SLAVERY OF THE WHITES. 



285 





it would have been easy for them to have destroyed 

 those nests of piracy at once), until they met at the 

 congress of Vienna and Aix-la-Chapelle. Piracy on 

 the Mediterranean is as old as history; but, after 

 the Mohammedans settled on its shores, they con- 

 sidered the practice of it against Christians legal. 

 The Christian slave, in the Barbary states, was en- 

 tirely at the mercy of his master. In 1815, the 

 whole number of white slaves was computed at 

 49,000; in Algiers, there were 1000. As early as 

 1270, England and France concluded a " holy alli- 

 ance" for the chastisement of the people of Bar- 

 bary. Philip the Bold attacked Tunis, then their 

 chief place, and liberated all the Christian slaves. 

 In 1389, the English, with the French, Genoese 

 and Venetians, forming a united force under the 

 earl of Derby (subsequently king Henry IV.), 

 made a second attack upon Tunis with the same 

 success. When the great Algerine state, after the 

 downfall of the Almoravides, had fallen to pieces, 

 Oran, Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli became petty in- 

 dependent republics, which, partly to revenge the 

 expulsion of the Moors and Jews from Spain, devoted 

 themselves, from 1494, principally to piracy. Ferdi- 

 nand Charles V., Philip V.,and others, attacked them 

 in vain. (See Barbary States.) Little more suc- 

 cess attended the attempt of the English. Blake, in 

 Cromwell's time, destroyed the greater part of the 

 united fleets of Tunis and Algiers in 1655, and 

 liberated many prisoners; but, in 1669 and 1670, 

 the fleet of Charles II., in connection with that of 

 the Netherlands, bombarded Algiers without suc- 

 cess. The French did the same in 1682, 1683, and 

 1688, with a like result. In 1683, the French admi- 

 ral threw 1200 bombs into the city, and burned part 

 of it ; but the dey, Mezzo Morto, ordered the French 

 consul Vacher to be put into a mortar and thrown 

 towards t-he French. From the insufficiency of the 

 means employed, the mutual jealousy of the Eu- 

 ropean powers, the fanaticism of the Moors and 

 Turks, and the fear inspired by the Barbary States, 

 the humiliations which Algiers received were "but 

 momentary. In Algiers, as well as in Tunis and Tri- 

 poli, a Turkish militia, eager for pillage, were in 

 possession of the government ; and all the European 

 governments have submitted to the degradation of 

 purchasing peace from these barbarians by regular 

 or extraordinary presents. France alone stood on 

 a better footing with them ; and England concluded 

 with Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli in 1662, and with 

 Morocco in 1721, treaties which provided that no 

 British subject should ever be made a slave, even 

 if he should be found as a passenger on board a 

 hostile vessel. All English vessels furnished with 

 passes by the admiralty were to be allowed to na- 

 vigate the Mediterranean- unsearched; the cargoes 

 of Wrecked vessels were not to be seized, nor their 

 crews to be made slaves ; and the English men of 

 war were to be permitted to enter the various Bar- 

 bary ports to obtain provisions, without paying any 

 duty. But the Barbary states kept these treaties 

 only as long as they found it convenient. Austria 

 not many years since, obtained letters of protection 

 from the Porte, without tribute, for her own ships 

 and those of Tuscany. Russia and Prussia ob- 

 tained similar firmans from the Porte. Sweden and 

 Denmark purchased peace by the payment of tri- 

 oute. Portugal, from 1795, required a contribution 

 from the Hanse towns for protecting their vessels 

 on her coasts. Liibeck and Bremen, as late as 1806, 

 concluded treaties with Morocco ; but they were 

 nevertheless, obliged at length to abandon almost 



entirely, the navigation of the Mediterranean. The 

 United States protected their national honour by 

 sending a squadron to Algiers in 1815, under the 

 command of Decatur, who bombarded the city, and 

 obliged her to declare that the flag of the republic 

 should in future be respected. (See Lyman's Di- 

 plomacy, and our article Barbary States.) Sir Sid- 

 ney Smith, in 1814, soon after the general peace, 

 founded a society at Paris, called the Institution 

 Anti-pirate, but it was dissolved in 1818. The at- 

 tempt of Joseph Bonaparte to unite Britain and 

 France against those pirates at the peace of Amiens, 

 was defeated by the breaking out of war soon after 

 the conclusion of that peace. Lord Exmouth 

 (formerly Sir Edward Pellew) concluded, April 17, 

 1816, a treaty with the dey of Tunis, Mahmoud 

 Pacha, which provided that prisoners should not be 

 treated as slaves, and should be restored at the 

 conclusion of peace. Britain, at the same time, 

 undertook to protect her allies, Naples and Sar- 

 dinia, against the Barbary powers. Lord Ex- 

 mouth had already appeared, March 31, 1815, be- 

 fore Algiers, and forced the dey to conclude a 

 treaty with Naples and Sardinia. But the king of 

 Naples had to pay for every captured subject 1000 

 piasters, and 24,000 piasters annually, besides the 

 usual presents; and Sardinia, for every captured 

 subject, 500 piasters. Hanover was included in the 

 treaty with Britain. Tunis gave up the Sardinian 

 prisoners without ransom, but the Neapolitans had 

 to pay 300 piasters each. Tripoli also declared, like 

 Algiers, that she would abolish the slavery of Chris- 

 tians, and introduce the common laws of Europe re- 

 specting prisoners of war. May 15, 1816, lord Ex- 

 mouth appeared a second time before Algiers, to force 

 the dey to acknowledge the European law of nations 

 respecting prisoners of war. The dey declared that 

 the permission of the sultan was necessary, and 

 captain Dundas carried the Algerine minister to 

 Constantinople, while Exmouth returned to Eng- 

 land. In the meantime, the dey had sent orders to 

 Oran and Bona, that all the British, and their pro- 

 perty, on shore and on shipboard, should be seized. 

 This order was executed most cruelly. May 23, 

 Turkish and Moorish soldiers surprised 359 Italian 

 vessels, which had purchased permission to fish for 

 coral, and were lying peaceably under the British 

 flag in the port of Bona. The British consul was 

 ill treated, and many Christians killed ; and the 

 cruelties did not cease until a messenger arrived, 

 whom the dey of Algiers had despatched imme- 

 diately after the conclusion of the treaty with Ex- 

 mouth. The news of this barbarity roused the in- 

 dignation of this country. July 28, lord Exmouth 

 sailed with six ships of the line, two frigates, two 

 brigs, and four bomb vessels, from Plymouth, and 

 was joined by some more vessels at Gibraltar. The 

 Dutch admiral Van der Capellen joined him also 

 with six frigates. The fleet had on board 6500 

 men, and 702 guns, and appeared, August 27, off Al- 

 giers, where the dey had made preparation for an ob- 

 stinate defence. 50,000 Moors and Arabians were 

 assembled at Algiers. Lord Exmouth immediately 

 sent the dey a written demand, stating that, as he 

 had violated all his obligations by the cruelties at 

 Bona, the Prince Regent required, 1. an immediate 

 liberation of all Christian slaves without ransom ; 

 2. restoration of the money which had been paid 

 for the Sardinian and Neapolitan captives, amount- 

 ing to 382,500 piasters ; 3. a solemn assurance that 

 he would in future respect the rights of humanity, 

 like Tunis and Tripoli, and in all future wars, treat 



