INTRODUCTION. xv 



ed the fraud, and was under the difagreeable neceffity of 

 furrendering fo many Chriftians into ilavery in the hands 

 of their enemies. 



One or two fuccefsful difcoveries of this kind made the 

 hungry pirates believe that the paflport of every vefTel they 

 met with, even thofe of Gibraltar, were falfe in themfelves, 

 and iflued to protect their enemies. Violent commotions 

 were excited amongft the foldiery, abetted under hand 

 by feveral of the neutral confuls there. By every occa* 

 jQon I had wrote home, but in vain, and the Dey could ne- 

 ver be perfuaded of this, as no anfwer arrived. Govern- 

 ment was occupied with winding up matters at the end 

 of a war, and this neglect of my letters often brought me 

 into great danger. At laft a temporary remedy was found, 

 whether it originated from home, or whether it was in- 

 vented by the governor of Mahon and Gibraltar, was ne- 

 ver communicated to me, but a furer and more effectual 

 way of having all the nation at Algiers maflacred could 

 certainly not have been hit upon. 



Square pieces of common paper, about the fize of a 

 quarter-meet, were fealed with the arms of the governor 

 of Mahon, fometimes with red, fometimes with black wax, 

 as the family circumftances of that officer required. Thefe: 

 were figned by his fignature, counterfigned by that of his fe- 

 cretary, and contained nothing*more than a bare and fimple 

 declaration, that the vefiel, the bearer of it, wasBritifh proper- 

 ty. Thefepapers were called Paffavants. Thecruifer, uninuruc- 

 ted in this when he boarded a veffel, afked for his Mediter- 

 ranean pafs. The matter anfwered, He had none, he had 

 only a pauavant 3 and mewed the paper, which having no* 

 4 cheeky 



