BARBARY STATES. 



417 



of 200 sail and 30,000 men, in the latter part of 

 1541. The Spaniards wished to settle here perma- 

 nently ; and merchants, mechanics, and women, even 

 ladies of the court, had embarked on board the fleet. 

 But a terrible storm, accompanied with earthquakes 

 and violent rains, destroyed the greater pail of the 

 ships and the camp, October 28. Charles was obliged 

 to abandon his cannon and baggage, and a great 

 part of his scattered forces. He lost, by the storm, 

 15 ships of war, 140 transports, and 8000 men. Cid- 

 Utica, say the Moors, a pious Maraboot, beat the sea 

 so long with his stick, that it lost patience, and de- 

 stroyed the ships of the unbelievers. A monument 

 was erected to the holy man after his death ; and, 

 (veil now, the people believe that it is only neces- 

 sary to strike the sea with his bones, in order to raise 

 H storm which will repel a Christian fleet. This 

 success encouraged the barbarians. The pacha of 

 Egypt, in 1544, conquered Tremecen ; in 1555, 

 Bugia ; and, in 1569, Tunis, which, however, re- 

 gained its independence in 1628; in 1694 it became 

 tributary, and, in 175 1, was conquered a second time. 

 Since then, it has always remained more or less de- 

 pendent upon Algiers. The Spaniards, in 1703, 

 renewed, without success, their attacks upon Algiers : 

 they also lost Oran, in 1708. Equally unsuccessful 

 were the attacks of the English, the Dutch, and the 

 French. In 1U62, the English, for the first time, 

 made a treaty with Algiers, and, in 1816, in con- 

 nexion with the Dutch, finally humbled the pride of 

 this piratical state. (See Slave Trade and Slavery of 

 the Whites). But the insufficiency of the means 

 employed for the restraint of the fanatics, the jea- 

 lousy of the European states, and other causes, con- 

 tributed to render the humiliation of the Algerines 

 only momentary. The northern coast of Africa can 

 only be saved, after the complete extirpation of the 

 Turkish soldiery, by a judicious colonial system, and 

 this the recent occupation of Algiers by the French 

 promises to effect. In 1817, the Algerine pirates ven- 

 tured even into the North sea, and captured all the ships 

 which did not belong to tributary powers, such as Swe- 

 den, Denmark, Portugal, or to those with which they 

 have made treaties, as Britain, the United States, 

 tlie Netherlands, Sardinia, Naples, and France. The 

 governments of Morocco, Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli, 

 did, indeed, promise not to treat the Christian pri- 

 soners any longer as slaves, but more like prisoners 

 of war (see Slave Trade) ; but the lot of the unfor- 

 tunate men who fell into their hands did not become 

 bitter; on the contrary, their treatment was much 

 more cruel than before. The flags of the less power- 

 ful states, notwithstanding the treaties, were seldom 

 respected ; and, in 1826, piratical fleets sailed from 

 Algiers to capture vessels belonging to Spaniards 

 and the subjects of the pope, &c. Against "the Ger- 

 111:111 navigation, also, their fury has often been 

 directed. On this account, an anti-piratical confe- 

 deracy was formed in Hamburg, and, at the 

 meeting of the diet, a committee was appointed 

 to propose measures for the security of German 

 ships. Most of the powers seemed to desire the pro- 

 tection of Britain, but Baden considered it a national 

 concern of the German confederation. Great Bri- 

 tain and France, in 1819, called upon the Barbary 

 states, in the name of aU the European powers, to 

 regard as binding the European law of nations. But 

 the crusade, which Sir Sidney Smith, as president of 

 the antipiratical association in Paris (now dissolved), 

 proposed to the powers of Christendom, did not take 

 place. In the year 1830, France sent out an expedi- 

 tion against Algiers, and has succeeded in establish- 

 ing a dominion there, which, by overturning the 

 nncient dominion of barbarism, cannot fail, in the 

 end, of being beneficial to all parties. 



Of the three piratical states, Algiers, Tunis, and 

 Tripoli, Algiers was the seat of the most ferocious sol- 

 diery. The arbitrary extortions of the former pachas 

 made their government so much hated, that, in 1628, 

 the inhabitants sent deputies to Constantinople, who 

 persuaded Achmed I. to consent to the limitation of 

 the power of the pacha. They chose their own dey, 

 therefore, to take charge of the finances, and left to 

 the pacha only his salary and his rank. The pachas 

 afterwards attempting to recover their former autho- 

 rity, the dey Babu AH, in 1710, caused the one then 

 in office to be thrown into a ship, and sent to Constan- 

 tinople, with the declaration, that the Algerines would 

 no longer receive a pacha from the Porte, but would 

 be governed by deys chosen by themselves. Achmed 

 III. appointed the then ruling dey his pacha, and 

 thereby renounced all influence in the government of 

 this military republic. From that time till the fall 

 of Algiers, the sultan only sent thither occasionally a 

 chiaua', or plenipotentiary, who was received with 

 great respect, entertained, and soon sent back again. 

 But the personal condition of the deys was not more 

 secure than that of their predecessors. Seldom is one 

 so fortunate as Mohammed III., who died in 1791, 

 after a reign of 23 years, at the age of 93. The dey 

 Omar Pacha, who made so determined a resistance to 

 lord Exmouth, and who was as prudent and active as 

 he was brave, was murdered by his soldiers, in 1817. 

 On this account, his successor, Ali Hodya, a Turk by 

 birth, with his family, his treasurers, and ministers, 

 went by night, Nov. 2, 1817, into the strong castle of 

 Kiaska, or Charba (which was the residence of his 

 predecessors till the middle of the 16th century), and, 

 by means of the garrison, on which he could entirely 

 rely, and his 50 cannon, held the city and the disorder- 

 ly Turkish soldiery in awe. He treated the European 

 consuls and the foreign merchants with shocking ca- 

 price and cruelty. His successor, Hussein, who was 

 more peacefully disposed, also, for the sake of secu- 

 rity, chose this castle for his residence. Under the old 

 regime, the dey of Algiers had unlimited power, 

 though assisted by a divan composed of the first min- 

 isters and officers of state. The choice of the dey de- 

 pended wholly on the common soldiers. Unanimity was 

 necessary ; one party, therefore, generally compelled 

 the other to a concurrence with them. The individual 

 chosen must take the office. The new dey, to reward his 

 adherents with places frequently caused all the officers 

 of his predecessor to be put to death. The dey com- 

 manded in every thing except in religious affairs. He 

 held a court of justice every day except Thursday 

 and Friday, at which all the officers were present. 

 Every case was quickly decided, and the sentences were 

 executed on the spot. The former dey armed the 

 natives of the country, Moors, and negroes, against 

 his own countrymen, the Turkish soldiery, and pur- 

 chased their adherence by means of the sacred trea- 

 sure in the old castle of which he had made himself 

 master. 



The British government used to be more feared by 

 these barbarians than any other. They observed the 

 treaties entered into witli Britain ; and, since the treaty 

 of 1721, the British consul has been held in gnat 

 respect in Morocco. The condition of slaves in 

 Morocco and Tripoli, has constantly been tolerable, 

 and their ransom easy ; but, since the slavery of 

 Christians was abolished in Morocco, Europeans who 

 fell into the hands of Arabian and Turkish free- 

 booters, by shipwreck or in other ways, are said 

 to have been often murdered, if they could not be 

 transported into the interior of Africa. Most of the 

 Christian slaves were Italians ; but the Italian states 

 also treat the captive Moors as slaves. 



The state of Algiers lies between Tunis and Fez; 

 it contains 89,300 square miles, with 2,600,000 inlia- 



