage to the principle of philanthro py. On the tenth of June of this year, the House of Commons decreed the principle of the abolition ; but the final act was not passed until the sixth of February, 1807. The first of January, 1808, was fixed as the term until when the slave trade might be legally pursued. The law was reinforced on the fourth of May 1811, by a penal act against its violators. It is remarkable that as soon as the British Parliament had resolved on the abolition of the slave trade, they sup plicated the King to open negotiations with other powers, in order to obtain their accession to the measure. Such a step by a nation, which, jealous of its own independence, 264 APPENDIX. ¦ought to respect that of other governments, and whicli is generally so indifferent' to what passes elsewhere, has something in it which excites our astonishment. This step has since been renewed, and particularly in the beginning of May 1814, a motion was brought forward by the ministers of Great Britain, for pressing the abolition of the slave trade by other powers. The sacred rights of hu manity, and the maxims of Christianity were invoked, and these orators exalted the magnanimity of the British gov ernment. We wish to believe that posterity will confirm these eulogiums when the same authority shall have abol ished the impress of seamen ; when the British navy shall bave reduced the piratical states of Barbary ; when the two Houses of Parlianjent shall no longer resound in vain with accusations against the oppressors of the Hindoos. ¦Great Britain, however, has not the glory of being the first to abolish the slave trade. Denmark had set her the ex ample, in 17^4. This absolute, though paternal govern ment, gave ten years to her planters to prepare for the new order of things. On the first of January, 1804, the «lave trade ceased in all the Danish settlements. The Gazettes of the times hardly noticed this ordinance, abounding in wisdom. Christian the Seventh did not no tify it to any government. The first result of the negotia tions of the British Ministers with other powers for obtain ing the abolition of the slave trade, was the tenth article of the treaty of alliance of Rio Janeiro, by which " Portu gal promises to co-operate with Great Britain in the cause of humanity and justice, in taking the most efficacious measures for abolishing successively in all states the trade in slaves." Portugal further promises, " that thereafter it shall not be permitted to any Portuguese subject to trade for negroes in any parts of Africa, which do not belong to Portugal, and in which the other powers of Europe, for merly carrying on this trade there, have renounced the APPENDIX. 265 same. Nevertheless, his Royal Highness reserves to his subjects the right of purchasing slaves in, and exporting' them from the Portuguese possessions on the coast of Africa." It is remarkable that in this article the Prince Regent of Portugal binds himself to little or nothing, as the Portuguese possessions in Africa are precisely the great markets for slave dealing. After Portugal, Sweden was the first power that Great Britain engaged to adhere to this measure, " enjoined by morality and Christianity." The court of Stockholm pro mised by a separate article of the treaty of alliance of the third of March, 1813, to prohibit the introduction of slaves into tlie island of Guadaloupe, which an article of tliis treaty cedes to her, and in her other possessions, and to prohibit Swedish subjects from meddling at all with the itradein slaves. By the eighth article of the treaty of peace of Kiel, the King of Denmark, whose father had already proscribed the slave trade in all the colonies and dependencies of his crown, in 1794, engages to prohibit his subjects from tak ing any part in this trade in other countries. France did not authorize the slave trade, imtil long after Spain and England had done so ; but in this country the fine maxim has always obtained, that whoever puts his foot upon the Fxench soil in Europe is free ; a maxim which, as we have previously said, was not recognised by the English courts until 1772, through the exertions of Granville Sharpe. The liberty of the negroes was a favourite theme of the orations of the authors of the French revolution. The National Convention, which shed so much innocenj blood, and trampled religion and morality under foot, de creed the liberty of the negroes. The imprudence of this measure (if its authors were only imprudent) was the source of horrible calamities, the recital of which is with out our subject. As soon as Louis the Eighteenth was 34 266 APPENDIX. restored to the throne of his fathers. Great Britain solicited. of him the prohibition of the slave trade to his subjects. The solicitude of the King for the good of his subjects, prevailed in his paternal heart over principles advanced in the name of humanity ; he agreed to interdict to stran gers the sale of slaves in all the French colonies, tolerating the same to Frenchmen only, until the first of June, 1819, in order to afford to the planters the time necessary to prepare themselves for a new order of things. He pro mised also to unite thereafter in Congress his efforts to those of England for procuring a general abolition of the trade in slaves. Such were the engagements which the King of France entered into by the first additional article of the treaty of the thirtieth of May, 1814, with Great Britain. Before leaving Paris, Lord Castlereagh commu nicated this article by a circular to the Ministers of Aus tria, of Prussia, and of Russia, and demanded the co-oper ation of these powers, who possess no colonies, in the abolition of a traffic " contrary to nature and to humanity." They promised to second the proposition for the general abolition of the slave trade at the approaching Congress. The sovereign Prince of the Netherlands took a step further ; his decree of the fifteenth of June, 1815, establish es that no ship destined to convoy vessels engaged in the slave trade from the coast of Africa, or any island belonging to that part of the globe, to the continent or islands of America shall be cleared from any port situated in the territory of the Netherlands ; that no vessel destined or equipped for the slave trade, shall be admitted by the government general of the Netherlands, on the coast of Guinea; and that no inhabitant of those countries shall be sold or exported as a slave. This decree does not prohibit the introduction of negroes into the Dutch colo nies, because at the epoch when it was promulgated, these colonies were still in the hands of Great Britain. APPENDIX. 267 When the latter engaged by the convention of the thir teenth of August to restore them, the sovereign Prince of the Netherlands prohibited his subjects from taking any part whatever in the slave trade. After the peace of Paris, Lord Castlereagh made new propositions to the French government, having for their object to obtain more than had been promised by the ad ditional article, either by abridging the term of five years, or by reducing the importation of negroes into the French colonies to the number necessary for replacing such as were wanting on the estates already existing, without its being permitted to import any for the purposes of clearing or establishing new plantations. The British Minister wished particularly to prevent the renewal of the trade on the coast of Africa situated north of the Equator. He demanded that English cruisers should be authorized to seize such French vessels carrying slaves as they might meet with within the excluded district, and thus recipro cally. On the fifth of August, the Prince Regent wrote with his own hand4o the King of France, proposing to him a concert in measures tending to the absolute abolition of a traflic so inhuman. Louis the Eighteenth replied to this epistle on the second of September, engaging to ordain that during the term of five years, the slave trade should be permitted only under gradual restrictions. Lord Wellington, then Ambassador at Paris, had orders to pro pose, further, the prohibition of importation of colonial productions from the territory bf powers who should refuse to take part in the concert for the abolition of the slave trade. Still further propositions were made. In the month of September an offer was made to France, either of a sum of money for the indemnification of such persons as might suffer by the immediate abolition of slavery, or the cession to her of an island in the West Indies. The 268 APPENDIX. French government refused both offers, and referred the discussion to the Congress of Vienna. They restricted, however, the French trade for slaves, by a circular of the eighth of October, to that part of the coast of Africa which is situated south of cape Formosa. On the fifth of July, 1814, there was concluded at Ma drid a treaty between Great Britain and Spain. Sir Henry Wellesley, who negotiated it, endeavoured to in sert an article by which the King of Spain should engage to prohibit the importation of slaves into his colonies, and to take efficacious measures to prevent his subjects from taking any part in the slave trade. The Duke de San Carlos, minister of Ferdinand the Seventh, remarked, that at the epoch of the abolition of this trade in England, the number of negroes in her colonies was, in relation to the white inhabitants, as twenty to one ; that nevertheless the British legislature had employed twenty years in effecting the abolition ; that in the Spanish colonies on the contra ry there were not more negroes than white inhabitants ; from whence this Minister inferred that it ought not to be required of Spain to adopt suddenly, a measure that might jeopardize the existence of her colonies. All that could be obtained of the Spanish government was a separate article, by which the Catholic king engages to interdict to his subjects the trade in slaves, so far as its object might be the supply of negroes to any other than the colonies and possessions of Spain, and to hinder the pro tection of the Spanish flag being given to foreigners en gaged in this trade. After the signature of the treaty. Sir Henry Wellesley continued his negotiations at the court of Madrid, in the hope of obtaining some further concession. To this end he offered the continuation of the subsidies, and pecuniary supplies required by the state of the Spanish finances. On the twenty-second of Octo ber, 1814, the court of Madrid offered to restrict the trade APPENDIX. 269 during the term of eight years, between the equator and the tenth degree of north latitude, and to abolish it en tirely after that period. The British government reject ed this proposition, because the line of demarcation comprehended that part of tlie coast of Africa where the slave trade had ceased long since. The negotiations of Madrid led to no further results. The negotiations which Lord Castlereagh opened even at Vienna with Portugal were not more successful. Two conventions were tliere concluded between this pow er and Great Britain ; one on the twenty-first, the other on the twenty-second of January, 1815. By the first, Great Britain gave satisfaction to Portugal for several Portuguese vessels talcen by British cruisers, in tlie exercise of the slave trade, interdicted, as the captors pretended, by tlie treaty of Rio Janeiro, of the nineteenth of February, 1810. She paid to the Prince Regent of Portugal the sum of three hundred thousand pounds ster ling, to be divided amongst the sufferers by these captures, which were at least arbitraiy. The second convention, concluded on tlie next day, contains the following stipu lations. Article 1st, the absolute prohibition to Portu guese subjects of carrying on tlie slave trade on any part of the coast of Africa, situated north of the equator. Ar ticle 2d, Portuguese vessels engaged in tlie slave trade soutli of the line shall not be molested during the time in which such trade may be authorized by the laws of Portugal, and by the treaties subsisting between the two crowns. Article 4th, the treaty of Rio Janeiro, of tlie nineteenth of February, 1810, having been based on momentary circumstances, which have ceased to exist, is annulled, without prejudice to former treaties, which are renewed and confirmed ; the contracting parties reserv ing to themselves to determine by a special treaty, the epoch when the slave trade shall cease throughout the 270 APPENDIX. Portuguese dominions. Thus Great Britain renounced the right which the eighth article of the treaty of Rio Janeiro granted to her, of entering the ports of Portugal with any number of vessels of war that she might judge proper, and submitted anew to the dispositions of former treaties, which limit the number to six sail. Great Britain renounces, by the fifth article what may be yet due to her from Portugal on account of a loan of six hundred thousand poui '^ sterling, made in London, consequent to a convention jf the twenty-first of April, 1809. This convention is unknown. In a conference of the eight powers, on the sixteenth of January, 1815, Lord Castlereagh proposed the institution of a special committee to consider of the means necessary for the abolition of the slave trade. Portugal and Spain opposed this proposition, on the ground that all the pow ers having agreed on the principle of the abolition, its execution concerned only those who possess colonies. Austria, Prussia, Russia, and Sweden, remarked, that the intervention of powers not directly interested in the ques tion, would be useful in conciliating opinions. The proposi tion for the appointment of a committee was rejected, but the Plenipotentiaries of the eight powers consecrated four special sessions to this discussion. The Plenipotentiary of Great Britain made a triple pro position. 1st, That all the powers should proclaim their adhesion to the general principle of the abolition of the slave trade, and their wish to realize the measure within the shortest time prSicticable.. 2d, That the possibility of an immediate abolition should be examined, or at least of an approximation to it of the term fixed by each power for a definitive abolition. 3d, An examination of the means of obtaining immediately a partial abolition of this traffic. APPENDIX. 271 The fiist propositi its attainment or preservation by this govern ment be desirable. I have authorized William Shaler, one of our distin guished citizens, and Commodore Bainbridge and Commo dore Decatur, commanders of the fleet, to conclude a peace with your Highness. They will send this letter to you. I make this communication from a sincere desire that the honourable opportunity which it affords to your Highness to prefer peace to war will be improved. Written at the city of Washington, this twelfth day of April, A. D. 1815. (Signed.) James Madison. By the President. (Signed.) James Monroe. Secretary of State, 276 APPENDIX. E. [Page 131.] LETTER FROM THE DEY OF ALGIERS TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. ( Translation.) With the aid and assistance of Divinity, and in the reign of our sovereign, the asylum of the world, powerful and great monarch, transactor of all good actions, the best of men, the shadow of God, director of the good order, king of kings, supreme ruler of the world, emperor of the earth, emulator of Alexander the Great, possessor of great forces, sovereign of the two worlds, and of the seas, king of Arabia and Persia, emperor, son of kn emperor and con queror, Mahmoud Khan, (may God end his life with pros perity, and his reign be everlasting and glorious,) his hum ble and obedient servant, actual sovereign Governor and Chief of Algiers, submitted forever to the orders of his Imperial Majesty's noble throne, Omar Pachaw, (may his government be happy and prosperous,) To his Majesty, the Emperor of America, its adjacent and dependent provinces and coasts, and wherever his gov ernment may extend, our noble friend, the support of the kings of the nation of Jesus, the pillar of all Christian sovereigns, the most glorious amongst the princes, elect ed amongst many lords and nobles, the happy, the great, the amiable James Madison, Emperor of America, (may his reign be happy and glorious, and his life long and prosper ous,) wishing him long possession of the seal of his blessed throne, and long fife and health. Amen. Hoping that your health is in good state, I inform you that mine is excellent, thanks to the Supreme Being, constantly ad dressing my humble prayers to the Almighty for your fe licity. APPENDIX. 277 After many years have elapsed, you have at last sent a squadron, commanded by Admiral Decatur, your most humble servant, for the purpose of treating of peace with us. I received the letter of which he was the bearer, and understood its contents ; the enmity which was betv.'een us having been extinguished, you desired to make peace as France and England have done. Immediately after the arrival of your squadron in our harbour, I sent my answer to your servant the Admiral, through the medium of the Swedish Consul, whose proposals I vi'as disposed to agree to, on condition that our frigate and sloop of war, taken by you, should be returned to us, and brought back to Algiers ; on these conditions we would sign peace according to your wishes and request. Our answer hav ing thus been explained to your servant the Admiral by the Swedish Consul, he agreed to treat with us on the above mentioned conditions; but having afterward^s in sisted upon the liberation of all American citizens, as well as upon a certain sum of money, for several merchant ves sels made prizes of by us, and of other objects belonging to the Americans, we did not hesitate a moment to com-' ply with his wishes, and in consequence of which we have restored to the said Admiral, your servant, all that he de manded from us. In the mean time, the said Admiral hav ing given his word to send back our two ships of war, and not having performed his promise, he has thus violated the faithful articles of peace which were signed between us, and by so doing a new treaty must be made. I inform you, therefore, that a treaty of peace having been signed between America and us, during the reign of Hassan Pashaw, twenty years past, I propose to renew the said treaty on the same basis stipulated in it, and if you agree to it, our friendship will be solid and lasting. I intended to be on higher terms of amity with our friends the Americans than ever before, being the first 278 APPENDIX. nation with whom I made peace ; but as they have not been able to put into execution our present treaty, it appears necessary for us to treat on the above mentioned condi tions. We hope that with the assistance of God you will answer this our letter, immediately after you shall have a perfect knowledge of its contents. If you agree, accord ing to our request, to the conditions specified in the said treaty, please to send us an early answer. If on the con trary, you are not satisfied with my propositions, you will act against the sacred duty of man, and against the laws of nations. Requesting only that you will have the goodness to re move your Consul as soon as possible, assuring you that it will be very agreeable to us, these are our last words to you, and we pray God to keep you in his holy guard. Written in the year of the Hegira, 1231, the 20th day of, the moon, Dge Mazirl Covel, corresponding to 1815, April 24th. Signed in our well beloved city of Algiers. (Signed.) Omar, son of Mohammed, Conqueror and great. APPENDIX. 279 F. [Page 136.] BATTLE OF ALGIERS. Minutes of the Battle, taken at the Consvlarhouse in the city. On the morning of the twenty-seventh of August, 1816, the weather being remarkably fine and temperate, the at mosphere only slightly agitated by the breath of zephyrs scarcely perceptible, the whole western horizon, as seen from this house, is covered with vessels of war of various classes and sizes, from the terrible three-decker down to the insignificant gun-boat. The proximity of this fleet was announced last evening by alarm guns, and they ap- pccir to be approaching under the influence of a current. At eleven o'clock the breeze freshens a little, and a frigate is detached from the fleet, stands near in with the marine batteries under a flag of truce, and sends a boat on shore. This fiigate maintains her position, with a flag of truce flying until about one o'clock. In the mean time, the fleet concentrates in the bay in apparent readiness for ac tion. On the flag being hauled do%vn on board of the fri gate, many signals are seen flying in the fleet, and six fiigates under the Dutch flag, are formed in a separate close line of battle ahead. A French corvette, that was lying in the bay, on the appearance of the combined fleets this morning, left her anchorage, and stretched out amongst them. At forty-five minutes past one, four bomb vessels take their positions opposite the city, at distances hardly exceeding a mile from, the principal marine batteries. At a quarter past two, many signals are seen flying, and the manoeuvres of the fleet indicate the intention of taking positions of attack. At half past two, P. M. the British 280 APPENDIX. Admiral in the Queen Charlotte, of one hundred and twen ty guns, fills away with a moderate breeze from the north, and leads in, in majestic style, followed by two ships of seventy-four, one of ninety-eight, and another of seventy- four guns ; the frigates stand in promiscuously, with the apparent intention of taking allotted stations, and the Dutch squadron follows in regular line of battle. A few minutes before three, the British Admiral passes out of sight of this position, and to appearance almost brushing the formidable line of marine batteries with his yards. At this moment two seventy-four gun ships take their po sitions at distances apparently not beyond pistol shot, and at the same time the Impregnable, of ninety-eight guns, with a Rear Admiral's flag, though at much greater dis tance ; obviously an error. At this time the fleet has passed out of sight of this position, except the three last mentioned, and several sloops and small craft, which keep manceuvering under sail, without apparent intention to anchor. At exactly three o'clock, a gun is fired by the Algerines upon the British Admiral, and the battle instant ly becomes general. At twenty minutes past three, the fire of the marine batteries appears to be silenced, and hundreds of fugitives from them are seen flying along the seashore under the walls of this house, where many of them are mowed down by the fire of the Impregnable. The cannonade endures with great fury on the part of the British, and is returned with constancy from the batteries in this quarter. At five o'clock the fire of the marine bat teries is renewed, and continued at intervals. At half past seven, the shipping in the port is discovered to be on fire. At eight o'clock, the Consul is informed that the British Consul has been taken from his house by an armed band, and confined in heavy chains in the common prison for criminals. At half past eight the cannonade endures. The upper part of this house is apparently in ruins ; five APPENDIX. 281 shells have burst within its walls. At nine, the fire begins to slacken on both sides. At eleven, the growling of cannon is only heard at long intervals. At midnight, from the terrace of this house, every thing in the port appears to be in flames, and two wrecks on fire are drifting out. The spectacle at this moment is peculiarly grand and sublime. A black thunderstorm is rising, probably an effect of the long cannonade ; its vivid lightning discovers the hostile fleets retiring with the land breeze, and paints them in strong relief on the deep obscurity of the horizon. Shells and rockets occasionally streaming across the hori zon, and discharges of cannon from ships still within reach, proclaim an enemy fatigued, exhausted, but not vanquished ; while the Algerines, by discharges of cannon at intervals, from a line of batteries more than three miles in extent, lay claim to the same honours. The morning of the twenty-eighth discovers that the Algerines are unable to make any further resistance, while the combined fleets appear to be in a state to renew the battle. In the course of the day the former acknowledge themselves vanquished, by accepting the humiliating terms of peace offered to them by the victors. Algiers has suffered a prodigious loss in shipping, and in damage done to the city, ?ind all her defensive works ; but she has not probably lost so many lives in the conflict as her enemies. It ha^ subsequently been ascertained, as correctly as can well be expected with regard to facts of this nature, that the loss of the Algerines in this battle, in killed and wounded, did not exceed about six hundred. Indeed, nothing after the battle indicated a great loss of lives. 36 282 APPENDIX. LORD exmouth's OFFICIAL LETTER. The London Gazette Extraordinary, Sunday, September iSth, 1816. Admiralty Office, Sept. 15. Captain Brisbane, of His Majesty's ship Queen Char lotte, arrived at this office last night with the following despatches from Admiral Lord Exmouth, G. C. B. address ed to John Wilson Croker, Esq. Queen Charlotte, Algiers Bay, Aug. 28. Sir, In all the vicissitudes of a long life of public service, no circumstance has ever produced on my mind such im pressions of gratitude and joy as the event of yesterday. To have been one of the humble instruments, in the hands of Divine Providence, for bringing to reason a ferocious government, and destroying forever the insufferable and horrid system of Christian slavery, can never cease to be a source of delight and heartfelt comfort to every individ ual happy enough to be employed in it. I may, I hope, be permitted, under such impressions, to offer my sincere congratulations to their Lordships on the complete success which attended the gallant efforts of His Majesty's fleet in their attack upon Algiers of yesterday ; and the happy result produced from it on this day by the signature of peace. Thus has a provoked war of two day's existence, been attended by a complete victory, and closed by a renewed peace for England and her ally, the King of the Nether lands, on conditions dictated by the firmness and wisdom of His Majesty's government, and commanded by the vigour of their measures. My thanks are justly due for the honour and confidence His Majesty's Ministers have been pleased to repose on my zeal, on this highly important occasion. The means APPENDIX. 283 were by them made adequate to my own wishes, and the rapidity of their measures speak for themselves. Not more than one hundred days since, I left Algiers with the British fleet, unsuspicious and ignorant of the atrocities which had been committed at Bona ; that fleet, on its arrival in England, was necessarily disbanded, and anoth er, with proportionate resources, created and equipped ; and although impeded in its progress by calms and adverse winds, has poured the vengeance of an insulted nation, in chastising the cruelties of a ferocious government, with a promptitude beyond example, and highly honourable to the national character, — eager to resent oppression or cruelty whenever practised upon those under their pro tection. Would to God, that in the attainment of this object, I had not deeply to lament the severe loss of so many gal lant officers and men ; they have profusely bled in a con test which has been peculiarly marked by proofs of such devoted heroism as would rouse every noble feeling, did I dare indulge in relating them. Their Lordships will already have been informed by His Majesty's sloop Jasper, of my proceedings up to the fourteenth instant, on which day I broke ground from Gibraltar, after a vexatious detention, by a foul wind, of four days. The fleet, complete in all its points, with the addition of five gun-boats, fitted at Gibraltar, departed in the highest spirits, and with the most favourable prospects of reaching the port of their destination in three days ; but an adverse wind destroyed the expectation of an early arrival, which was the more anxiously looked for by myself, in conse quence of hearing, the day I sailed from Gibraltar, that a large army had been assembled, and that very considera ble additional works were throwing up, not only on both flanks of the city, but also immediately about the entrance 284 APPENDIX. of the mole. From this I was npprehensive that my inten tion of making that point the principal object of attack had been discovered to the Dey by the same means he had heard of the expedition. This intelligence was on the following night greatly confirmed by the Prometheus, which I had despatched to Algiers some time before, to endeavour to get away the Consul. Captain Dashwood had with difficulty succeeded in bringing away, disguised in midshipmen's uniform, his wife and daughter, leaving a boat to bring off their infant child, coming down in a basket with the surgeon, who thought he had composed it ; but it unhappily cried in the gateway, and in conse quence, the surgeon, three midshipmen, in all eighteen persons, were seized, and confined as slaves, in the usual dungeons. The child was sent off next morning by the Dey, and as a solitary instance of his humanity, it ought to be recorded by me. Captain Dashwood further confirmed, that about forty thousand men had been brought down from the interior, and all the Janissaries called in from distant garrisons, and that they were indefatigably employed in their batteries, gun-boats, &-c. and every where strengthening the sea defences. The Dey informed Captain Dashwood he knew perfect ly well the armament was destined for Algiers, and asked him if it was true ; he replied, if he had such information, he knew as much as he did, and probably from the same source — the public prints. The ships were all in port, and between forty and fifty gun and mortar boats ready, with several more in forward repair. The Dey had closely confined the Consul, and refused either to give him up, or promise his personal safety ; nor would he hear a word respecting the officers and men seized in the boats of the Prometheus, APPENDIX. 285 From the continuance of adverse winds and calms, the land to the westward of Algiers was not made before the sixteenth, and the next morning, at day-break, the fleet was advanced in sight of the city, though not so near as I had intended. As the ships were becalmed, I embraced this opportunity of despatching a boat under cover of the Severn, with a flag of truce, and the demands I had to make, in the name of His Royal Highness the Prince Re gent, on the Dey of Algiers (of which the accompanying are copies), directing the officer to wait two or three hours for the Dey's answer, at which time, if no reply was sent, he was to return to the flag ship. He was met near the mole by the Captain of the port, who on being told the answer was expected in one hour, replied that it was im possible. The officer then said he v/ould wait two or three hours; he then observed, that two hours were quite sufficient. The fleet at this time, by the springing up of the sea breeze, had reached the bay, and were preparing tlie boats and flotilla for service, until near two o'clock ; when, ob serving my officer was returning, with the signal flying that no answer had been received, after a delay of up wards of three hours, I instantly made the signal to know if the ships were all ready, which being answered in the affirmative, the Queen Charlotte bore up, followed by the fleet, for their appointed stations ; the flag, leading in the prescribed order, was anchored in the entrance of the mole, at about fifty yards distance. At this moment, not a gun had been fired, and I began to suspect a full com pliance with the terms which had been so many hours in their hands. At this period of profound silence, a shot was fired at us from the mole, and two at the ships to tlie northward, then following ; this was promptly returned by the Queen Chariotte, who was then lashing to the main mast of a brig, fast to the shore, in the mouth of the mole, and which we had steered for, as the guide to our position. 286 APPENDIX. Thus commenced a fire, as animated and well support ed, as, I believe, was ever witnessed, from a quarter before three until nine, without intermission, and which did not cease altogether until half past eleven. The ships immediately following me, were admirably and coolly taking their stations, with a precision even be yond my most sanguine hope ; and never did the British flag receive, on any occasion, more zealous and honoura ble support. To look further on the line than immediate ly round me, was perfectly impossible ; but so well ground ed was my confidence in the gallant officers I had the honour to command, that my mind was left perfectly free to attend to other objects, and I knew them in their sta tions only by the destructive effect of their fire upon the walls and batteries to which they were opposed. I had about this time the satisfaction of seeing Vice- Admiral Van Capellan's flag in the station I had assigned to him, and soon after, at intervals, the remainder of his frigates, keeping up a well supported fire on the flanking batteries he had offered to cover us from, as it had not been in my power, for want of room, to bring him in the front of the mole. About sunset I received a message from Rear-Admiral Milne, conveying to me the severe loss the Impregnable was sustaining, having then one hundred and fifty killed and wounded, and requesting I would, if possible, send him a frigate to divert some of the fire he was under. The Glasgow, near me, immediately weighed, but the wind had been driven away by the cannonade, and she was obliged to anchor again, having obtained rather a better position than before. I had at this time sent orders to the explosion vessel, under the charge of Lieutenant Fleming and Mr. Parker, by Captain Reade, of the engineers, to bring her into the mole ; but the Rear-Admiral having thought she would APPENDIX. " 287 do him essential service, if exploded under the battery in his front, I sent orders to this vessel to that effect, which were executed. I desired also the Rear-Admiral might be informed, that many of the ships being now in flames, and certain of the destruction of the whole, I considered I had executed the most important part of my instructions, and should make every preparation for withdrawing the ships, and desired he would do so as soon as possible with his division. There were awful moments during the conflict, which I cannot now attempt to describe, occasioned by firing the ships so near us, and I had long resisted the eager entreaties of several aroimd me, to make the attempt upon the outer frigate, distant one hundred yards, which at length I gave in to. Major Gosset, by my side, who had been eager to land his corps of miners, pressed me most anxiously for permission to accompany lieutenant Richards ia this ship's barge. The firigate was instantly boarded, and in ten minutes in a perfect blaze ; a gallant midshipman, in rocket boat No. 8, although forbidden, was led by his ardent spirit to follow in support of the barge, in which he was desperately wounded, his brother officer killed, and nine of his crew. The barge, by rowing more rapid ly, had suffered less, and lost but two. The enemy's batteries around my division were, about ten o'clock silenced, and in a state of perfect ruin and di lapidation ; and the fire of the ships v/ere reserved as much as possible, to save powder, and to reply to a few guns now and then bearing upon us, although a fort on the up per angle of the city, on which our guns could not be brought to bear, continued to annoy the ships by shot and shells during the whole time. Providence, at this interval gave to my anxious wishes the usual land wind, common in this bay, and my expec tations were completed. We were all hands employed 288 APPENDIX. warping and towing off, and by the help of the fight air, the whole were under sail, and came to anchor out of the reach of the shells, about two in the morning, after twelve hours incessant labour. The flotilla of mortar, gun, and rocket boats, under the direction of their respective artillery officers, shared, to the full extent of their fjower, in the honours of this day, and performed good service ; it was by their fire all the ships in the port (with the exception of the outer frigates) were in flames, which extended rapidly over the whole ar senal, store-houses, and gun-boats, exhibiting a spectacle of awful grandeur and interest no pen can describe. The sloops of war which had been appropriated to aid and assist the ships of the line, and prepare for their re treat, performed not only that duty well, but embraced every opportunity of firing through the intervals, and were constantly in motion. ^ The shells from the bombs were admirably well thrown by the royal marine artillery ; and though thrown directly across and over us, not an accident that I know of occur red to any ship. The whole was conducted with perfect silence, and such a thing as a cheer I never heard in any part of the line ; and that the guns were well worked and directed, will be seen for many years to come, and remembered by these barbarians forever. The conducting this ship to her station by the masters of the fleet and ship, excited the praise of all. The for mer has been my companion in arms for more than twenty years. Having thus detailed, although but imperfectly, the progress of this short service, I venture to hope, that the humble and devoted services of myself and the ofEcers and men of every description that I have the honour to command, will be received by His Royal Highness the Prince Regent, with his accustomed grace. ' APPENDIX. 289 The approbation of our services by our sovereign, and the good opinion of our country, will, I venture to affirm, be received by us all with the highest satisfaction. If I attempted to name to their Lordships the numerous officers, who in such a conflict have been at different periods more conspicuous than their companions, I should do injustice to many ; and I trust there is no officer in the fleet I have the honour to command, who will doiibt the grateful feelings I shall ever cherish for their unbounded and unlimited support. Not an officer nor man confined his exertions within the precise limits of his own duty ; all were eager to attempt services which I found more diffi cult to restrain than to excite, and nowhere was this feel ing more conspicuous than in my own captain, and those officers immediately about my own person. My gratitude and thanks are due to all under my command, as well as to Vice-Admiral Capellen, and the officers of the squadron of His Majesty the King of the Netherlands ; and I trust they will believe that the recollection of their services will never cease but with my life. In no instance have I ever seen more energy and zeal ; from the youngest mid shipman to the highest rank, all seemed animated by one soul, and of which I shall with delight bear testimony to their Lordships, whenever that testimony can be useful. I have confided this despatch to Rear-Admiral Milne, my second in command, from whom I have received, dur ing the whole service entrusted to me, the most cordial and honourable support. He is perfectly informed of every transaction of the fleet, from the earliest period of my command, and is fully competent to give their Lord ships satisfaction on any points which I may have over looked or have not time to state. I trust I have obtained from him his esteem and regard, and I regret I had not sooner been known to him. 37 290 APPENDIX. The necessary papers, together with the defects of the ships, and the return of killed and wounded, accompany this despatch ; and I am happy to say Captains Elkins and Coode are doing well, as also the whole of the wounded. By accounts from the shore, I understand the enemy's loss in killed and wounded is between six and seven thousand men. In recommending my officers and fleet to their Lord ship's protection and favour. I have the honour to be, &c. (Signed.) Exmouth. Memorandum of the Destruction in the Mole of Algiers, in the Attack of the llth August, 1816. Four large frigates of forty-four guns ; five large cor vettes from twenty-four to thirty ; all the gun and mortar boats except seven, thirty destroyed ; several merchant brigs and schooners ; a great number of small vessels of various descriptions ; all the pontoons, lighters, &c. ; storehouses, and arsenal, with all the timber and various marine articles, destroyed in part ; a great many gun-car riages, mortar-beds, casks, and ships' stores of all descrip tions. (Signed.) Exmouth. His Britannic Majesty's ship Queen Charlotte, Algiers Bay, August 28th, 1816. Sir, For your atrocities at Bona, on defenceless Christians, and your unbecoming disregard of the demands I made yesterday, in the name of the Prince Regent of England, the fleet under my orders has given you a signal chastise ment, by the total destruction of your navy, storehouses, and arsenal, with half your batteries. APPENDIX. 291 As England does not war for the destruction of cities, I am unwilling to visit your personal cruelties upon the in offensive inhabitants of the country, and therefore offer you the same terms of peace which I conveyed to you yesterday in my sovereign's name ; without the acceptance of these terms, you can have no peace with England. If you receive this offer as you ought, you will fire three guns ; and I shall consider your not making this signal as a refusal, and shall renew my operations at my own con venience. I offer you the above terms, provided neither the British Consul, nor the officers and men so wickedly seized by you from the boats of a British ship of war, have met with any cruel treatment, or any of the Christian slaves in your power ; and repeat my demand, that the Consul and officers and men, may be sent off' to me, conformably to ancient treaties. I have, &c. (Signed.) Exmouth. To his Highness the Dey of Algiers. GENERAL MEMORANDUM. Queen Charlotte, Algiers Bay, Aug. 30. The Commander in chief is happy to inform the fleet of , the final termination of their strenuous exertions, by the signature of peace, confirmed under a salute of twenty- one guns, on the, following conditions, dictated by His Royal Highness the Prince Regent of England : 1. The abolition forever of Christian slavery. 2. The delivery, to my flag, of all slaves in the domin ions of the Dey, to whatever nation they may belong, at noon to-morrow. 3. To deliver also, to my flag, all money received by him for the redemption of slaves, since the commencement of this year, at noon also, to-morrow. 292 APPENDIX. 4. Reparation has been made to the British Consul for all the losses he may have sustained in consequence of his confinement. 5. The Dey has made a public apology, in presence of his ministers and officers, and begged pardon of the Con sul, in terms dictated by the Captain of the Queen Char lotte. The Commander in chief takes this opportunity of again returning his public thanks to the Admirals, Cap tains, officers, seamen, marines, royal marine artillery, royal sappers and miners, and the royal rocket corps, for the noble support he has received from them, throughout the whole of this arduous service ; and he is pleased to direct that on Sunday next, a public thanksgiving be of fered up to Almighty God for the signal interposition of his Divine Providence, during the conflict which took place on the twenty-seventh, between His Majesty's fleet and the ferocious enemies of mankind. It is requested that this memorandum may be read to the ships' companies. To the Admirals, Captains, Officers, &c. &c. Queen Charlotte, Algiers Bay, Sept. 1, 1816. Sir, I have the honour to acquaint you, for their Lordships' information, that I have sent Captain Brisbane with my duplicate despatches, as I am afraid that Admiral Milne, in the Leander, who has charge of the originals, may ex perience a long voyage, the wind having set in from the westward a few hours after he sailed. Captain Brisbane, to whom I feel greatly indebted for his exertions, and the able assistance I have received from* him throughout the whole of this service, will be able to inform their Lordships upon all points that I may have omitted. APPENDIX. 293 Admiral Sir Charles Penrose arrived too late to take his share in the attack upon Algiers, which I lament as much on his account as my own ; his services would have been desirable in every respect. I have the satisfaction to state, that all the slaves in the city of Algiers and immediately in this vicinity, are em barked, as also three hundred and fifty-seven thousand dol lars for Naples, and twenty-five thousand five hundred for Sardinia. The treaties will be signed to-morrow, and I hope to be able to sail in a day or two. The Minden has sailed for Gibraltar to be refitted, and will proceed from thence to her ultimate destination. The Albion will be refitted at Gibraltar for the recep tion of Sir Charles Penrose's flag. The Glasgow I shall be obliged to bring home with me. I have the honour, &c. (Signed.) Exmouth. To John Wilson Croker, Esq. LIST OF VESSELS COMPOSING THE COMBINED FLEETS. British. GUDS. Killed. Wounded. Queen Charlotte, 100 8 131 Impregnable, 98 60 160 Superb, 74 8 84 Minden, 74 7 37 Albion, 74 3 20 Leander, 50 17 118 Severn, 40 3 34 Glasgow, 40 10 37 Granicus, 36 16 42 Hebrus, 36 4 15 Heron, Mutine, Prometheus, b- Sloops of war, none killed or wounded. Cordelia, j Britomart, J 294 APPENDIX. Infernal, Bomb vessel, kdled, 2 wounded, 17 Beelzebub, ^ Hecla, > Bomb vessels, none killed or wounded. Fury, ) Flotilla, consisting of four gun-boats, ten mortar-boats, launches, five rocket-boats, flats, thirty-two gun-boats, barges, and yawls. Total, 55. British killed, 138, wounded, 695. Dutch. Melampus, guns ,40 killed^ , 3 wounded, 15 Frederica, 44 0 5 Dagaraad, 36 0 4 Diana, 40 6 22 Amstel, 44 4 6 Endracht, 24 none killed < Dr wounded. British, 138 killed, 695 wounded. Total 833 Dutch, 13 do. 52 do. do. 65 Grand total, 898 APPENDIX. 295 G. [Page 139.] THE PRESIDENT TO THE DEY OF ALGIERS. I have received your letter, bearing date the twenty- fourth of April last. You represent that the two vessels of war captured by the American squadron were not restored, according to the promise of its Commodore, Decatur, and inferring that his failure violated the treaty of peace, you propose as an alternative, a renewal of the former treaty made many years ago, or a withdrawal of our Consul from Algiers. The United States being desirous of I'iving in peace and amity with all nations, I regret, that an errone ous view of what has passed, should have suggested the contents of your letter. Your predecessor made war without cause on the United States, driving away their Consul, and putting into slavery the captain and crew of one of their vessels, sailing under the faith of an existing treaty. The moment we had brought to an honourable conclusion our war with a nation the most powerful in Europe on the sea, we detached a squadron from our naval force into the Mediterranean, to take satisfaction for the wrongs which Algiers had done to us. Our squadron met yours, defeated it, and made prize of your largest ship, and of a small one. Our com mander proceeded immediately to Algiers, offered you peace, which you accepted, and thereby saved the rest of your ships, which it was known had not returned into port, and would otherwise have fallen into his hands. Our commander, generous as brave, although he would not make the promise a part of the treaty, informed you that he would restore the two captured ships to your officer. 296 APPENDIX. They were accordingly so restored. The frigate, at an early day, arrived at Algiers. But the Spanish government, alleging that the capture of the brig was so near the Spanish shore as to be unlawful, detained it at Carthagena, after your officer had received it into his possession. Not withstanding this fulfilment of all that could be required from the United States, no time was lost in urging upon that government a release of the brig, to which Spain could have no right, whether the capture were or were not agreeable to the law of nations. The Spanish gov ernment promised that the brig should be given up, and although the delay was greater than was expected, it ap pears that the brig, as well as the frigate, has actually been placed in your possession. It is not without great surprise, therefore, that we find you, under such circumstances, magnifying an incident so little important as it affects the interests of Algiers, and so blameless on the part of the United States, into an occa sion for the proposition and threat contained in your let ter. I cannot but persuade myself, that a reconsideration of the subject will restore you to the amicable sentiments towards the United States which succeeded the war so unjustly commenced by the Dey who reigned before you. I hope the more that this may be the case, because the United States, whilst they vosh for war with no nation, will buy peace with none. It is a principle incorporated into the settled policy of America, that as peace is better than war, war is better than tribute. Our Consul, and our naval Commander, Chauncey, are authorized to communicate with you, for the purpose of terminating the subsisting differences by a mutual recogni tion and execution of the treaty lately concluded. And I pray God that he will inspire you with the same love of APPENDIX. 297 peace and justice which we feel, and that he will take you into his holy keeping. Written at the city of Washington, this twenty-first day of August, 1816. (Signed.) James Madison. By the President. (Signed.) James Monroe, Secretary of State. THE AMERICAN COMMISSIONERS TO THE DEY OF ALGIERS. The undersigned have the honour to transmit herewith to his Highness the Dey of Algiers, a letter addressed to him from the President of the United States, and to inform him that they have been appointed by the President Com missioners to treat of the renewal of the relations of peace and amity between the United States and Algiers. Pursuant to these instructions, they have lost no time in proceeding to this bay, in the hope of adjusting the differ ences subsisting between the two countries by a treaty of peace, subject to the ratification of the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. As the promise of Commodore Decatur, to restore the ships captured from the Regency by the squadron under his command, previous to the negotiations for peace in June, 1815, has been fulfilled by the delivery of the vessels in question into the possession of officers of the Regency sent to Carthagena for that purpose, and by the actual return -of those vessels to Algiers, the undersigned are in structed not to admit the unfounded claim, which has been brought forward by the Regency of Algiers upon that question, to a discussion. But, in order to demonstrate to his Highness that the American government has not been remiss in effecting the fulfilment of that promise of their 38 298 APPENDIX. naval commander in a manner the most scrupulously punctual, they herewith transmit copies of a correspond ence between the Secretary of State, and the Minister of his Majesty the King of Spain, in America, upon that subject. This preliminary being agreed to, they are in structed to propose to his Highness the renewal of the re lations of peace and amity between the two States, upon the following conditions, viz. 1st. The renewal of the treaty of peace of June, 1815, in the exact form and terms in which the same was con cluded with the Regency by the Consul General, and Commodore Decatur ; but as a proof of the conciliatory policy of the President, they are instructed to propose gra tuitously to his Highness a modification of the eighteenth article of that treaty, by adding the following, explanatory of it ; — viz. " The United States of America, in order to give the Dey of Algiers a proof of their desire to maintain the relations of peace and amity between the two powers, up on a footing the most liberal, and in order to withdraw any obstacle which might embarrass him in his relations with other States, agree to annul so much of the eighteenth article of the foregoing treaty, as gives to the United States any advantage, in the ports of Algiers, over the most favoured nations having treaties with the Regency." 2d. The Regency of Algiers having misunderstood the liberal principles upon which the treaty of June, 1815, was concluded, and, contrary to a distinct understanding between them and the American Commissioners, having introduced into the translation of that treaty an obligation on the part of the United States, to pay to the Regency a present on the presentation of their Consuls, the same is formally denied ; and the undersigned declare in the most distinct and formal manner, that no obligation binding the United States to pay any thing to the Regency or to its officers, on anv occasion whatsoever, v.'ill be agreed to. APPENDIX. 299 The undersigned believe it to be their duty to assure his Highness that the above conditions will not be depart ed from ; thus leaving to the Regency of Algiers the choice between peace and war. The United States, while anxious to maintain the former, are prepared to meet the latter. In order to facilitate to the government of Algiers the understanding of this note, the undersigned herewith transmit to his Highness an informal translation of it into the Arabic language, and they expect that his Highness will cause a reply to be made to this communication in writing, in either the English, French, Spanish, or Italian language ; or by a foreign Consul, authorized by him to vouch for the same. And they avail themselves of this occasion to offer to his Highness the homage of their high consideration and profound respect. /a- J \ Wm. Shaler. (Signed.) j_ Chauncey. U. S. Ship Washington, Bay of Algiers, 9th Dec. 1816. NOTE OF THE AMERICAN CONSUL GENERAL. The undersigned. Consul General of the United States to the States of Barbary, and their Commissioner to treat of the renewal of peace with Algiers, has the honour to declare to his Highness the Dey, that in conference with him on the nineteenth instant, the proposition of his High ness to delay the negotiation for eight months and a day, was repeatedly rejected ; the undersigned always replying that he could not depart from the tenor of the note, which he had the honour to address to his Highness, conjointly with his colleague, under date of the ninth, current, and that if those propositions were rejected, he should consider 300 APPENDIX. himself in duty bound to embark immediately, leaving the Regency of Algiers in the predicament of declaring war. The undersigned avails himself of this occasion to re iterate to his Highness the Dey of Algiers, the assurance of his hi^h consideration and profound respect. (Signed.) Wm, Shaler. Consulate General of the United States, Algiers, Dec. 20th, 1816. APPENDIX. 301 H. [Page 160.] PROTOCOL DU congres- d'aix-la-chapelle, No. 39. 20 de Nov. 1818. MM. les Plenipotentiaires sont convenus, d'apres le protocol du , de donner suite dans les conferences ministerielles de Londres, a I'examen de differens projets mis en avant pour reprimer efficacement les pirateries ex- ercees par les Barbaresques. M. le Comte de Capo d'Istria a reclame encore une fois I'attention de la con ference sur cette question ; et ayant reconnu combien il etait important d'opposer le plutot possible une barriere quelconque au mal que ces pirateries font au commerce de I'Europe, et de preposer les resolutions a prendre a cet egard par quelque demarche directe et imposante, vis a vis des Regences de la cote d'Afrique, on a invite MM. les Plenipotentiaires de France et de la Grande Bretagne, comme representans les deux cours dont I'authorite doit naturellement avoir le plus de poids aupres de ces Re gences, a leur faire addresser des paroles serieuses, les avertissant, que I'effet infaillible de leur perseverance dans un systeme hostile au commerce pacifique serait une ligue generale des puissances de I'Europe, sur les resultats de laquelle les Etats Barbaresques feraient bien de re- flechir a tems, et qui pourrait eventuellement les atteindre jusque dans leur existence. MM. le Due de Richelieu et Lord Castlereagh se .sont engages a donner les instructions necessaires pour qu' une pareille demarche soit faite, et de donner connois- sance aux autres cabinets de I'effet, qu' elle aurait produit ; et les cinq cours se reservent de faire egalement prevenir la Porte Ottomane, dans les formes amicales, des dangers 302 APPENDIX. auxquels les Regences Barbaresques s'exposeraient en persistant dans leur systeme actuel, et en provoquant des mesures decisives de la part des puissances Europeennes. SMetternich, Richelieu, Castlereagh, Wellington, Hardenberg, Bernstorff, Nesselrode, Capo d'Istria. (Translation.) PROTOCOL of the CONGRESS OF AIX-LA-CHAPELLE, No. 39. 20th of NOVEMBER, 1818. The Plenipotentiaries agreed, according to the Pro tocol of , to continue, in the ministerial conferen ces of London, the examination of different plans proposed for effectually suppressing the piracies committed by the Barbary States. The Count of Capo d'Istria once more called the attention of the conference to this question ; and it being acknowledged how important it was to oppose, as soon as possible, some barrier to the evils which these piracies bring on the commerce of Europe, and to lay before the Regencies on the coast of Africa, in some di rect and imposing manner, the resolutions to be taken on this subject, the Plenipotentiaries of France and Great Britain, as the representatives of the two courts whose authority would naturally have most weight with those Regencies, were requested to cause them to be addressed in serious terms, and to be warned, that the unavoidable consequence of their perseverance in a system hostile to peaceful commerce, would be a general league among the powers of Europe ; on the results of which the Barbary States would do well to reflect in season, and which might eventually affect their very existence. The Duke of Richelieu and Lord Castlereagh pledged APPENDIX. 303 themselves to give the instructions necessary to carry into execution such a measure, and to give notice to the other powers of the effect it should produce ; and the five courts, as they may hereafter see fit, are to cause also the Ottoman Porte to be apprized, in a friendly way, of the danger to which the Barbary Regencies would expose themselves by persisting in their present system, and by provoking decisive measures on the part of the European powers. SMetternich, Richelieu, Castlereagh, Wellington, Hardenberg, Bernstorff, Nesselrode, Capo d'Istria. NOTE addressed TO THE REGENCY OP ALGIERS, PURSUANT TO THE FOREGOING, By Admirals Freemantle and Jurien de la Graviere. Les puissances de I'Europe, qui se sont reunies I'an dernier a Aix-la-Chapelle, ont defere a la France et a la Grande Bretagne le soin de faire au nom de toutes, des representations serieuses aux Regences Barbaresques, sur la necessite de mettre un terme aux depredations et aux violences exercees par les batimens armes de ces Re gences. Nous venons au nom de LL. MM. les Rois de France et de la Grande Bretagne, comme leurs Commissaires, vous notifier les dispositions des puissances de I'Europe. Ces puissances sont irrevocablement determinees a faire cesser un systeme de piraterie, qui n'est pas seulement contraire aux interests generaux de tons les etats, mais qui est encore destructif de toutes esperances de prosperite pour ceux qui le mettent en pratique. Si les Regences persistent dans un systeme ennemi de tout commerce paisible, elles provoqueraient inevitablement centre elles une ligue ge nerale de toutes les puissances de I'Europe ; et elles doivent 304 APPENDIX. considerer avant qu'il soit trop taid, que I'effet d'une telle ligue pent mettre en danger leur existence. Mais avant que nous vous fassions entrevoir les conse quences funestes qu'entrainerait la continuation des pi rateries qui excitent les plaintes de I'Europe, nous nous empressons de vous assurer que, si les Regences renoncent a un systeme si desastreux, les puissances sont non seule ment disposees a maintenir avec elles des relations de bonne intelligence et d'amitie, mais encore a encourager toutes especes de rapports commerciaux qui pourraient etre avantageux aux sujets respectifs. Les puissances au nom desquelles nous avons I'honneur de parler, sont par faitement unies sur I'important objet de la mission, que nous avons ete charges de remplir, et nous sommes les fideles inteipretes de leurs intentions. Nous esperons, qu'eclaires sur vos veritables interests vous ne hesiterez pas a repondre d'une maniere satisfai- sante aux demandes que nous venons de vous representor. Les puissances de I'Europe se bornent a vouloir que les Regences Bfirbaresques respectent des droits et des usages consacres par toutes les nations civilisees ; et si les Regences pretendent pouvoir inquieter a leur gre le commerce des autres nations, elles attireront inevitable ment sur elles les armes de I'Europe. Veuillez done bien nous donner les assurances que nos Souverains attendent de vous, et sont impatiens de transmettre a leurs allies, sur un objet qu'elles ont si profondement a cosur. Mais dans une circonstance aussi grave, des promesses verbales ne suffisent pas ; il s'agit d'un pacte solemnel et de la plus haute importance pour la surete des navigateurs et du commerce de touts les etats ; et puisque nous declarons par ecrit les intentions des puissances alliees, nous sommes fondes a croire que. vous repondrez de la meme maniere a une telle demarche. Nous nous empresserons de faire APPENDIX. 305 parvenir a nos gouvernemens I'engagement positif que vous nous remettrez. Car nous vous le repetons, nous n'admettons pas que vous puissiez repousser des proposi tions qui tendent a vous faire recueiUir promptement tons les avantages commerciaux, garantis par le respect pour le droit des gens. /Q- ' \ S Thomas Freemantle. V S ^¦) ^ JUHIEN DE LA GrAVIERE. Septembre, 1819. (Translation.) The powers of Europe, which assembled, the last year, at Aix-la-Chapelle, have committed to France and Great Britain the care of making, in the name of them all, seri ous representations to the Barbary Regencies, on the ne cessity of putting an end to the depredations and acts of violence, committed . by the armed vessels of those Re gencies. We come, in the name of their Majesties, the Kings of France and Great Britain, as their Commissioners, to make known to you the purposes of the powers of Europe. "These powers are irrevocably determined to put an end to a system of piracy, not only contrary to the general inter ests of all states, but also destructive of all hopes of pros perity to those who practise it. If the Regencies persist in a system hostile to all peaceable commerce, they will inevitably provoke against themselves a general league of all the powers of Europe ; and they ought to consider, before it be too late, that the effect of such a league might endanger their very existence. But before we point out to you the fatal consequences which would ensue from a continuation of piracies which excite the complaints of Europe, we hasten to assure you, that if the Regencies will renounce so disastrous a system, the powers are not only disposed to maintain 39 306 APPENDIX. with them relations of good understanding and amity, but also to encourage every sort of commercial connexion which may be advantageous to their respective subjects. The powers in whose name we have the honour to speak, are perfectly united respecting the important object of the mission, with the execution of which we are charged, and we are the faithful interpreters of their intentions. We hope that, enlightened as to your true interests, you wdl not hesitate to answer satisfactorily the demands we have just laid before you. The powers of Europe confine themselves to the request that the Barbary Re gencies would respect the rights and usages held sacred by all civilized nations ; and if the Regencies pretend to be able to disturb, at their pleasure, the commerce of oth er nations, they will inevitably draw upon themselves the arms of Europe. Be pleased, then, to give us those assur ances, which our Sovereigns expect from you, and are im patient to transmit to their allies, upon a subject which they have so deeply at heart. But, in a case of such moment, verbal promises are not sufficient. This transaction re lates to a solemn compact, and one of the highest impor tance to the safety of the navigators and of the commerce of all states. And since we declare to you in writing the intentions of the allied powers, we have reason to believe that you will reply to this proceeding in the same manner. We shall hasten to lay before our governments the posi tive engagement you shall send us. For, we repeat to you, we cannot admit the possibility of your rejecting propositions which tend to enable you to reap immedi ately all the commercial advantages, warranted by a re spect for the law of nations. ,Q. A \ S Thomas Freemantle. (. 'gne .) I JuKiEN DE la Graviere. September, 1819. APPENDIX. ;^07 K. [Page 225.] DECLARATION. Whereas His Majesty, the King of the United Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland, has represented to us his expectation that we would give a more liberal and extend ed interpretation to the enactments of the seventeenth ar ticle of the treaty concluded between Great Britain and Algiers on the fifth day of April, 16S6, which provides for the entire safety and freedom of the person and estate of his said Majesty's Agent and Consul General, residing in this our city and kingdom of Algiers ; we are readily dis posed to comply with the wishes of his Britannic ^Majesty, in proof of our sincere desire to confirm and establish more lastingly the relations of peace and harmony, which so happily subsist between Great Britain and this kingdom : and we do therefore heartily promise and declare, and it is hereby agreed and declared ; 1st. That for the future and forever, the British A-gent and Consul General, residing in the city and kingdom of Algiers, shall be treated at all times with the respect and civility due to his character. 2d. That his person, house, or houses, shall be inviola ble ; and if any person injure or insult him by word or deed, such person shall be severely punished. 3d. That he shall have liberty to choose his own inter preter and servants, either Mussulmans or others, who are not to pay any tax or contribution whatever. 4th. That he shall have liberty at all times of hoisting His Majesty's flag at the top of his house, either in town or country, and in his boat, when he passes on the wpder. 308 APPENDIX. 5th. That he shall not pay duty for furniture, clothes, baggage, or any other necessaries which he im ports into the city or territories of Algiers, for the use of himself or his family ; and that if the nature of His Majes ty's service, or any other motive, require his absence from this kingdom, neither himself, his servants, baggage, nor effects, shall be stopped or detained, upon any pretence whatsoever, but that he shall have leave to go and return as often as he may think it necessary ; and, finally, that all honours or privileges that are now or may hereafter be granted to the Agent, Consul, or Vice-Consul of any other power, shall fikewise be granted to His Britannic Majesty's Agent and Consul General, and to his Vice-Consul. Confirmed and sealed in the warlike city and king dom of Algiers, in the presence of Almighty God, the twenty-si.xth day of July, in the year of Jesus Christ 1824 ; in the year of the Hegira, 1239, and the twenty-ninth day of the moon del Cada. (Seal of the) Witness, (signed) R. C. Spencer, I Bashaw. ] Captain of H. B. M. ship Nayad. (Signed.) H. McDonell, II. B. M. Agent and Consul General, [l. s.] By His Most Serene Highness the Dey of Algiers. Whereas, a declaration was made and concluded on the twenty-eighth day of August, 1816, by our predecessor, His most Serene Highness Omar Bashaw, with the Right Honourable Baron Exmouth, by which His Highness en gaged, that in the event of any future wars with any Eu ropean power, not any of the prisoners should be consign ed to slavery, but treated with 'all humanity, as prisoners of war, until regularly exchanged, according to European practice, and by which declaration the practice of con- APPENDIX. 309 demning Christian prisoners of war was formally and for ever renounced ; we do hereby distinctly declare, that we are willing to abide in the strictest manner by that decla ration, according to the spirit and literal meaning of the same. Confirmed and sealed in the warlike city and king dom of Algiers, in presence of Almighty God, the twenty-sixth day of July, in the year of Jesus Christ, 1824; in the year of the Hegira 1239, and the twenty-ninth day, of the month del Cada. (Seal of the) Witness, (signed) R.C.Spencer, < °'y- > Captain of H. B. M. ship Nayad. (Signed.) H. McDonell, H. B. M. Agent and Consul General, [l. s.J By His Most Serene Highness the Dey of Algiers. Whereas it has been represented to us that the British schooner called the Dandy, when being in the mole of Algiers on the tenth of January last, was entered by cer tain of our subjects, who grievously ill treated the master of the said schooner ; we do hereby formally assure His Majesty the King of Great Britain and Ireland, that we will in future adopt effectual measures for preventing the repetition of such an outrage. Confirmed and sealed in the warlike city and king dom of Algiers, in the presence of Almighty God, the twenty-sixth day of July, in the year of Jesus Christ 1824 ; in the year of the Hegira 1239, and of the moon del Cada, the twenty-ninth day. ( Seal of the ) Witness, (signed) R. C. Spencer, I Dey of Algiers. $ Captain of H. B. M. ship Nayad. (Signed.) H. McDonell, H. B. M. Agent and Consul General, [l. s.] 310 APPENDIX. His Highness the Dey of Algiers, in proof of his sincere disposition to respect and maintain inviolably for the fu ture, the rights and privileges that are attached to the person and residences of His Britannic Majesty's Consul, consents to sign the declaration that has been presented to him ; but the Dey, having represented the nature of the repugnance against that part of the declaration which stipulates that His Majesty's flag shall be hoisted on the town house of the British Consul, requests that His Majes ty the King of Great Britain and Ireland, will not require a strict compliance with that part of the declaration. The Dey however assures His Majesty in the strongest and most explicit terms, that it is not intended by His Highness that the absence of the flag over the Consul's house within the town of Algiers, shall be considered as depriving that house in any degree of any right or privi lege which may attach to the hoisting of that flag over the Consul's house in the country. Conjfirmed and sealed in the warlike city and king dom of Algiers, in the presence of Almighty God, the twenty-sixth day of July, in the year of Jesus Christ 1824 ; in the year of the Hegira 1239, and of the moon del Cada, the twenty-ninth day. < Seal of the ) Witness, (signed) R. C. Spencer, tDey of Algiers. J Captain of H. B. M. ship Nayad. (Signed.) H. McDonell, H. B. M. Agent and Consul General, [l. s.J the end. 3 9002 00995 3499