of the Algcrines. ^ 1 1 



count made of this Body ; which is indeed ftill very formally con- 

 vened^ but then it is only to confent,w'ith the fame Formality^ to 

 fuch Propolitions, as have been before hand concerted, betwixt 

 the "Dey and his Favourites: fo that, inEffedt, the whole 

 Power is lodged in one Perfon. 



This Perfon, who, at Algiers, is called the T)ej>, is chofen^^^? office, 

 out of the Army ; each Order, evon the moft inferiour, having <?^fDcy^ 

 an equal Right and Title,to thatDignity, with the higheft. Every 

 bold and afpiring Soldier, tho' taken Yefterday from the Plough, 

 may be confidered at Algiers , as the Heir apparent to the 

 Throne, and, with this further Advantage likewife, that he ly- 

 eth under no Neceflity to wait 'till Sicknefs or old Age remove the 

 prefent Incumbent : it is enough that he is able to proted him- 

 felf with the fame Cymiter, which he hath had the Hardinefs to 

 Iheath in the Bowels of his Predeceffor. The chief Command 

 here, as it was in theDeclenfion of the RomanRmpire, lyeth 

 open and expofed to every bold Pretender, who, if he hath the 

 Refolution only to attempt, will rarely fail to carry it. To thQTheDeysfr:- 

 Truth whereof, we need only appeal to that quick Succeffion,^'^^^^"^^ 

 which there hath been always among the 7)eys, ever lince the 

 Turki/h Dyne fly ; rarely one in ten having the Fortune to dye 

 in his Bed; i. e. without aMuskett Ball or a Cymiter. Even 

 thofe few Perfons who have made thefe peaceable Exits, cannot 

 attribute them to any fuperiour Regard and Efteem, which the 

 Army had for them in particular , but rather to their own 

 fuperiour good Fortune, in preventing an Infurreftion, by cut- 

 ting off the Confpirators before they could put their Defigns in 

 Execution. This bloody Method of fucceeding to the 'DejJJjip, 

 and of continuing peaceably in it, will doubtlefs appear ftrange 

 and furprizing to Perfons long accuftomed to regular Succelli- 

 ons and civilized Governments, yet is what may be very well 

 accounted for at this Place, where a ftrift and regular Difcipline 

 hath been a long time wanting ; and where, even a private 

 Soldier, after a fmall Exercife and Tryal under thefe Colours^ 

 hath the Ambition to think himfelf confiderable enough, either 

 to pufh for the Kaftan himfelf, or to contribute at leaft in the 

 Promotion of another to It. However this fadious and dif- 

 contented Humour feems, at prefent, to be fomewhat purged 

 and allayed, by the many feafonable Executions that have been 



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