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SHORT 
 
 A 
 
 ACCOUNT 
 
 OF 
 
 ALGIERS, 
 
 CONTAINING 
 
 A DESCRIPTION 
 
 OF THE 
 
 CLIMATE of that country,. 
 
 OF THB 
 
 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS'- 
 
 OF THE. 
 
 INHABITANTS, 
 
 4£ND OF THEIR SEVERAL WARS AGAINST SPAIN* 
 fRANCE, ENGLAND, HOLLAND, VENICE, AND 
 OTHER POWERS OF EUROPE, FROM 
 THE USURPATION OF BARBAROSSA 
 AND THE INVASION OF THE 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. TO 
 THE PRESENT TIME; 
 
 WITH A CONCISE 
 
 VIEW OF THE ORIGIN 
 OF THE RUPTURE, 
 
 BETWEEN 
 
 ALGIERS and the UN ITED ST ATES, 
 
 Aut blfce fellus in ■patulos fpccus y 
 jZtLer r ae jiavrmis perde fequacibus 
 t Lurptt coJon&s, AFRICANiE 
 Dedecus i •pprabriumquc terra* 
 
 Bochanaw# 
 
 — 1 ■ — ■■■■ - p — T 
 
 PHILADELPHIA : 
 
 (dated by J. Parker for M. Carey, N°. 1 18, Market-ftjreefc 
 
 January 8, 1 7 QjD 
 
Number LII. 
 
 Diftrift: of Pennfylvania, to wiN-^ 
 
 ■(L. S.) T3 E it remembered , that cn the eighth day of 
 JO? 'January , in the eighteenth year of the in- 
 dependence of the united Jlaies of America , Mathew Carey , 
 of the J'aid difrift , hath depofited in this office , the title of 
 a book , right whereof he claims as proprietor , in the 
 
 words following , twV ; 
 
 “ yf fhort account of Algiers , containing a defeription of 
 <c the climate of that country, of the manners and cufloms 
 u of the inhabitants , of their federal wars againjl 
 
 “ Spain, France, England, Holland, Venice and other pova- 
 <c m ft/" Europe, from the ufurpation of Barbaroffa and the 
 “ invafion of the emperor Charles V. to the prefent time , 
 “ with a concife view of the origin of the rupture between 
 tc Algiers and the united fates” In conformity to the aft 
 of the congrefs of the united fates, intituled, “ An aft for 
 “ the encouragement of learning ; by fecuring the copies of 
 maps , charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors cf 
 fuch copies during the time therein mentioned.” 
 
 1 4 
 
 SAMUEL CALDWELL, Clerk of 
 
 tjxe difrift of Pennfylvania,- 
 
SHORT ACCOUNT, & c. 
 
 Chap. I. 
 
 General defcription of the country of Algiers.. Clima'Sj. 
 
 Sca-Coajl. Principal cities. 
 
 .Algiers is a countrv,which derives its name from 
 its metropolis ; and extends four hundred and eighty 
 miles in length from ealt to weft along the northern coaft 
 of Africa. Its utmofl breadth is three hundred and 
 twentymileSjbut at the diftance of an hundred miles from 
 thefea-coaft, that part of Africa becomes a barren defert, 
 almoft utterly uninhabitable either by man or beaft. Al- 
 giers is fituated between thirty-two and thirt«y-feven de- 
 grees of north latitude, which correfponds to that of the 
 United States, from Virginia to Carolina, inclufive. It 
 is bounded on the north by the Mediterranean fea ; on 
 the fouth, by mount Atlas ; on the eaft, by the country 
 of Tunis ; and on the weft, by the river Mulvia, which 
 feparates it from the empire of Morocco, 
 
 The principal rivers, which water the territory of 
 Algiers, rife in Mount Atlas, and run by a northerly 
 direction into the Mediterranean fea. They are feven 
 in number. None of them has a long courfe, or even 
 is navigable ; at leaft none of them is made ufe of in 
 navigation. It is however likely that they might be 
 employed for this purpofe, were the inhabitants of a 
 more intelligent and indu.ftrious character ; for fome 
 of them are of a tolerable depth. Such is the grofs 
 ignorance of the natives in whatever concerns domeftic 
 improvement, that there is not a Angle bridge over any 
 .of rhefe rivers. When they are to be crofted, the tra- 
 veller hath fometimes to wander for feveral miles in 
 fearch of a ford, as ferry-boats are unknown. If a hea- 
 vy rain happens to fall, he is forced to wait, till the 
 liver returns to its.ufual fize* 
 
f 2 } 
 
 This country confiffs of eighteen provinces. The' 
 climate is remarkably delightful. The air is pure and 
 ferene. The foil is covered with almoft a perpetual 
 verdure. Extreme heat is not common. This defcrip* 
 tion applies to the lands on the fea-coaft ; for as we 
 advance into the country, the foil becomes more parched 
 and barren. Indeed a confiderable part of.the back 
 country is a favage defert, abounding with lions, tigers, 
 leopards, buffaloes, wild boars, and porcupines. And 
 it muff be acknowledged, that thefe animals are not the 
 Jieaff amiable inhabitants of this country. 
 
 ^ There are few toVrils of any confequence, though 
 tyhen fucceffively under the dominion of Carthage and 
 Rome, it abounded with populous cities. Bona isfup- 
 pofed to be the fame place with the ancient Hippo, a 
 fea-port built by the ancients. It was formerly the ca- 
 pital of the province of Bona. It lies on the Mediter- 
 ranean fea, and thefe is a coral fifhery near it. It is a 
 town of no importance, and of {lender population. In 
 this part of the world, elegant architecture, has, for 
 many centuries been utterly forgotten or defpifed. The 
 buildings of Bona, as every where elfe, are therefore 
 mean. It is expofed to the incurfions of the Arabs. 
 The name of this people is ufed by travellers in a very 
 indefinite manner. Algiers is at the diftance of fome 
 hundreds of leagues from Arabia : but as this part of 
 Africa was formerly conquered by that nation, under 
 the banners of Mahomet, the name is ftili applied to a 
 face of tawny and independent barbarians, who wander 
 in gangs about the country, and unite the double pro- 
 feffions of a Ihephefd and a robber. Bona was formerly 
 1 magnificent city. Its grandeur is now only to be 
 traced in the ruins of a monaftery. It has a fortrefs, 
 and a gafrifon of three hundred Turks, as the banditti 
 Chufe to call themfelves ; a Turk being the moft repu- 
 table title in that country. This circumftance is alone 
 fufficient to afcertain the depth of its wfetchednefs. 
 Thefe adventurers however are not Turks, but the { weep- 
 ings of all nations blended together. They are com- 
 manded by an aga, who is likewife governor of the 
 town- Bona was taken by Charles V. in his expedition. 
 
f n 
 
 .to Tunis, but was not long after recovered by its fo?« 
 
 .jner matters. 
 
 Conttantina is fituated on the river Sef Gomar, fort 
 ty eight miles from the fea-coaft. It received its prefent 
 name from that of a princefs, the daughter of the emt 
 peror Conttantine, to whom it was indebted for magr 
 nificence. The fituation is on a peninfula, difficult of 
 accefs, except towards the fouth.weft. It is one mi!$ 
 in circumference, well fortified, and contains many 
 fragments of ancient architecture. In particular there 
 is part of a noble bridge ; and near it, is a large 
 fubterraneous aquedubt, which terminates in a cafcade* 
 State criminals are fometimes precipitated down this 
 place, and dallied to pieces againtt the rocks at its botf 
 tom. A bey refides here, and has under his command 
 three hundred Turkifh horfe, and one thoufand five 
 hundred Mooritti foldiers. This is the account given 
 by travellers, though it is not likely that the number of 
 the garrifon is always the fame. In details of this kind. 
 We mutt be contented with the beft materials that can 
 be had, though fometimes not entirely above exception. 
 The inhabitants of Conttantina, are faid to be opulent 
 and haughty. This city was formerly the refidence of 
 a race of kings who governed the province of Conttan- 
 tina, of which it is the metropolis ; but in the year 1520, 
 the whole territory was conquered by Barbaroffa, that 
 diftinguiihed fcourge of mankind, who annexed it to 
 the government of Algiers. Some fplendid ruins exiit 
 in the vicinity of Conttantina. Upon the fea-coatt, at 
 ■a fmall dittance from it, are the traces of a Roman co- 
 lony, antiently called Colo. It is fituated on a high 
 rock, and has a garrifon. Adjoining to it is a French 
 factory, to which the Moors bring hides, wax, and wool, 
 for fale. At no great dittance are the remains of the 
 ancient city of Stora. It is faid that the mountainous 
 part of this territory is inhabited by a hardy people, who 
 can raife forty thoufand fighting men. It is not proba- 
 ble, that thofe writers who made this affertion had ever 
 an opportunity of counting their number, fliftory 
 abounds with fiich random calculations. The vagabond 
 who founded Rome has been fupplied by the geaerofity 
 
< 4 y 
 
 Cff fucceeding hiftorians, with an army about' equally 
 humerous, though it is, at the fame time, acknowledged* 
 that his kingdom was only feven or eight miles in length. 
 
 Gigeri is fituated about fifteen miles from Bona. It 
 contains about fifteen hundred houfes, and the inhabi- 
 tants are very poor. It is defended by a fort and a fmall 
 ^arrifon. The natives of this part of the country are 
 independent and barbarous. They retire, when circurn- 
 fiances require it, to inacceftible faftneifes, and fet the 
 dey of Algiers at defiance. Ships, when wrecked 
 on this coaft, are plundered, and the crews are treated 
 with the utmofl favagenefs. In this refpeft, however, 
 the natives of the territory of Gigeri cannot differ much 
 for the worfe from the refl of their countrymen ; nor 
 is the pra&ice peculiar to Barbary. Scenes of the fame- 
 kind are frequently a£Ied, and if any thing can be Hill 
 more infamous, are .almofl always aded with impunity, 
 on the coaft of Cornwall, and other maritime counties 
 of England.* The French, in the year 1666, had be- 
 gun to fortify Gigeri. They were driven from it by the 
 j(Ugerines, with the lofs of their cannon, and molt of 
 their effects. 
 
 . Bugia, was formerly the capital of a kingdom of the 
 fame name. It ftands at the mouth of the river Major, 
 or Zinganor, about twenty leagues to the eaftwaid of 
 Algiers. It is little better than a heap of ruins ; a de- 
 fcription which applies to almoft every town in that part 
 of the world. It has three caftles, two at the port, and 
 one upon a rock, at a fmall diftance behind them. In. 
 the year 1671, a Britifh admiral took or deftroyed, in 
 this harbour, nine Algerine fhips of war. It is extremely 
 ■feldom, that an admiral has been charged with fuch a 
 laudable commiffion. 
 
 Stelfa or Steffa, is fituated in a fertile valley, fixty 
 miles to the fouth of Bugia, and fifteen miles from the 
 lea. It exhibits only the melancholy ruins of its formeT 
 
 * There is a ftory of an Englith parfon, whofe congrega- 
 tion, during the time of divine fervice, heard of a fh ip wreck* 
 In fpite of his utmoft effo ts to detain them, the whole alfeni- 
 bly rulhed out of church, 1 n a body, to divide the plunder* 
 
C 5 ? 
 
 magnificence, containing about three hundred mlferabhS . 
 families. 
 
 Tebef was formerly a flourilhing city, but is at prefent 
 extremely reduced. Zamoura is in the fame condition.,. 
 It is defended by a fort. Couco was once the me. 
 tropolis of a kingdom of the fame name. Its fovereigns 
 were in the habit of forming alliances with the court 
 of Spain. For this reafon, the Algerines, in the be* 
 ginning of the feventeenth century, ravaged the whole 
 country, and dertroyed every town in it. The inhabi* 
 tants have (till fupported their independence, by taking 
 refuge in the mountainous parts of the country, which 
 are faid to be very fertile ; but the Algerines prevent 
 them from holding any intercourfe with foreign nations.. 
 Bifcara, has a fort and garrifon. One of the chief em- 
 ployments of the people here, is to catch and tame lions, 
 tygers, and other hearts of prey, which they carry for 
 fale to Algiers. Necanz, is one of the pleafanteft towns 
 in Barbary. It is watered by an agreeable river, \vhofe 
 banks are adorned with a variety of beautiful trees* 
 The town contains a magnificent mofque and a college 
 for the education of Mahometan ftudents. 
 
 Oran is fituated about two hundred and fifty miles 
 well of Algiers. It lies partly on a plain, and partly on 
 the afcent of a hill. It is a mile and an half in circum* 
 ference and tolerably fortified. But it is unfortunately 
 commanded by fome of the neigbouring eminences; 1 o 
 that a garrifon of ten or twelve thoufand men is neceflary 
 to defend it with fuccefs againft a fkilful enemy. As the 
 Spanifh coafts and merchant flfips had fuffered much 
 from the corfairs of this port, Ferdinand king of 
 Spain, determined to attempt its reduction. For this, 
 purpofe, he tranfported into Africa an army, under the 
 command of his prime minifter cardinal Ximenes, one 
 of thofe few rtatefmen, who have not deferved the de- 
 teftation of mankind. The wonted good fortune of 
 Ximenes, did not, at this jun&ure, defert him. He had 
 maintained a correfpondence with fome of the people 
 of Oran ; and when the Moors fallied out to attack the 
 Spanifh army, their perfidious countrymen (hut the gates 
 agaiart them. Ximenes killed four thoufand of th$ 
 
'fcarbarlans, and fet at liberty twenty thoufand Ch rift ran 
 ilaves. The Algerines, during almoft two hundred 
 years, made frequent and unfuccefsful attempts to reco- 
 ver the town. At laft, in 1708, they retook it. In June, 
 1732, a Spanifh army was difembarked not far from 
 Oran. The Turkish commander, his troops, and the 
 inhabitants were feized with a panic, and abandoned 
 their fortifications without much refinance. The victors 
 found in the place an hundred and forty fix pieces or 
 cannon, befides mortars, and at lead fifty fhip loads of 
 provifions. This latter fupply contributed much to 
 the prefervation of their new conqueft. Without it 
 they mud have run the greated hazard of perifhingia 
 the midd of fuccefs ; as a temped, which lafted for ie- 
 veral days, cut off all intercourfe between the army upon 
 (hore, and tire fleet at fea. The Moors not long after 
 attacked the Spaniards with great fury, but were finally 
 repulfed with much daughter on both fides. Oran is 
 dill poifeded by Spain. 
 
 Tremefen was formerly the capital town of a kingdom 
 ©f that name. It is dtuated ninety miles fouth-wed of 
 Oran, furrounded by a drong wall and well fortified. 
 It has five gates with draw-bridges before them, and a 
 cable containing handfome barracks for the Janifaries 
 who are in garrifon. Tremefen while a metropolis was 
 a fplendid city. It contained one hundred and fifty 
 mofques, and one hundred and fixty public baths. Since 
 it ceafed to be the feat of an independent government, 
 it hath fhrunk into ruins and defolation. The mofques 
 are reduced to eight, and its public baths to four. The 
 inhabitants are extremely indigent. 
 
 Modagan, Hands fifty miles ead of Oran. This 
 town is built in the form of a theatre opening to the 
 fea, and furrounded on every other fide with rocks that 
 hang over it. The ruins of an old Moorifh cable band 
 in a fpace between the rocks, and there is a drong done' 
 wall towards the port, with a modern built cable, gar- 
 rifoned by a number of Turks. The citadel is ere&ed 
 upon the fummit of one of the rocks, and commands 
 both city and territory. The haven is commodious, 
 and the town is well fupplied with water. The neigh 
 
C 1 > 
 
 louring mountains are inhabited by a people called 
 Magarabas, who live in tents, pofTefs a great number 
 of flocks, and pay to the dey of Algiers twelve thou- 
 sand crowns annually. There is a handfome mofque in 
 this town. 
 
 Tenez, is fituated about one hundred miles to the 
 eaflward of Oran, twenty miles eafl of Moitagan, and 
 at a league did ant from the fea, where it has a convenient 
 port. There is a cattle that was once a royal palace, 
 and in which the governor refides. The fortifications 
 are flrong, the gafrifon numerous, and the neighbour*- 
 ing territory fertile. This was fuppofed to have been 
 the Julia Cadarea of the ancients. 
 
 Sercelli, lies between Tenez and Algiers, about twen- 
 ty four miles to the weflward of the latter. It is de- 
 fended by a Turkifh garrifon, and has a port, which 
 Will only admit of fmall veflfels. This was antiently a 
 large and populous city, but is at prefent a poor and 
 fiefolafe place. 
 
 The fouthern part of the Algerine territories, is in- 
 habited by a wandering race of people, who like the 
 Tartars, roam from place to place, and live in tents* 
 The country itfelf is hilly,.a branch of mount Atlas run- 
 ning through it. The only riches of the people are 
 their numerous flocks and herds- The government 
 exatts a tribute from them, but a bey is obliged to 
 come annually at the head of an army to coliecf it j 
 -and many of them retire to inaccefiible places till the 
 troops are withdrawn, in order to evade the payment. 
 
 Aigieis, itfelf (lands on a bay of the Mediterranean 
 fea. It is built on the fide of a mountain. The houfes 
 rife gradually from the fea-fhore up the afeent, in the 
 form of an amphitheatre. The town appears beautiful 
 at a diltance, when approaching from the water. The 
 mofques, caftles, and other public buildings have a 
 flriking effedt ; but the flreets are narrow, and the 
 houfes mean. The roofs are flat, fo that the people can 
 yifit each other, at a confiderable diffance in the town 
 without going into the flreets. The walls are about a 
 league in circumference, and defended by fonre fquare 
 towers and baftions, The .port has a pier about five 
 
( 8 ) 
 
 hundred paces in length, which extends from the eon* 
 tinent to a fmall rocky ifland called the Lantern. On 
 this illand, there is a caftle with three lines of brafs can- 
 non. The town has five gates, ten great mofques, and 
 fifty leffer ones, and is computed to contain an hundred 
 thoufand inhabitants. The fortifications are extenfive 
 and (trong. The Chriftian flaves are often employed 
 in removing (tones from a quarry, at fome diftance in 
 the country, which they lay on the fand, to defend the 
 mole from the imnetuofity of the waves. This laborious 
 ■work is never at an end, becaufe the fea conffantly 
 wafhes away the (tones, and makes a perpetual fupply 
 nece(fary. One (treet, which is broad and handfome, 
 paffcs through the town from eaft to weft ; but all the 
 other ftreets are narrow, incommodious, and dirty. 
 Tfeere are faid to be fifteen thoufand houfes, which are 
 ■cofnrtionly built round a fmall fquare with a paved 
 court in the centre. Around this court is a double range 
 of galleries, one above the other, and both fupported 
 by columns. The palace of the dey (lands in the centre 
 of the city. This building is very extenfive, and fur. 
 rounded by two fuperb galleries, fupported by marble 
 pillars. There is a law here, by which any woman con- 
 victed of amorous correfpondence with a Chriftian, is 
 thrown into the fga, with her head tied up in a fack T 
 unlefs her lovetchufes;to turn Mahometan. Examples 
 of this'kincbaremot unfrequent, as the fair fex, in that 
 pait of the world, are faid to be remarkably frail. Six 
 of the baths have been converted into prifons for the 
 Chriftian (laves. In each of thefe, there is a chapel for 
 the free exercife of their religion. Every (lave is lei 
 «ut at a certain hour in the morning, and muft return 
 at a dated hour at night, in order to be locked up... 
 Each of them is allowed a matrafs and a rug for a bed. 
 There are feveral tolerable edifices without the u T alls of 
 the town, which add to the beauty of the environs. 
 Among thefe are a variety of Turkifh fepulchres 
 and monuments. One of thefe monuments contains 
 fix magnificent tombs of a circular figure. They were 
 created to the memory of fix deys, who were in the 
 sourfe of a few days, fucceflively elected and murdered. 
 
( 9 > 
 
 There is perhaps no nation in the world from which we 
 may not learn fome uieful lefTon. With refpcd to the 
 burial of their dead, travellers inform us, that the Ma* 
 hometans difcover a degree of delicacy of which Chrif- 
 tians have no conception. In our church yards, nothing 
 is more common, and furely nothing can be more com- 
 pletely fhocking , than to fee graves broke up, a fecond 
 time, before the perfon has returned to his original 
 duft ; and the remains of the dead are toffed about 
 with as little ceremony as poflible. This wretched 
 violation of decency arifes from the orthodox defire of 
 being buried in holy ground ; a practice which has no 
 doubt been encouraged by the parties concerned, for the 
 purpofe of exacting a high price. Exorbitant demands of 
 this kind have not longfince been paid within lefs than 
 an hundred miles of Philadelphia. The Algerines, and 
 the other profeffors of the Mahometan religion, would re* 
 gard it as an ad of the moft barbarous facrilege to dif? 
 turb the remains of the dead, by opening their graves, 
 at any diitanceof time, or upon any pretence whatever. 
 Hence their burial grounds in the neighbourhood of a 
 large city are fometimes ten miles in extent. 
 
 Algiers had formerly nothing but rain water. A 
 Moor, who had been driven from Spain, conftruded 
 two aqueduds, by which it is now fupplied with 
 abundance of excellent water from the adjacent moun- 
 tains. The country around this city is very fertile. 
 Country-feats, gardens, and groves of trees are faid ta 
 be numerous. The Algerines are unacquainted with 
 the art of pruning and grafting trees. Their gardens 
 are not walled, but fenced round with a peculiar fpecies 
 of fig-trees, which from their prickles, and the com* 
 padnefs with which their branches interweave, are well 
 adapted for that purpofe. Among other rich trads in 
 the province of Algiers Proper, the great plain ofMet- 
 tijah is admired for its aftonifhing fertility. It is fifty 
 miles in length, twenty in breadth, and includes many 
 villas, fragrant gloves, and delightful gardens. The 
 foil produces fuch a profufion of the moft delicious 
 fruits, rice, roots, and grain of every fpecies, that the 
 inhabitants enjoy annually two, and frequently thre# 
 
 $ 
 
C *© ) 
 
 .-crops The hmt baths of Meereega, in the neighbour* 
 hood of this city, are natural curiofities. The principal 
 one is twelve feet fquare and four deep. The water is 
 very hot, and when it has filled the larger bafon, runs 
 through it into another of a finaller fize, where the Jew* 
 bathe, as they are not permitted to ufe the fame bath, 
 with the Mahometans. Thefe hot fountains are conjec- 
 tured to proceed from the great quantities of fulphur, 
 nitre, and other inflammable fubfiances in the bowels 
 of the earth. To this caufe likewife have been afcribed 
 thofe earthquakes, to which the whole country, and Al- 
 giers in particular, are frequently fubjected. 
 
 Chapter JI, 
 
 Cujloms. Religion. Government. Land Forces. Corf air u 
 
 T HE prefent inhabitants of the territory of Algiers 
 are compofedofa multitude of different nations. 
 Among thefe are theMoors orMorefcos who were driven 
 out of Spain about the end of the fixteenth century, 
 and the Arabians, who trace their defcent from thofe 
 difciples of Mahomet who formerly fubdued this coun- 
 try. Levantines, Turks, Jews, and Chriftian haves, with 
 a croud formed of the poflerity of all thefe different; 
 people, make up the reft of the population. The Moors 
 and Arabs are the moft numerous. The for me r 
 compofe the great body of the inhabitants of the towns. 
 Bui it rpay be readily fuppofed, that amidft fuch a va- 
 riety of different races, immenfe numbeFS cannot be 
 faid.to belong to any particular tribe or nation what- 
 ever. In this country there are many wandering bands 
 of fhepherds, who live together in camps <md remove 
 from one place to another as they want pafiure for their 
 herds and flocks, or as any other accidental circumftance 
 happens to make it neceffary. They fometimes pay 
 rent to landlords, in corn, fruit, honey, wax, and other 
 productions of the fame kind. The dey likewife de- 
 mands-a tribute. The excellence of the climate ren- 
 ders this fiinple way of living tolerable, though the 
 of thefe people are mean, their utenfils of little 
 
( ” ) 
 
 value, and their lodging filthy. The family and thefe 
 domeftic animals, lie promifcuoufly in the tents toge- 
 ther, except the dogs, which are left on the outfide 
 as guards. They raife confiderable numbers of bees 
 and of filk-worms. They fubfift chiefly on bread, rice 
 and fruit. Wine and fpirituous liquors are almoft en- 
 tirely unknown. 
 
 The drefs of the men is only a long piece of coarfe 
 doth wrapped round the fhoulders, and falling down to 
 their ankles, with a cap of the fame Huff. The women 
 pay fome more attention to the ornamental part of 
 drefs. The children are fufifered to go (lark naked 
 till feven or eight years of age. The Sheik or chief 
 of a tribe wears a cap of fine cloth. Thefe people are 
 ufually called Arabs ; their cuftoms, language and reli- 
 gion bear a find affinity with thofe of Arabia. They 
 are robuft and of a fwarthy complexion. The men are 
 adive, the women prolific, and the children healthy.. 
 They have neither to encounter the hardffiips incident 
 to the life of a North-American favage, nor are their 
 conftitutions enfeebled, as isTometimes the cafe in ma- 
 nufaduring towns, by fedentary and unhealthful em- 
 ployments. When a young man would marry, he 
 drives a number of cattle to the hut where the parents 
 of his miftrefs refide. The bride is fet on horfeback 
 and led heme, amidffi the ffiouts of a croud of young 
 people, who have been invited to the nuptial feaft. 
 When ffie arrives at the hut of her lover, a mixture of 
 milk and honey is given her to drink, and afongfuita- 
 ble to the occafion is fung. She then alights, and is 
 prefented with a (tick, which file thrufts into the ground* 
 and repeats fome lines to the followiug effed : <s As 
 “ this {tick is fattened in the earth, fo I am in duty 
 ^ bound to my hufband ; as nothing but violence can. 
 ^ remove it, fo death alone (hall force me from his 
 44 love.” She then drives his flock to water and back 
 again, to fliew her willingnefs to perform any duty that 
 he may affign her. Thefe previous ceremonies being 
 •fettled, all the company enter the hut, and the evening 
 concludes with the greateft feftivity that thefe people are 
 •capable of enjoying, Subfequent to the marriage, the 
 
< *i > ■ 
 
 wife is obliged to wear avail. She never ftirs from the 
 hut for the fpace of a month, after that time. 
 Thefe are the ceremonies reported to be cuftomary in 
 celebrating a marriage among the paftoral tribes of 
 Barbary. But narratives of this kind mull be received, 
 as bifhop Burnet admonifhes the reader, to perufe his 
 Hiftory of his own times, viz. with feme grains of allow- 
 ance . Such uniform regularity is hardly to be expect- 
 
 ed among a race of wandering fhepherds. Perhaps an 
 African critic would turn from our defeription of his 
 country with as much difdain,as a citizen of the United 
 States feels in attempting to perule a frothy volume re* 
 fpedting North-America, fabricated by fome of the pra- 
 fedional book-builders of Paris or of London.* 
 
 * The following curious circumftanres mav ferve to fhevr 
 What kind of opinion ought to be entertained of the authors of 
 oriental travels. In the ytar 1783, an adventurer, who 
 called hnnfelf a modern .Greek, publilhed a 1’mall vo* 
 lume entitled the life of All Bey . It contained fome ro* 
 
 mantic ftories, which the author atterted as an eye witnefs. 
 About this time the court of France had difpatched into Egypt 
 Monfieur Savary, a gentleman of fome note in the republic of 
 letters. His bulinefs was to obtain authentic information con- 
 cerning the ancient and modern fituatiori of that country* He 
 returned, and in due time publilhed two large volumes, preg- 
 nant with learning and fublimity. Monfieur Voiney foon after 
 entered the lifts as a third champion. He made a very fevere 
 attack on the veracity of his French predeceffor. In particular, 
 he upbraided him with having ftolen a great number of pages, 
 from a very contemptible impofture which pretended to be a 
 life of Aii Bey . This biographer, as an evidence, perhaps, of 
 his claflical pedigree, had adorned the name of Cofmofolitos . 
 Voiney added that a copy of the book having by chance come to 
 Egypt, while he was there, the European merchants in that 
 province could not help exprelling their furprize, that their 
 countrymen were ftupid enough to digeft fuch ridiculous reve- 
 ries. Monfieur Savary did not long furvive this humiliating 
 difeovery. But the “ Modern Greek” replied in a volume of 
 letters, which he inferibed by permiflion to fir William For- 
 dyce, an eminent Englilh phvfician. In this work he affirms 
 that Voiney himfelf wrote his travels in a garret at London. 
 Bella! horrida bflla ! 
 
 Jt is certainly, though not generally known, that the letters 
 
( *3 ? 
 
 The Moors or Arabs, for the two names appear to 
 fynonyrnous, are good horfemen, but great thieves. 
 Their principal arms are a fhort lance and a feymitar, 
 though they are likewife acquainted with the bow and 
 the mulket. It is dangerous to travel in the country* 
 for fear of being robbed , but perfons are faid to be 
 in fafety, if attended by one of the Mahometan Mara- 
 bouts or hermits. The inhabitants on the fea-coaft are 
 perfectly verfant in the ufe of fire-arms. 
 
 Algiers retains the title of a kingdom, an epithet 
 which might, w-ithout regret, be expunged from every 
 human vocabulary. It is however a military republic, 
 though it certainly can reflect no luftre on that fpecies 
 of government. The national ordinances run in thefe 
 words : “ We, the great, and fmall members of the 
 “ mighty and invincible militia of Algiers,” &c. The 
 dey is elected by a divan compofed from the army. He 
 feldomfecures his office, without tumult and bloodfhed ► 
 and he often falls by the dagger of an aifaffin. This 
 fovereign may with peculiar propriety adopt the expref. 
 fion of one of the heroes of Ollian : tc I was born in 
 “ the midflof battles, and my fteps muft move in blood 
 “ to the tomb.” The way in which his authority is 
 exercifed, correfponds with that by which it has been 
 obtained. When Mr. Bruce, as Britifh refident at Al- 
 giers, had occafion to vifit the dev, he fometimes found 
 him in his hall of audience, with his cloaths all be- 
 fpattered with blood, like thofe of a carcafe butcher. 
 It is a very frequent amufement with him, to caufe the 
 heads of his fubjedls to be flruck off in his prefence. 
 Mr. Bruce faid, that he knew of one man, who was 
 executed, for no greater offence than becaufe a gun- 
 flint was found upon him. His indi&ment and trial 
 were* very concife. “You rafeal, what bufinefs havg 
 
 of lady Mary Wortley Montague are the offspring of a roer. 
 cantile pen. Even Baron Tott, and Mr. Bruce, though writers 
 of comparative authenticity, require in the reader, fhong 
 and frequent dofes of faith. 
 
( 14 > 
 
 you with a hint, unlefs you were going to confpirc 
 “ againit the Hate ?”* 
 
 The aga of the Janiflaries is the officer next to the 
 dey in dignity and power. He enjoys his poll but two 
 'tnonths, and then retires upon a penfion. The other 
 officers of importance are a fecretary of (late, twenty- 
 four Chiah baffas or colonels livbordinate to the aga, 
 eight hundred fenior captains, and four hundred lieu- 
 tenants. Among thefe officers, the right of leniority 
 is ftrictly obferved. A breach of this point would be 
 expe&ed to produce a revolt among the foldiers, and 
 might perhaps coft the dey his life. Befides thefe offi- 
 cers, there are others belonging to the Turkiffi forces, 
 who form a feparate body. The dey has a corps of 
 guards ; a very neceffiary, though fometimes a fruitlefs 
 precaution; as any private foldier who has the 
 courage to murder him, Hands an equal chance of 
 becoming his fucceffor. Experiments of this de- 
 fcription are fometimes made. Since the beginning 
 erf the prefent century, fix private foldiers entered into 
 a confpiracy to kill a dey of one of the dates cf Barba- 
 ty. They gave him a mortal wound in his palace, and 
 in the midit of a croud of people. He expired, ex- 
 claiming, “Has nobody the courage to kill a villain 
 One of the conipirators, the intended fucceffor, inilant- 
 ly afeended the vacant throne, and brandiffiing his naked 
 fcymitar ? declared that he zvoidd do jufcice to all! His 
 five affociates went about the hall to inforce the title of 
 their new mailer ; and none prefent leemed to give 
 themfelves any diflurbance about what had happened. 
 He kept his fituation unmolelled, for about ten mi- 
 nutes, till an old veteran unobferved took aim with a 
 jnulket or blunderbufs, and ffiot him dead. Upon this, 
 the five others were immediately dilpatched by the per- 
 fons prefent. But what ffiewed the nature of the go- 
 vernment in its proper light was the obfervation of the 
 new dey. He faid, that if the uiurper could have held 
 
 * Thefe picturefque details are not inferted In the publica. 
 ifon of Mr. Bruce ; bnt they were related to me on his authc* 
 rity, by a gentleman of the tint rank in the literary world. 
 
( 1 5 ) 
 
 his place for twenty minutes longer, he would have 
 obtained the throne. 
 
 The people of Algiers in general fpeak a compound of 
 Arabic, Morefco, and the remains of the ancient Phce« 
 Flician languages. The natives of all denominations, 
 for the moil part, underftand the Lingua Franca. This 
 is a kind of dialect, which without being the proper 
 language of any country on the coaft of the Mediter-* 
 ranean lea, has a kind of universal currency all over 
 that quarter of the world, as the channel of information, 
 for people, who cannot unberftand each other through 
 any medium but iti'elf. The public bufinefs of the na-* 
 t-ion is tranfadled in the Turldfh tongue, in which alfo 
 the records are kept. It is curious, that in converfatk 
 on, a 1 urk trampofes his nouns and verbs, in the fame 
 way that the Greek and Latin writers have done. Some 
 of our modern critics have been woefully perplexed in 
 attempting to explain this practice, which they feem ta 
 eonfider as peculiar to thofe two ancient languages. 
 Had they been acquainted with the circumftsnce juft 
 how mentioned, they might readily have folved forne 
 of their doubts, by a voyage to Constantinople. 
 
 In Algiers, both men and women fpend a great part 
 of their time in indolence ; the men, in drinking 
 coffee and fmoaking ; and the women, in drefllng, 
 bathing, viftting the tombs of their relations, and faun-* 
 tering in their gardens. The Algerines by their law 
 may have four wives, but they ul'ually content themfelveat 
 with two or three at the moft. The hufband feldom 
 fees his wire belore marriage, but accepts her upon the. 
 defcription of a female confident. When the match is 
 agreed upon, the bridegroom fends a prefent of fruits 
 and Sweetmeats to the bride, and entertains her relations 
 with a feaft and a mufical entertainment.* 
 
 * An author, vhofe bulk at leafi: entitles him to refpedk 
 gravely tells us, that when an Algerine dies, his body is clad 
 in a turban, a hurt, a pair cf drawers, and a (ilk robe ! If we 
 undeiiland this paffage in its literal fenfe, tilk muit be more 
 abundant, in that kingdom, than linen is, in any part of Eu« 
 rope ; fince it is certain that thousands of poor people in Eu« 
 tope are buried without even a ihirt. 1 bus it is that books ojf 
 
r i<r ) 
 
 The militia who eleS the dey are either Turks er 
 renegado Chriftians. Their number has been varioufly 
 ftated by different authors from fix thoufand five hun- 
 dred to twelve thoufand. The dey pays no other reve- 
 nue to the grand feignior,than that of a certain number 
 of handfome youths, and fome other annual prefents. 
 His income is more or lefs in proportion to his oppor- 
 tunities of plundering his neighbours or his fubjech. 
 Dr Shaw fays, that the taxes of the whole kingdom pro- 
 duce yearly to the dey but about three hundred thou- 
 fand dollars. He conje&ures that the eighth fhare of 
 the prizes, the property of perfons who die without 
 children, and to whom the dey falls heir, with the pre- 
 fents from foreign nations, and his private acts of rob- 
 bery at home, extend to an equal fum. It is eafy to fee 
 that this calculation mud be extremely queftionable. 
 The tyrant himfelf can hardly be fuppofed capable to 
 give adiftinct eflimate. 
 
 The Mufti, the Cadi, and the grand Marabout, are - 
 the principal ecclefiaftics. The firlt is the high prieft 
 of their religion *, the fecond, the fupreme judge in ec* 
 cleliaitical caufes, and in fuch civil matters as the civil 
 power does not interpofe in. The third is the chief of 
 an ordeT of faints or hermits. Thefe three perfons are 
 difting-uidied by the largenefs of their turbans. They 
 fit in the divan a little'below the dey, on his right hand. 
 The divan itfelf confifts of about two thoufand Turkilh 
 officers and foldiers. 
 
 'Hie common punifhment at Algiers, for offences not 
 capital, is the baftinado ; for thofe, -which are fo, the 
 bow-ilring, which two people pull different ways with 
 all their itrengtb, fo that the criminal is inltantly dif- 
 patched. The Chrittian Haves are liable to a variety 
 of pimifhments. They are fometimes burned, or 
 rather roafted alive. At other times, they are im- 
 paled. This is done, by placing the offender on the 
 
 travels are written. The journalift records what he has feen 
 happen once, or perhaps has never feen at all, as what takes 
 placeevery day. The writer above referred to might as well 
 have told us, that every native of Algiers was ieven feet high. 
 
C l 7 > 
 
 a fharp ftake, which is thruft up his pofteriors clofe 
 by the back-bone, till it appears above his {boulders. 
 Slaves are fornetimes cad over the walls of a town upon 
 iron hooks. Thefe catch by the jaws, by the ribs, or 
 fome other part of the body ; and the fufferers have 
 been known to hang thus for feveral days, alive, and in 
 the inoif exquifite torture. Crucifixion, by nailing the 
 hands and feet to walls, is likewife pradtifed. 
 
 A Moor convidted of houfe -breaking, hath his- right 
 hand cut off and fattened about his neck. He is then 
 Jed through the city on an afs, with his face towards 
 its tail. Perfons of diftindtion, for crimes againft ths 
 date, are placed between two boards, and fawed afun** 
 der. Women, detected in adultery, are fixed by 
 their necks to a pole, and held underwater till they are 
 fuffocated. 
 
 When an Algerine pirate takes a prize, he examines 
 into the quality and circumftances of the prifoners. 
 If he difibelie-ves the account that they give of them- 
 felves, they are baftinadoed, till he has met with an 
 agreeable anfwer. Having obtained what information 
 he is able, he brings them on fhore, after having {trip- 
 ped them aimoft naked. He carries them diredtly to the 
 palace of the dey, where the European coniuls affemble, 
 lo fee if any of the prifoners belong to their refpective 
 nations, who are at peace Vith Algiers. In .that cafe, 
 they reclaim them, provided that they were only pafien- 
 gers ; but if they have ferved on board of the {hips of 
 any people at war with “ the mighty and invincible 
 “ militia,” they cannot be difcharged without payment 
 qf the full ranfcnn . „ 
 
 Matters are thus fettled between the dey and the con- 
 fuls, what part of the prifoners are. to be fet at liberty, 
 and- what part are to be confidered as {laves. The dey 
 has next his choice of every eighth Have. He gene- 
 rally chufes the matters, furgeons, carpenters, and 
 molt ufeful hands belonging to the feveral prizes. Be- 
 fiides his eighth, he lays claim to all prifoners of quality, 
 for whom a iuperior raniom is to be expected. The 
 reft are left to the corfair and his owners. They are 
 carried to the {lave market ; the crier proclaims their 
 
 C. 
 
( IS ) 
 
 ■rank, profeffion, and fcircumdances, and the price fet 
 Upon each of them. They are then led to the court 
 before 'the palace of the dey, and there fold to the bell 
 bidder. If any fum is offered beyond the price fir It 
 fet upon them, it belongs to the government. The 
 captors and owners have only that which was originally 
 fet upon the haves. For this practice of buying and 
 felling haves, we are not entitled to charge the Algerines 
 with any exclufive degree of barbarity. The Chri.lians 
 of Europe and America cairv on this commerce an 
 hundred times more extetifively than the Algerines. It 
 has received a recent function from the immaculate 
 Divan of Britain. Nobody feems even to be furprifei 
 by a diabolical kind of advertifements, which, for fome 
 jmonths part, have frequently adorned the newfpapers of 
 Philadelphia. The French fugitives from the Welt-In- 
 dies have brought with them a croud of haves. Thefe 
 moil injured people fometimes run off, and their maher 
 advertifes a reward for apprehending them. At the 
 fame time, we are commonly informed, that his facred 
 name is marked in capitals, on their breads ; or in 
 plainer terms, it is damped on that part of the body 
 •with a red hot iron. Before therefore we reprobate the 
 ferocity of the Algerines, we fhould enquire wtiether it 
 is not pohible to find, in fome other regions of the 
 globe, a fydematic brutality dill more disgraceful? 
 
 Chapter III, 
 
 Origin of the prefent government of Algiers. Expedi- 
 diiion of Charles V. 
 
 A LGIERS had undergone a variety of revolutions 
 in its form of government, previous to the begin- 
 ning of the dxteenth century, which it is not within the 
 plan of this (ketch to defcribe. But about that time, a 
 fudden revolution happened, which, by rendering the 
 ilates of Barbarv formidable to theEuropeans,hath made 
 their hidory worthy of more attention. “ Ibis revo- 
 ^ Ipijon was brought about, by perfons born in a ran& 
 
( *9 ) 
 
 of life, which entitled them to act no fuch illujlrto-M 
 “ part/'* Horuc and Hayradin, the Ions of a potter 
 
 * Robertfon’s Hiftcry of Charles V. bock 5. It is to be 
 tviflied,that this writ.r had lelt us an explanat on of what idea 
 he intended to convey, by the word iltujiriaus. In his Htftory 
 ©f America, it is frequently applied to the conquerors of Ivdexi* 
 eo and Peru ; and here to tne founders of the piratical ftatc of 
 Algiers, Pet a few lines farther dow n, in the page juft quoted,, 
 he lays, that thefe corlairs, whom he had juft o lore termed 
 illujtrious , followed an infamous trade. Immediately after, ho 
 charges one of them with a perfidious inurtker . If thele are 
 not contradidions, what name are we to give them? In the 
 hilfory of America, book 5, he tells us that Cortes “ has been 
 “ admired and celeb’ at; a by 1 receding ages.” Thus a pref- 
 byte run divine holds forth as an object ol admiration and ce a 
 lebrity , the butcher of t wo or three millions of i nnocent people. 
 Dr. tiobertlon has filled three oftavo volumes, with a hiltory 
 ©1 the reign of Charles V. who was likewife, it leems, an objedf 
 worthy of admiration. This tyrant configrled to the execu- 
 tioner, fifty or an hundred thouiand of his proteftant fubjectsr 
 in the 'Netherlands; as we are informed by father Paul and 
 Grotius. i here is not, however, to be found, in the narra- 
 tive of the panegyrift of BarbarolTa, one linglc word of fuch 
 a bloody perfecution ; nor has this ftupendous mutilation of 
 hiilory been llarted as an objection to Dr. Robertfon, b/any 
 of the L ndon critics, whom I have met w'ith. Had this re- 
 verend author been writing the life of Richard III. of Eng- 
 land, we may. from what has been above ftated, conjecture, 
 that he would have forgot to mention the two nephews of 
 that illuftrious lovereign. Of fuch heroes, fuch an encomiaft, 
 and a world that admires the one and the other, candour cart, 
 only fay, Mains, Pejsr, Pejjlmus. 
 
 It is provoking to fee how many of the moft diftinguilhed 
 hiftorians defpiie the reputation of veracity. Mr. Hume, as a 
 pattern of excellence, is ufually coupled with Dr. Robertlon. 
 As to him, tke reader may look into my additions to the article 
 of Ireland, in the American edition of Guthrie’s geography. 
 In this refpsft, the ancients are often as exceptionable. Salluft 
 pronounces for Catiline, a long fpeech to his army, juft beford 
 its defeat. He adds, loon after, Pvjlremo, ex omni copia , neque 
 in prcclio , ueqtte in fag a, quisquam civis ingtnuus capias eji. From 
 this exprefiion we are to underftand, that the whole rebel army 
 Was cut to pieces; a few fugitive {laves perhaps excepted. 
 Where then did Salluft obtain a copy of the lpeech of Cata« 
 line ? or what are we to think as to the fidelity of that mef 
 enchanting writer^ 
 
C *0 ) 
 
 in the ifle of L'efboSj prompted by a refflefs and enter* 
 prifmg fpirit, forfook their father’s profefilon, ran to' 
 fea, and joined a crew of pirates. They foon diftin- 
 gui fired themfelves by their Valour and activity, and 
 becoming makers of a fmall brigantine, fupported their 
 infamous trade with fuch conduct and fuccefs, that they 
 affembled a fleet of twelve galleys, befides many veffels 
 of fmaller force. Of this fleet, Horuc, the elder bro- 
 ther, called Barbaroffa from the red colour of his beard. 
 Was admiral, and Hayradin fecond in command. Their 
 names foon became terrible from the Straits of the Dar- 
 danelles to thofe of Gibraltar. Together with then- 
 power their ambitious views extended, and while acting 
 as corfairs, they affumed the ideas, and acquired the 
 talents of conquerors. They often carried the prizes, 
 which they took on the coaft of Spain and Italv, into 
 the ports of Barbary. The convenient htuafion cf 
 thefc harbours, lying fo near the grcateft commercial 
 ftates at that time in Chrifcendom, made the brothers 
 with for an eftablifhment in that country. An oppor- 
 tunity of accomplilhing this project, prefented itfelf, 
 and they did not f offer it to pafs unimproved. Eutemi, 
 king of Algiers, having attempted feveral times, with’ 
 out fuccefs, to take a fort which the Spanifli governors 
 of Oran had built not far from his capital, applied to 
 Barbaroffa. The corfair, leaving his brother Hayradin 
 with the fleet, marched at the head of five thoufand 
 men to Algiers. Such a force gave him the command 
 of the town. He fecretly murdered the monarch whom 
 he had come to aflilt, .and proclaimed himfelf king in 
 his Head. The authority which he had ufurped, he 
 eftablilhed by arts fuited to the genius of the people 
 whom he had to govern ; . by liberality without bounds 
 to thofe who favoured his promotion, and by cruelty 
 no lefs unbounded to all whom he had any reafon to 
 miftruff. He continued to infelt the coalt oi Spain and 
 ?taly with fleets which refembled the armaments of a 
 g-'eat monarch, rather than the fquadrons of a pirate. 
 Their frequent and cruel devaftations obliged Charles 
 V. about the beginning of his reign, to furnifli the 
 ffarquis de Cornares, governor of Oran, with troops 
 
t *> > 
 
 fufficient to attack him. That officer executed the com**- 
 million with fuch fpirit, that Barbaroffa’s forces being 
 vanquifhed in feveral encounters, he himfelf was ffiut up 
 in Tremecen, and in attempting to make his efcape 
 was fortunately dain. 
 
 His brother Hayradin, known likewife by the name 
 ©f Barbaroffia, affumed the fceptre of Algiers. He 
 carried on his naval robberies with great vigour, and 
 extended his conquefts on the continent of Africa, 
 But perceiving that the Moors and Arabs fubmitted to 
 his government with the utmolt reluctance, and being 
 afraid that his continual depredations would, one day, 
 draw upon him the arms of the Chriltians, he put his 
 dominions under the protection of the grand feignior, 
 and received from him a body of Turkilh foldiers fuf- 
 ficient for his fecurity againlt his domeftic as well as 
 foreign enemies. At lalt, (he infamy, -or, as Dr. Ro~ 
 bertfon calls it, th z fame of his exploits daily increafing,- 
 Solyman offered him the command of the Turkilh fleet j 
 and Hayradin on the other hand, jultly dreading the 
 confequences of the tyranny of his officers over the 
 Algerines, fought the protection of the grand feignior. 
 This was readily granted, and himfelf appointed baffiaw 
 or viceroy of Algiers ; by which means he received 
 fuch conliderable reinforcements, that the unhappy Al- 
 gerines durft not make the leaft complaint ; and fuch 
 numbers of Turks reforted to him, that he was not only 
 capable of keeping the Moors and Arabs in fubjeCtion 
 at home, but of annoying the Chriltians at fea. 
 
 Hayradin fet about building a ftrong mole for the 
 fafety of his fhips. In this he employed thirty thoufand 
 Chriltian Haves, whom he obliged to work without in- 
 ter million for three years, in w'hich time the work was 
 completed. Hayradin foon became dreaded not only 
 by the Arabs and Moors, but alfo by the maritime 
 Chriltian powers, efpecially the Spaniards. The vice- 
 roy failed not to acquaint the grand feignior with 
 his fuccefs, and obtained from him a frelh fupply 
 of money, by which he was enabled to build ftrong- 
 forts, and to ereCt batteries on all places that mighs 
 favour the landing of an enemy. All thefe have fince 
 
< 2 * ) 
 
 received greater improvements from time to time, ae- 
 often as there was occafion for them. 
 
 In the mean time the fultan, either out of a fenfe of 
 the great fervices of Iiayradin, or perhaps out of jea- 
 loufy left he (hould make himfelf independent, railed 
 him to the dignity of bafhaw of the empire, and ap- 
 pointed PJaffan-Aga, a Sardinian renegade, to fucceed 
 him as bafhaw of Algiers. Haffail had nofooner taken 
 poileffion of his new government, than he began to puriue 
 his ravages on the Spanifh coaft with greater fury than 
 ever ; extending them to the ecclefiaftical ftate, and o- 
 ther parts of Italy. Pope Paul III. alarmed at this pro- 
 ceeding,exhorted the emperor Charles V. to fend a pow- 
 erful fleet to fupprefs thole frequent piracies ; and, that 
 nothing might be wanting to render the enterprize fuc- 
 cefsful, a bull was publifhed by his holinefs, wherein a 
 plenary abfolution of fms, and the crown of martyrdom, 
 were promifed to all thofe who either fell in battle or 
 were made Haves. The emperor, on his part, needed no 
 incitement, and therefore fet fail at the head of a pow- 
 erful fleet, confiding of an hundred and twenty (hips 
 and twenty gallies, having on board thirty thoufand 
 troops, with an immenfe quantity of arms, and am- 
 munition. In this expedition, many young nobility and 
 gentlemen attended as volunteers, and among thefe 
 many knights of Malta, fo remarkable for their valour 
 againft the enemies of Chriftianity. Even ladies of birth 
 and character attended Charles, and the wives and 
 daughters of the officers and foldiers followed him with 
 a defign to fettle in Barbary, after the conqueft was 
 fktifhed. 
 
 By this prodigious armament the Algerines were 
 thrown into the utmoft confternation. The city was 
 furrounded only by a wall with fcarce any out- works. 
 The garrifon confided of eight hundred Turks and fix. 
 thoufand Moors, without fire-arms, and poorly diici- 
 plined and accoutred ; the reft of their forces being* 
 difperi'ed in the other provinces of the kingdom, to levy 
 the ufual tribute ou the Arabs and Moors. Ihe Spa- 
 niards landed without opposition, and immediately 
 
( ®3 ) 
 
 built a fort, under the cannon of which they encamped* 
 and diverted the ccurfe of a fpring which (applied the. 
 city with water. Being now reduced to the utmofl 
 dihreis, Haffan received a fummons to furrender at dif* 
 cretion, on pain of being put to the fvvord with all his 
 garrison. The herald was ordered to extoll the vaft 
 power of the emperor both by fea and land, and to ex- 
 hort him to return to the Chrillian ieiigion. But to 
 this Haffan only replied, that he mud be a madman, 
 who would pretend to advife an enemy, and that the 
 perfon adviied would aft (till more madly who would 
 take couniel of fuch an advifer. He was, however, on 
 the point of furrendering the city, when intelligence 
 wat brought him that the forces belonging to the weft* 
 ern government were in full march towards the place ; 
 upon which it was refolved to defend it to the utmofk, 
 Charles, in the mean time, refolving upon a general 
 affault, kept a conftant firing on the town ; which, 
 from the weak defence made by the garrifon, he looked 
 upon as already in his hands. But while the divan 
 were deliberating on the molt proper means of obtain- 
 ing an honourable capitulation, a mad prophet, attended 
 by a multitude of people, entered the alfembiy, and 
 foretold the defir uction of the Spaniards before the 
 end of the moon, exhorting the inhabitants m K-’d 
 out till that time. This prediction was foon accomplifhed 
 in a very fumrifing and unexpected manner ; lor, oa 
 the 28th of October 1541, a dreadful ilorm of wind, 
 rain, and hail, arofe from the north, accompanied with 
 violent fhocks of earthquakes, and a difmal and uni- 
 verfal darknefs both by fea and land ; fo that the fun, 
 moon, and elements, feemed to combine together for 
 the deftrudtion of the Spaniards. In that one night, 
 feme fay in iefs than half an hour, eighty fix (Lips and 
 fifteen gallies were deftroyed, with all their crews and 
 military (lores ; by which the army on fhore was de- 
 prived of ail means of fubfiflence. Their camp alio, 
 which fpread itfelf along the plain under their fort, was 
 laid quite under water by the torrents which defeended 
 from the neighbouring hills. Many of the troops, by 
 trying to remove into fome better fttuation, were cut to 
 
( 24 > 
 
 pieces by the Moors and Arabs ; while feveral gaities s 
 and other veffels, endeavouring to gain fome neigh- 
 bouring creeks along the coaft, were immediately plun- 
 dered, and their crews maffacred by the inhabitants. 
 
 Next morning, Charles beheld the fea covered with, 
 the fragments of Ihips, and the bodies of men, horfes, 
 and other creatures, fv/imming on the waves ; at which 
 he was fo disheartened, that abandoning his tents, ar- 
 tillery, and all his heavy baggage, to the enemy, he 
 marched at the head of his army, in no fmall diforder, 
 towards Cape Mallabux, in order to reimbark in thofe 
 veffels, which had out-weathered the dorm. But Haf- 
 fan, who had watched his motions, allowed him jud time 
 to get to the fhore, when he tallied out, and attacked 
 the Spanians in the midft of their hurry to get into their 
 fhips. He killed great numbers, and brought away a 
 dill greater number of captives ; after which he re- 
 turned in triumph to Algiers. 
 
 Soon after this, the prophet Yufef, who had foretold 
 the dedrn&ion of the Spaniards, was declared the de- 
 liverer of his country, and had a eonfiderable gratuity 
 decreed him, with the liberty of exercifmg his prophe- 
 tic function unmoleded, It was not long, however, 
 before the Marabouts, and forne interpreters of the law, 
 made a Ilrong oppofition againd him, remonflrating to 
 the balhaw, how ridiculous and fcandalous it was to 
 their nation, to aferibe its deliverance to a poor for- 
 tune-teller, which had been obtained by the fervent 
 prayers of an eminent faint of their own profeffion. 
 But though the bafhaw and his divan feemed out of 
 policy, to give into this lad notion, yet the impreffion, 
 which the prediction of Yufef and its accompjifhment 
 had made upon the minds of the common people, 
 proved too flrong to be eradicated ; and the fpirit or 
 divination and conjuring has ftnee got into fuch credit 
 among them, that not only their great flatefmen, but 
 their prieds, marabouts, and fantoons, have applied 
 themfelves to that ftudy, and dignified it \ ith the name 
 of Mahomet’s Revelations. 
 
 The Spaniards had fcarce reached the fhips, when. 
 $hey were attacked by a frdh ftorm, i;_ phich fevera* 
 
( 25 ) 
 
 more of them periffied. A veffel in particular, conta-td 
 ingfeven hundred foluiers, befides failors, funic in the 
 fight of Charles, without a poffibility of having a fugle 
 man. At length with much labour, they reached the 
 port of Bujeyah. They hayed no longer here than till 
 the fixteenrh of November, when they fet fail for Car- 
 thagena, and reached it on the twenty-fifth of the fame 
 month. In this unfortunate expedition upwards of one 
 hundred and twenty flips and gallies were loft, whh 
 abovethreehundred colonels andotherofficers.anu eight 
 thoufand foldiers and marines befides thofe deftroy- 
 ed by the enemy on their reiinbarkcnon, or drown- 
 ed in the laft form. The number of prifoners wasfo 
 great, that the Algerines fold fome of them, t y way of 
 contempt, for an onion per head. 
 
 From this time, the Spaniards were never able to an- 
 noy the Algerines, in any confiderabie degree. In i ^55, 
 they loft the city of .Bujevah, which was taken by Salab 
 Bais, fuccelfor to Haffan. This commander, in 1556, 
 fet out upon a new expedition, fufpe&cd to be againft 
 Oran ; but he was fcarcelv got four leagues from Al- 
 giers, when the plague, which at that time raged vio- 
 lently in the city, broke out in his groin, and luckily 
 carried him off in tvvsn tv-four hours. 
 
 j 
 
 Immediately after his death, the Algerine foldiery 
 chofe a Corfican renegado, Haffan Corfo, in his room, 
 till they fhould receive further orders from the porte. 
 He did not accept of the bafhawfhip without a good 
 deal of difficulty, but immediately profecuted the in- 
 tended expedition againit Oran,diipatching a meffenger 
 to acquaint the porte with what had happened. The 
 army had hardly begun their hofliiities againff the place, 
 when orders came from the porte, exprefsly forbidding 
 Haffan Corfo to begin the fiege, or, if he had begun it, 
 enjoining him to raife it immediately, which he accor- 
 dingly did. 
 
 Corfo had enjoyed his dignity for four months, when. 
 Tekelli, a new bafhavv, arrived, as his fucceffor from 
 Conflantinople. The Algerines refolved not to admit 
 him ; but by the treachery of the Levantine foldiers, he 
 at laft entered. Corfo was thrown over a wall, in which 
 
 D 
 
( 46 ) 
 
 a number of iron hooks were fixed. One of thefe 
 catching the ribs of his fide, he hung three days in 
 horrid agony, before he expired. “ We meet with 
 <£ events in the annals of mankind, that make us doubt 
 sc the truth of the mod authentic hiflory. We cannot 
 e< believe that fuch actions have ever been committed 
 “ by the inhabitants of this globe, and by creatures of 
 <c the fame fpecies with ourfelves. We are tempted to 
 think we are perufing the records of hell.”* 
 
 Tekelli was affaffinated under the dome of a faint, 
 by Yufef Galabres, the favourite renegado of Haffan 
 Corfo. The murderer was chofen bafhaw, but died of 
 the plague, fix days after his election. 
 
 Yufef was fucceeded by Haffan the fon of Hayradin 
 Barbaroffa. Not long after, the Spaniards undertook 
 an expedition againff Moffagan under the command of 
 the count d’Alcandela ; but were utterly defeated, the 
 commander himfeif killed, and twelve thoufand men 
 taken prifoners. Haffan having difobliged his fubjects, they 
 fent him in irons to Conftantinople, while two Turkifh 
 officers fupplied his place. Haffan cleared himfeif; but 
 Achmet, a new bafhaw, was appointed. Upon his ar- 
 rival at Algiers, he fent the two deputy bafhaws to 
 Conftantinople, where their heads were ftruck off. 
 Achmet, in four months died ; and Haffan was fent a 
 third time viceroy to Algiers. 
 
 He foon engaged in the fiege of Marfalquiver,poffeffed 
 by the Spaniards, and fituated near the city of Oran. 
 The Turkifh ftandards were feveral times planted on 
 the walls, and as often difloaged ; but in the end Haffan 
 was obliged to raife the fiege. 
 
 In 1 567, Haffan was again recalled to Conftantinople. 
 His fucceffor, Mahomet, incorporated the Janifaries and 
 Levantine Turks together. He thus put an end to their 
 diffentions, and laid the foundation of the Algerine 
 independency on the porte. He likewife added fome 
 confiderable fortifications to the city and caftle, which 
 he defigned to render impregnable. At this time, one 
 
 * View of Society and Manners in Italy, by Dr. Moor£ 
 Letter 16th. 
 
( *7 ) 
 
 John Gafcon, a bold Spanifh adventurer, formed a do* 
 fign of furprifmg the whole piratic navy in the bay, and 
 fetting them on fire in the night time. He had the 
 permiffion of Philip II. and was furnifhed by him with 
 velfels, mariners, and fire-works, for the execution of 
 his plan. He fet fail for Algiers in the beginning of 
 O&ober, when mod, if not all the fhips lay at anchor 
 there ; and advanced near enough, unfufpe&ed, to view 
 them. He came accordingly, unperceived by any, to 
 the very mole gate, and difpatched his men with their 
 fire-works ; but thefe werefo ill mixed, that they could 
 ijot be kindled. Gafcon finding himfeif difcovered, 
 and in the utmofl danger, failed away with all poffible 
 hafte ; but he was purfued, overtaken, • and brought 
 back a prifoner. Mahomet immediately caufed 
 a gibbet to be erefled on the fpot where Gafcon 
 had landed, and hung him by the feet upon a hook, 
 with his royal commiflion tied to his toes. He had not 
 been long fufpended, when the captain who made him 
 prifoner, and a number of other corfairs, interceded fo 
 flrongly in his behalf, that he was taken down, and 
 put under the care of fame Chriftian furgeons ; but two 
 days after, fome Moors having reported as the common 
 talk and belief in Spain, that the Algerines durfl not 
 hurt a hair of Gafcon’s head, he was hoiked up by a 
 pulley to the top of the execution wall, and thrown down 
 again. In his fall, a hook catched him by the belly, 
 and gave him a wound, of which he inftantly ex^ 
 pired. 
 
 Mahomet was fucceeded by Ochali, a renegado, who 
 reduced the kingdom of Tunis. It remained fubjectta 
 the viceroy of Algiers only till the year 1586, when a 
 bafhaw of Tunis was appointed by the Sultan. 
 
 Algiers continued to be governed, till the beginning 
 of the feventeenth century, by Turkifh viceroys or 
 bafhaws. At laft, the Turkifh Janifaries and militia 
 becoming powerful enough to fupprefs the tyrannic 
 fway of thofe bafhaws, they fent a deputation of fome 
 of their chief members to Conftantinople to complain 
 of their rapacity. They reprefented to the miniftry ? 
 how. much more honourable it would be for the grand: 
 
. ( *8 ) 
 
 Seignior to permit them to chufe their own dey, or gover- 
 nor, from among themfoives, whofe intered it would 
 te to fee thm the revenue of the country was rightly 
 applied in keeping up its forces con. . tc. and in Sup- 
 lying all other exigencies of the flare, v .he ut ary farther 
 charge or trouble to the porte, than that ofallowing 
 them its protection. Algiers was to be wholly leit under 
 the direction cf the dey and his divan. The power of 
 the Turkifh bafhaw was to be reduced to a fhadow. 
 
 Thefe propo r als were accepted by the porte. The divan, 
 eleded a dey from among themfelves. They compiled 
 a new let of laws and made feveral regulations for tha 
 better fupport and maintenance of this new form of 
 government. The Subsequent altercations that frequent- 
 ly happened between the bafhaws and devs, the one 
 endeavouring to recover their former power, and the 
 other to curtail it, cawed fuch frequent complaints and 
 discontents at the Ottoman court, as made them Some- 
 th, es repent of their compliance. 
 
 In the year 1 60 1, the Spaniards made another attempt 
 upon Algiers. Their fleet was driven back by contrary 
 winds, fo that they came off without lofs. In 1609, 
 the Moors being expelled from Spain, flocked ip great 
 numbers to Algiers ; and as many of them were very 
 able failors, they undoubtedly contributed to make the 
 Algerine fleet fo formidable as it became foon 
 alter . In 1616, their fleet confided of forty fhips be- 
 tween two hundred and four hundred tons burthen, and 
 their admiral was five hundred tons, it was divided 
 into two fquadrons, one of eighteen fail, dationed be- 
 fore the port of Malaga; and the other at the Cape of 
 Santa M wia, between Liffcon and Seville ; both of 
 which attacked Chri.tian {hips, both Englifh and 
 French, with whom they oretended to be in rriendfhip, 
 as well as Spaniards, and Portuguese, with whom they 
 were at war. 
 
 1 he Algerines were now become formidable to the 
 European powers. The Spaniards, who were mod in 
 danger, Solicited the adiltance of England, the Pope, 
 and other dates. The French, however, were the firft 
 'wko dared to fhew their refentment at the perfidious 
 
( 2 9 ) 
 
 behaviour of thefe mifcreants; and in 1617, M. Bean* 
 lieu was Tent againft them with a fleet of fifty men of 
 war. He defeated their fleet, and took two of their 
 veflels. Their admiral funk his own At ip and crew, 
 rather than fall into the hands of the enemy. 
 
 In 1620, a fquadron of Englifh men of war w T as fent 
 againft Algiers, but did nothing. The Algerines, be- 
 coming more infolent, openly defied all the European 
 powers, the Dutch only excepted, to whom, in 1625, 
 they lent a propofal, that in cafe they would fit out 
 twenty fail of fhips in the following year, upon any 
 fervice againft the Spaniards, the corlairs w< 3 uld join 
 •them with fixty fail. 
 
 Next year; the Cologlies, or children of fuch Turks 
 as had been permitted to marry at Algiers, who were 
 inrolled in the militia, feized on the citadel, and had 
 well nigh made themfelves mailers of the city. They 
 were attacked by the Turks and renegadoes, who 
 defeated them with terrible daughter. Numbers 
 were executed, and their heads thrown in heaps on the 
 city walls. 
 
 In 1623, the Algerines and other dates of Barbary,, 
 threw off their dependence on the porte. Sultan Amu- 
 rath IV. had been obliged to make a truce fur twenty five 
 years, with the emperor Ferdinand il.As this put a flop to 
 the piratical trade of the Algerines, they proceeded as 
 above mentioned ; and refolved, that whoever defired 
 to be at peace with them, muft, feparatelv, apply to their 
 own government. They began to make prizes of fe- 
 veral merchant {hips belonging to the powers at peace 
 with the porte. They feized aDutchinip and po-leacre 
 at Scanderoon ; they even ventured on fliore, and find-* 
 ing the towm abandoned by the Turkifh aga and inha- 
 bitants, they plundered all, the magazines and ware-hou- 
 fes, and fet them on fire. About this time, Louis XIII. 
 undertook to build a fort on their coafts, inftead of one 
 formerly built by the Marfilians, and which had been 
 demolifhed. This, after foroe difficulty, he accomplifhed; 
 and it was called the Baftion of France, but the fitua- 
 tion being found inconvenient, the French purchafed 
 the port of La Calle, and obtained liberty to trade with. 
 
. ( 5® ) 
 
 the Arabians and Moors. The Ottoman court, in the 
 mean time, was fo much embarrafTed with a Perfian war, 
 that there was no leifure to check the Algerines pira- 
 cies. This gave an opportunity to the vizir and other 
 courtiers to compound matters with the Algerines, and 
 to get a (hare of the prizes, which were very confide- 
 pable. For the fake of form a fevere reprimand, ac- 
 companied with threats, was fent them. They replied, 
 that 44 they deferred to be indulged in thefe depredati- 
 “ ons, as they were the only bulwark againft the Chrif- 
 44 tian powers, and in particular, againft the Spaniards, 
 44 the fworn enemies of the Modern name.” They 
 added, that 44 if they fhould pay a punctilious regard to 
 44 all who could purchafe liberty to trade with the Ot- 
 44 toman empire, they wcmld have nothing to do but 
 44 fet fire to their fhipping, and turn camel-drivers.” 
 
 In the year 1635, four brothers of a family in France, 
 entered into an undertaking fo defperate, that perhaps 
 the annals of knight-errantry can fcarcely furnifh its 
 equal. This was no lefs than to retort the piracies of 
 the Algerines, upon themfelves ; and as they indiferi- 
 minately took the fhips of all nations, fo were thefe 
 heroes indiferiminately to take the fhips belonging to 
 Algiers ; and this with a finall frigate of ten guns ! An 
 hundred volunteers embarked ; a Maltefe commiflion 
 was obtained, with an able matter, and thirty mariners. 
 On their firft fetting out, they took, on the Spanifh 
 coafl, a fhip laden with wine. Three days after, they 
 engaged two large Algerine corfairs, one of twenty and 
 the other of twenty-four guns. The French made fo 
 defperate a refiftance, that the pirates were not able to 
 take them, till five other corfairs came up. The French 
 veffel, being almofl torn to pieces, was then boarded 
 and taken. In 1642, the brothers redeemed themfelves, 
 at the price of fix thoufand dollars. 
 
 In 1637, the Algerines infefted the Britifh channel; 
 and, according to Mrs Macauley, * had made fuch a 
 vaff number of captures, as to have at one time, be- 
 tween four and five thoufand fubjects of England prU 
 foners. 
 
 * Hiflory of England vol. II. chap. 4. 
 
( 3 1 ) 
 
 The Algerines profecuted their piracies with impu~ 
 nity, to the terror and difgrace of Chriftendom, till 
 the year 1652 ; when a French fleet being accidentally 
 driven to Algiers, the admiral took it into his head to 
 demand a releafe of all the captives of his nation with- 
 out exception. This being refufed, the Frenchman 
 without ceremony carried off the Turkifh viceroy, and 
 his cadi or judge, who were juft arrived from the porte, 
 with all their equipage and retinue. The Algerines, by 
 way of reprifal, furprifed theBaftion of France already 
 mentioned, and carried off the inhabitants to the num- 
 ber of fix hundred, with all their effeiffs. Upon this, 
 the admiral fent them word, that he w'ould pay them 
 another vifit, next year, with his whole fleet. 
 
 The Algerines fitted out a fleet of flxteen galleys and 
 galliots, under the command of Hali Pinchinin. The 
 chief defign of this armament was againft the treafure 
 of Loretto ; which they were prevented by contrary 
 winds from obtaining. Hereupon they made a defcent 
 on Puglia in the kingdom of Naples ; where they ra- 
 vaged the whole territory of Necotra. They carried 
 off a vaft number of captives. Thence fleering towards 
 Dalmatia, they fcoured the Adriatic, and loaded them- 
 felves with immenfe plunder. 
 
 The Venetians, alarmed~at fuch ravages, equipped a 
 fleet of twenty-eight fail, under the command of admi- 
 ral Capello, with exprefs orders to burn, fink, or take, 
 all the Barbary corfairs which he met with, either on 
 the open feas, or even in the Ottoman harbours, agree- 
 able to a late treaty of peace with the porte. On the 
 other hand, the captain bafhaw, who had been fent out 
 with a Turkifh fleet to chace the Florentine andMaltefe 
 cruifers from the Archipelago, learning that the Al- 
 gerine fquadron was fo near, fent exprefs orders to the 
 admiral to come to his afliftance. Pinchinin readily 
 agreed ; but he was overtaken by Capello, from whom 
 he retired to Valona, a fea-port belonging to the grand 
 feignior, whither the Venetian admiral purfued him j 
 but the Turkifh governor refufing to turnoutthe pirates, 
 according to the articles of the peace between the Ot- 
 toman court and Venice, Capello was obliged to con- 
 
( 3 * ) 
 
 tent hzmfelf with watching them for fome time.PinchL 
 nin foon ventured out, an engagement immediately en- 
 fued,anithe Algerines were defeated.Five-ofthe rvefels 
 Were difabled ; one thoufand five hundred men, Turks,, 
 and Chriftian flaves, were killed; befides one thoufand 
 fix hundred galley flaves who regained their liberty. 
 Pinchinin, after this defeat, returned to Valona, where 
 he was again watched by Capello, but the latter had not 
 lain long at his old anchorage, before he received a let- 
 ter from the fenate, defiring him to make no farther 
 attempt on the pirates at that time, for fear of a rupture 
 with the porte. Capello was forced to fubmit ; but 
 refolving to take fuch a leave of the Algerines as he 
 thought they deferved, obferved how they had reared 
 their tents, and drawn their booty and equipage along 
 the fhore. He then kept firing among their tents, while 
 fome well manned galliots and brigantines were dip- 
 patched to attack their flipping. Sixteen gallies, with 
 all their cannon, and fores, were towed out. In this 
 lafl engagement, a ball from one of the Venetian gal- 
 lies, ftruck a Turkifi mofque, and hence, the whole ac- 
 tion was confidered as an infult to the grand feignior. 
 To conceal this, Capello was ordered to fink all thj Al- 
 gerine flips that he had taken, except the admit al ; 
 which was to be conduced to Venice, and laid up as a 
 trophy. Capello received a fevere reprimand, and the 
 Venetians were obliged to buy, with five hundred thou- 
 fand ducats, a peace from the porte. 
 
 In the mean time, the news of this defeat and lofs 
 filled Algiers with rage and confufion. The city was 
 on the point of an infurrection, when the bafliaw pub- 
 lifhed a proclamation, forbidding, not only complaints 
 and outcries, under the feve:*eft penalties, but all per- 
 fons whatever to take their thumbs from within their 
 girdles, while they were deliberating on this fubjech 
 They applied to the porte for an order, that the Venetians 
 fettled in the Levant, fhould make up their lofs. But 
 with this the grand feignior refufed to comply, and left 
 them to repair their Ioffes, and to build new flips in the 
 beft manner that they could. It was not long, however, 
 before they had th-e fatisfadlion of feeing one ot their 
 
( S3 ) 
 
 tend, with a frefh fupply of fix hundred flaves* 
 whom he had brought from the coaft of Iceland, 
 whither he had been dire&ed by a mifcreant native 
 taken on board a Danifii fhip. 
 
 Chapter IV. 
 
 Pinchinin. His engagement with a Dutch Jhip. Bombard* 
 ment and Dejlrudion of Algiers , by the French . k Defeat 
 of the Spaniards. 
 
 T HE pirates did not long continue in their weak 
 and defencelefs ftate ; being able, at the end of 
 two years, to appear at fea with a fleet of fixty five 
 fail. The Admiral Pinchinin equipped four galliots at 
 his own expence ; with which, in conjunction with the 
 Chiayah or fecretary of the bafhaw of Tripoli j he made 
 a fecond excurfion. This fmall fquadron, confuting 
 of five galleys and two brigantines, fell in with an 
 Englifh {hip of forty guns ; which, however, Pinchi# 
 nin’s captains refufed to engage, but being afterward^ 
 reproached by him for their cowardice, they fwore to 
 attack the next Chriftian fhip that came in their way. 
 This happendd to be a Dutch merchantman, of twenty 
 eight guns and forty men, deeply laden, and difabled 
 by a calm from ufing her fails. Pinchinin immediate* 
 ly fummoned her to furrender ; but receiving an ironi- 
 cal anfwer, drew up his fquadron in form of an half 
 moon, that they might pour their fhot all at once into 
 their adverfary. This, however, the Dutchman avoided, 
 by means of a breeze of wind which fortunately fprung 
 up and enabled him to turn his fhip ; by which the 
 galleys ran foul of each other. Upon this Pinchinin 
 van his own galley along fide the merchantman, the 
 upper deck of which feventy Algerines immediately took 
 pofleflion of, fome of them cutting the rigging, others 
 plying the hatches with hand-grenadoes; but the Dutch 
 having fecured themfelves in their clofe quarters, 
 began to fire at the Algerines on board, from two pie- 
 ces of cannon loaded with fmall^fhot $ by which they 
 
( 34 ) 
 
 ^ere all loon killed or forced to fubmlt. Pinchinin, hs 
 the mean time, made feveral unfuccefsful attempts to 
 relieve his men, as well as to furround the Dutch with 
 his other galleys; but their Ihip lay fo deep in the water, 
 that every (hot did terrible execution among the pirates; 
 fo that they were obliged to remove farther off. At laff 
 the Dutch captain, having ordered his guns to be loaded 
 with cartouches, gave them a parting volley which kil- 
 led, as itisfaid, two hundred of them, and lent the reft 
 back to Algiers in a difmal condition. 
 
 But though Pinchinin thus returned in difgrace, the 
 reft of the fleet quickly came back with vaft numbers of 
 Haves, and an immenfe quantity of rich fpoils ; in fo 
 much that the Englilh, French, and Dutch, were 
 obliged to cringe to the Algerines, who fometimes con- 
 defcended to be at peace with them, but fwore eternal 
 war againft Spain, Portugal, and Italy, whom they 
 confidered as the greateft enemies to the Mahometan 
 name. At laft Lewis the fourteenth, provoked by the 
 grievous outrages committed by the Algerines on the 
 coafts of Provence and Languedoc,, ordered, in 16S1, 
 a confiderable fleet to be fitted out againft them, under 
 the Marquis du Quefne, vice admiral of France. His 
 firft expedition was againft a number of Tripolitan 
 corfairs ; who had the good fortune to outrow him, 
 and fhelter themfelves iu the ifland of Scio belonging 
 to the Turks. This did not prevent him from pur- 
 ging them thifher,and making fuch a terrible fire upon 
 them, as deftroyed fourteen of their veffels, befides 
 battering the walls of the caftle. 
 
 This feverity feerned only to be defigned as a check 
 to the piracies of the Algerines ; but, finding that they 
 Hill continued their outrages on the French coaft, Du 
 Quefne failed in Auguft, 1682, to Algiers, cannonading 
 and bombarding it" fo furioufly, that, in a very Ihort 
 time, the whole town was in flames. The great mofque 
 was battered down, and mod of the houfes laid in 
 ruins, fo that the inhabitants were on the point 
 of abandoning the place ; when, on a fudden, the 
 wind turned about.and obliged Du Quefne to return to 
 Toulon* The Algerines immediately made reprifels. 
 
< 35 ) 
 
 'fending a number of galleys and galliots to the 
 coads of Provence, where they committed the mcffc 
 dreadful ravages, and brought away a vad number of 
 captives ; upon which a new armament was ordered to 
 be got ready at Toulon and Marfeilles, againd them the 
 next year ; and the Algerines, having received early 
 notice, put themfelves into as good a date of defence as 
 the time would allow. 
 
 In May., 1683, Du Quefne with his fquadron cad an- 
 chor before Algiers ; where, being joined by the mar- 
 quis d’Adranville, at the head of five drong vefieis, it 
 was refolved to bombard the town next day, when 
 accordingly, one hundred bombs were thrown into it 
 which did terrible execution, while the bedewed 
 made fome hundred difcharges of their cannon againd: 
 the aflailants, without doing any confiderable damage. 
 The following night, bombs w'ere again thrown into the 
 city in fuch numbers, that the dey’s palace and other 
 great edifices were almod deftroyed ; fome of the 
 batteries were difinounted, and feveral veflels funk in 
 the port. The dey, and Turkilh badiaw, as w'ell as the 
 whole foldiery, alarmed at this dreadful havock,immedi- 
 ly fued for peace. As a preliminary, the French in- 
 fided on the furrender of all Chridian captives who had 
 been taken fighting under their flag, which being grant- 
 ed, one hundred and forty tw'o perfons w'ere direft- 
 ly delivered up, with a promife of fending on board 
 the remainder, as foon as they could be got from the 
 different parts of the country. Accordingly Du Quefne 
 fent his commiflary -general and one of his engineers 
 into the town ; but with exprefs orders to infill: upon 
 the delivery of all the French captives without excep- 
 ception, together with the effefts that had been taken 
 from the French ; and that Mezomorto their then ad- 
 miral, and Hali Rais one of their captains, flrouid be 
 given as hodages. 
 
 This lad demand having embarrafled the dey, he af- 
 fembled the divan, and acquainted them with it* Upon 
 this Mezomorto fell into a violent paflion, and told 
 the aflfembly, that the cowardice of thofe who fat at the 
 ijfeUn had occafioned the ruin of Algiers 5 but, that foJi 
 
( 3 « ) 
 
 feis part, he would never confent to deliver up any 
 thing that was taken from the French. Heimmadiete- 
 ly acquainted the foldiery with what had paffed ; which 
 fo exafperated them, that they murdered the dey that 
 very night, and on the morrow chofe Mezomorto in 
 his place. This was no fooner done, than he cancelled 
 all the articles of peace which had been made, and hof- 
 tilities were renewed with greater fury than ever. 
 
 The French admiral now kept pouring in fuch volleys 
 of bombs, that in lefs than three days, the greateft part 
 of the city was reduced to aihes ; and the fire burnt 
 with fuch fury, that the fea was enlightened for 
 more than two leagues round. Mezomorto, unmoved 
 by all thefe dilafters, and the vaft numbers of the flam, 
 whofe blood ran in rivulets along the ftreets ; or rather, 
 grown furious and defperate, fought only how to wreak 
 his revenge on the enemy ; and, not content with cauf- 
 ing all the French in the city to be cruelly murdered, 
 he ordered their conful to be tied hand and foot, and faf- 
 tened alive to the mouth of a mortar, from which he 
 was {hot away againfl: their navy. By this piece of in- 
 humanity, Du Quefne was fo exafperated, that he did 
 did not leave Algiers till he had utterly deftroyed all 
 their fortifications, {hipping, almofl: all the lower part, 
 and above two thirds of the upper part of the city ; 
 which became little more than an heap of ruins. 
 
 The Algerines were now thoroughly convinced 
 that they were not invincible ; and, therefore, immedi- 
 ately fent an embafly into France, begging in the 
 moft abjeft terms for peace ; which Lewis very foon 
 granted, to their inexpreffible joy. They now began 
 to pay fome regard to other nations, and to be fome- 
 tvhat cautious how they wantonly provoked their dif- 
 pleafure. The firft bombardment by the French had 
 fo far humbled the Algerines, that they condefcended 
 , to enter into a treaty with England ; which was in 1 686 
 renewed upon terms very advantageous to the latter, 
 tl is not to be fuppofed, however, that the natural per- 
 fidy of the Algerines would difappear on a fudden. 
 Notwithftanding this treaty, therefore, they loft »o 
 
X 37 ? 
 
 «pportuRity of making prizes of Englifli {hips* wheJ* 
 they could conveniently feize them. Upon fome in- 
 fringement of this kind, captain Beach, in 1695, drove 
 afhore and burned feven of their frigates which pro- 
 duced a renewal of the treaty five years after ; but it 
 was not until the taking of Gibraltar and Port Mahon, 
 that Britain could have a fufficient check upon them to 
 enforce the obfervation of treaties ; and thefe have fince 
 ■proved fuch refhaints upon Algiers, that they {till con- 
 tinue to pay a greater deference to the Englifh than to 
 any other European power. 
 
 In 1708, Oran, as has been already related, was taken 
 by the Algerines from the Spaniards, and recovered by 
 the latter in 1732. The Turkifh bafhawwas in 1710, 
 finally expelled. 
 
 Since the laft fiege of Oran the moft remarkable 
 event in the annals of Barbary is the attack of Algiers, 
 by the Spaniards in the year 1775. With a concife ac- 
 count of that expedition, we fhall clofe this chapter of 
 blood. 
 
 On the 23d of June 1775, a fleet of fix fhips of the 
 line, twelve frigates and thirty three other armed vefiels 
 fet fail from Carthagena, in Spain, to attack Algiers. 
 There was on board a body of troops amounting to twen- 
 ty four thoufand four hundred and foFty feven men, in- 
 cluding infantry, cavalry, marines, and fix hundred 
 deferters deflined to ferve. as workmen. They were 
 commanded by the count O’Reilly, a perfonal favourite 
 .of the late king of Spain. They had likewife for the 
 land fervice, an hundred and feventy-fix pieces of ar- 
 tillery, mortars, and howitzers, with a fuitable quantity 
 of military {lores. On the 30th of June, and ift of 
 July, they anchored in the bay of Algiers. They ob- 
 ferved a large encampment, placed behind a battery, 
 eaft of the river Xarach, which runs on the eaflward of 
 the city. On the 2d of July, a council was held ; and 
 orders were given that the troops (hould hold them- 
 - felves in readinefs to difembark next morning, by day 
 break. But as the fucceeding night was windy, and a 
 ..well had fet in from the fhore, thefe orders were coun- 
 termanded. From this day, to the 6th, there were fre- 
 
f 38 ) 
 
 •^jtient councils, violent debates, and nothing done. A 
 quarrel broke out between O’Reilly and the Marquis 
 de Romana, a Spanilh major-general, who was killed in 
 the fubfequeiit aftion. On the 6th, the principal officers 
 Vvere again affembled, to receive their ultimate. induc- 
 tions. The commander in chief warned the army, that 
 it was the cuftom of the Moors, to pretend a molt violent 
 attack, and on the fmalleft refiftance, to fly with preci- 
 pitation, that they might draw the enemy into an am- 
 bufcade. He cautioned the troops not to break their 
 ranks, as nothing but the force of difcipline could fecure 
 them againft fo active an enemy. He pointed out the 
 very error which they foon after committed, and the 
 fnare into which they were betrayed. On landing, the 
 army was diredled to gain fome heights, which were fup- 
 pofed requiiite ro enfure fuccefs againft Algiers. In the 
 afternoon of the 6th, fome fhips of war were ordered 
 to fire againft three batteries to the eaftward of that 
 city. This commiflion was executed with fo much lau- 
 dable attention to the perfonal fafety of the affailants, if 
 fuch we may term them, that their Ihot did not reach the 
 Jhore , thofe of one feventy-four gun fhip excepted. At 
 fun-fet this formidable attack ceafed. 
 
 On the 7th at day -break, between eight and nine 
 thoufand men were put on board the boats for landing. 
 They advanced, under the protection of fome larger 
 veffels very near the coaft. Not a Moor appeared to 
 oppofe them ; and at feven o’clock in the morning, they 
 returned on hoard the tran/ports. Not a fhot was fired on 
 either fide, during the whole day. 
 
 On the 8th, at day-break, the fhips being ftarioned t© 
 batter the different forts to the right and left of the 
 place of difembarkation, the troops, to the number of 
 about eight thoufand, were put on board the boats ; 
 which formed in fix columns. The place of landing 
 was a league and an half to the eaftward of the city of 
 Algiers. Eighty thoufand Moors, of whom two thirds 
 were cavalry, came in fight, but did not attempt to op- 
 pofe the landing of the Spaniih forces. It is laid, that 
 the 'whole number of Africans colle&ed on this occa- 
 
 to 
 
C 39 ) 
 
 fion, was not Jels than one hundred and fifty thoufimd, 
 The troops advanced into a clofe country, which the 
 Algerines had occupied in fmall parties. The gre- 
 nadiers and light infantry of the Spaniards were re* 
 pulfed, and the whole body fell into confufion. In a. 
 very fhort time they fled, leaving behind them a great 
 number of killed and wounded. The latter, a few 
 excepted, were, in fpite of their intreaties, left to the 
 mercy of the conquerors. Part of a fecond embarka- 
 tion of troops added to the general confufion. A third 
 body had caff up an entrenchment on the fhore, for the 
 protection of the army. The Africans attacked it, but 
 were driven back with great daughter on both fides. 
 The Spaniards, in their gazette, acknowledged the lofs 
 of five hundred and twenty one men killed .and tvothou- 
 fand two hundred and feventy nine wounded. It is faid, 
 that the Algerines had between five and fix thoufand 
 menflain on the fpot.The wounded Spaniards, whowere 
 left on the field of battle, were every one murdered by 
 the enemy. The government of Algiers had offered 
 ten zequins for the head of each Spaniard. Fifteen 
 pieces of cannon, and three howitzers were left behind 
 bv the r e unfortunate invaders. The real amount of 
 their lofs can hardly have been lefs than three thoufand 
 lives, and was perhaps confiderably greater. In the ga- 
 zette of a court, we feldorn expect an honefl reck- 
 oning of this kind. If the writer of that of Madrid 
 intended us to believe that two thoufand two hundred 
 and feventy-nine of the woundedwere brought off, the 
 officer from whofe journal this account is extracted, 
 favs that a much greater number were left behind, than, 
 were fared, which makes the ftory worfe and worfe. On 
 details of this kind, we cannot dwell with pleafure. 
 One circumftance is evident, that the Spanifh comman- 
 ders did not understand their bufinefs.* 
 
 * This narrative ks extracted from a journal printed by 
 major Wiluam Dalrymple, at the end of his Travels through 
 JSpain and Portugal, printed at London, in 1 777. The trite 
 tale of adey of A'giers having offered toburn the city for fifty 
 shoufand p.ounds, is a deipicable newspaper fiction. 
 
( 40 y 
 
 Chapter V. 
 
 State of America as to Algiers. Conduct of Britain. 
 Concluding Remarks . 
 
 I N the two lad Chapters, we have feen the Algerines 
 fucceflively fet at defiance, feveral of the mod for- 
 midable nations of Europe. When the United States 
 of America had obtained their infant independence, it 
 was naturally to be expe&ed, that they alfo fhould, ia 
 fome degree, fuffer, by the ravages of the corfairs. 
 Various circumdances pointed them out, as eligible 
 objefts of piratical rapine. They poffefied an extenfir* 
 trade with Europe, which in the fird place, prefented 
 a fplended temptation to plunder. There was, on 
 the part of the Algerines, a fecond and irrefiftible 
 motive to hadilities. America did not fupport, at her 
 national expence, any maritime force whatever ; and 
 thirdly, had Ihe even eftablifhed an armed navy, this 
 «ountry lies at the diftance of more than three thoufand 
 miles, from the common range of the privateers of 
 Barbary. Hence, to reduce them to fubmiflion, mud 
 always require a proportion of trouble and expenc* 
 greatly fuperior to the fubftantial magnitude of the ob- 
 ject of attack ; and this remotenefs of our fituation 
 might be confidered as an additional inducement to the 
 regency of Algiers for interrupting our navigation. Of 
 the number and drength of the corfairs, it is im- 
 poflible to give an accurate datement. Their aftual 
 force, however, compared, with that which the United 
 States could eafily fit out, is but trifling. To bring 
 their whole fhips of war, at once, to. a regular engage- 
 ment, never can be practicable, but fhould it happen^ 
 it may without prefumption be fuppofed, that fifteen 
 or twenty American forty gun frigates would fend 
 heir navy to the bottom. When we reflect on the 
 numerous and peculiar incitements which thefe Africans 
 had, to commence depredations on the commerce of 
 the United States, indead of being furprifed at our 
 having differed fo much, it rather becomes a a objed 
 
( 41 ) 
 
 of wonder that we have fullered fo little. The lata 
 alarming intelligence from Lifbon has excited univer- 
 fal attention from the public to that fubjedt, which may 
 be divided into two quefticns. Firft, why, excepting 
 two veffels,* have net the fnips of this country met with 
 any interruption fince the end of the war with Britain? 
 Second, why has our trade now fuffered fg unexpe&ed 
 and feyere a check ? 
 
 In anfwer to the firft query, it has, happened, that 
 fince the independence of North- America, the Algerines 
 have been conftantly at war, with the Dutch, or the 
 Portuguefe, or both at once; and as either of thefe na- 
 tions is greatly fuperior, in regular ftrength at fea, to 
 the corfairs, they have, hitherto, for the fecurity of their 
 own commerce, watched the entrance of the Mediter- 
 ranean fo carefully, that the corfairs have been feldom 
 able to get out of it. That they fometimes did fo is 
 unfortunately certain, frpm the fate of the two Ameri- 
 can veffels above-mentioned; but, in general, they were 
 fnut up in the Mediterranean, as in a prifon, without a 
 poflibility of extending their depredations on the At- 
 lantic ocean. Into the former, American veffels but 
 fometimes ventured, and when they did fo, they derived 
 fecurity from forged or purchafed Mediterranean paffes. 
 
 A Britifh fhip has for her prote&ion a pafs, which is * 
 written on a large fheet of parchment, and has, by way 
 of ornament, fome figures or dafhes drawn with a pen, 
 or engraved on the margin. The Algerines cannot • 
 read Englifh, and it would moft likely coft the captain 
 
 * On the 25th of July, 1785, the frhooner Maria, captain 
 Stephens, belonging to Mr. Forfter, of Bofton, was taken off' 
 Cape St. Vincents, by an Algerine cruifer; and nve days after- 
 wards, the fhip Dolphin, captain O’Brien, belonging to Meffrs 
 Irvines of Philadelphia, was taken by another, fifty leagues 
 weftward of Lisbon. Thefe veffels, with their cargoes, and 
 crews, twenty one in number, were carried into Algiers. Of this 
 number two have been ranfomed by their friends. The remainder 
 now reduced by death to thirteen, are yet fkves. In the newfpa- 
 pers about that time, two or three other fhips are reported 
 as captured, but upon enquiry, thefe two veffels only appear to 
 •Itave been fq. 
 
( 42 ) 
 
 of a corfair his head, were he to carrv a Britifh vefTel, 
 by miftake, as a prize into the harbour of Alders. 
 They ha»ve adopted a fagaclous contrivance to discover 
 whether fuch paffes are genuine. They keep a ffick 
 marked with notches correfponding to the fhape of thofe 
 figures, that are uniformly delineated on the margin of 
 the parchment. When the pa r s is produced.their mea- 
 fure is applied. In this way, it cannot be difficult for 
 the mod bungling artift, who has an original pafs before 
 him, to deceive them, and, by this means, it is faid, 
 upon reputable authority, that many veffels have b-=en 
 preferved. Befides, even in the Mediterranean itfflf, 
 the progrefs of the Algerines has been confiderabiy 
 cramped by the Portuguefe and Dutch fnips of war, 
 and both thefe nations, as well as the Spaniards, from 
 a regard to their own interefl, as well as from the com- 
 mon principles of juftice and humanity, have been for- 
 ward to extend their protection to the American flag. 
 
 In anfwer to the fecond query, this protection has, 
 at prefent been fufpended, becaufe a ceffation of hoftili- 
 ties has taken place between Holland and Portugal on 
 the one fide, and the regency of Algiers on the other. 
 Spain, at the fame time, has been engaged in the gene- 
 ral confpiracy of the Domitians and Caligulas of Eu- 
 rope, againlt the republic of France ; and as this coun- 
 try has contracted the guilt of becoming a free nation, 
 we likewife are involved, though, as yet , but at fecond 
 hand, in the vengeance of the imperial and royal Van- 
 dals. The corfairs of Barbary are now at liberty to 
 attack the veffels of the United States, not only in the 
 Mediterranean, but alfq in the Atlantic ocean. From 
 the final eftablifhment of American independence, fome 
 attempts are reported to have been made by the 
 American government, to conclude a pacification 
 with the ftate of Algiers, but for fome reafon or other, 
 thefe attempts have hitherto proved unfuccefsful. The 
 circumftances which have always difappointed the pa- 
 cific defign- of our adminiftration, deferve to be invef- 
 tigated ; but before we proceed to that fubjeCl, it may 
 not be improper to. ftate in a few words the fituation of 
 this country, with reipect to the emperor of Morocco* 
 
C 43 ) 
 
 A treaty of peace and commerce between that prince 
 and America, having been concluded by the agency of 
 Mr. Thomas Barclay, was ratified by Congrefs ar New- 
 York, on the 1 8th of July, 1 787. It confids of twenty 
 five articles. Want of room prevents its infertion en- 
 tire in this place, but the third and fifth claufes merit at 
 this junfture, the moft particular attention; and are in 
 thefe words. 
 
 Art. III. If either of the parties jhall be at 'near ’with 
 any nation whatever, and take a prize belonging to that na- 
 tion , and there fall be found on board fubjccis or e feel's 
 belonging to either of the parties , the fubjcch fall be fet at 
 liberty , and the effects returned to the owners. And if 
 any goods , belonging to any nation , with whom either of the 
 parties fall be at war, fall be loaded in vejfels belonging to 
 the other party, they (ball pafs free and unmoleffed, with- 
 out any attempt being made to take or detain them. 
 
 Art. V. If either of the parties fall be at war, and 
 meet a vejfel at fea belonging to the other, it is agreed that if 
 an examination is to be made, it fall be done by fending a 
 boat with two or three men only, and if any gun fall be 
 fired , and injury done without reafon , the offending party 
 fall make good all damages. 
 
 The twenty-fifth, and lafi: article is in thefe words': 
 'This treaty fail continue in full force, with the help of God, 
 for fifty years . A moft definable event. 
 
 Let us compare the tenor of this treaty, which remains 
 unviolated, with the prefent conduct of Britain, of 
 Ruffia, and of Spain, towards the United States of 
 America. We fhall then be convinced, that in a cen- 
 tral! with the fiovereigns of thefe three nations, the em- 
 peror of Morocco is a monarch of juftice and hu- 
 manity. 
 
 Several of our late letters from Lifbon agree in affiert- 
 ing, that the prefent peace or truce between Algiers 
 and Portugal has been formed by the officious inter- 
 vention of England, without the knowledge of the lat- 
 ter. The fame advices add, and their information is 
 univerfally believed, that this has been done by England, 
 that the corfairs of Barbary might have liberty to in- 
 terrupt the commerce of this country with Europe* 
 
Since the commencement of the unfortunate war, that 
 now fpreads defolatioh and bankruptcy over fo many 
 countries, in that quarter of the world, American bot- 
 toms, becaufe they were iieutral, obtained the prefer- 
 ence to thofe of England in the carrying trade. They 
 were not liable to be feized by French privateers , and could, 
 therefore, unmolefted, tranfport the 'commodities of any- 
 one country to any other. This advanrage gave our 
 veffels a decided fuperiority ; and the matter of an 
 American fhip frequently received twenty per cent, 
 more for the fame freight, than would be given to the 
 matter of an Englilh vettel. This humiliating dittinc- 
 tion alarmed the pride of the Englifn nation. Diverted 
 of the carrying trade, the naval defpotifm of England 
 would at once fhrink into nothing. The powers of 
 Europe may reduce her to the natural level of her im- 
 portance, without the expenfe of firing a fmgle gun. 
 Let them declare, that no vettel of that country (hall 
 bring into their harbours, any commodities but thole 
 of Britilh growth or manufacture. Eler navy, which 
 has perpetrated fuch i need ant mifehief. would then, if 
 I may borrow the trite quotation from Shakefpeare, va- 
 nifh, like the bafelefs fabric of a vijion. 
 
 The Americans, for fome time part, have been making 
 rapid ttrides towards her expultton from the Carrying 
 trade. England could hardly venture, at this crirts, 
 to add a fecond republic to the catalogue of her enemies. 
 She has, therefore, adopted the miferable expedient of 
 turning loofe the Algerines, that thefe execrable ruffians 
 fnight plunder our property, and plunge our fellow-ci- 
 tizens into flavery. 
 
 Lord Sheffield, in a pamphlet which has obtained 
 more notice than it deferved, informs the Englifh na- 
 tion, “ That it will not be the intereft of any of the 
 “ great maritime powers, to protect the American vef- 
 i( fels from the Barbary ftates.” This benevolent 
 remark has received a proper anfwer from the author 
 of <c Obfervations” on his lordlhip’s pamphlet. The 
 moderation of rtile, the candour of reafoning, and the 
 unquertioned authenticity of the facts advanced by Mr. 
 Coxe, deferve, in an uncommon degree, the attention'* 
 and the gratitude of his countryman 
 
( 45 ) * 
 
 The public have juft been informed of a Tefolaltofr 
 pafied by Copgrefs. A naval force is to be fitted out 
 adequate to the protection of our commerce againfi: 
 the Algerines ; or to fpeak with propriety, agaip.lt the 
 African emijfaries of England. It is not impoilible that 
 the bufinefs "will end by a trip to the Eahama illands. 
 They contain a gang of pirates, who deferve a gibbet 
 (till better than the difciples of Barbarofla. 
 
 Th? following lines are extraSled from a “ Poem on the happi- 
 riefs of America, 5 ' by colonel Humphrey • We cannot agree 
 ■with this ■ writer , that Britain is the “ Firft cf nations, and 
 “ the queen of ifles or that the Algerines are the “ feeblefl” 
 of men. Tet, upon the whole, thefe verfes are fpirited and 
 poetical » 
 
 H OW long will heav'n reftrain its burfting ire. 
 
 Nor rain blue tempefts of devouring fire? 
 
 How long fliall widows weep their Ions in vain, 
 
 The prop of years in flav’ry’s iron chain ? 
 
 How long the 'ove-fick maid, unheeded, rove 
 
 The founding fhore, and call her ahlent love ; 
 
 With wafting tears and fighshis lot bewail. 
 
 And feem to fee him in each coming fail ? 
 
 How long the merchant turn his failing eyes, 
 
 In defperation, on the Teas and flues. 
 
 And afk his captur’d fhips, his ravifh’d goods, 
 
 With frantic ravings, of the heav’ns and floods? 
 
 & m 
 
 How long, Columbians dear 1 will ye complain 
 Of thefe curft infill ts on the open main ? 
 
 In timid Qoth, fhall injur’d brav’ry fleep? 
 
 Awake ! awake ! avengers cf the deep ! 
 
 Revenge ! revenge ! the voice of nature cries’; 
 
 Awake to glory, and to vengeance rife ! 
 
 To arms ! to arms ! ye bold indignant bands ? 
 
 ’Tis heav’n inlpires- ’tis God himfelf commands' 
 
 Save human nature from fucli deadly harms, 
 
 By force of reafon, or by force of arms. 
 
 O ye great powers, who paffports bafely crave. 
 
 From Afric’s lords to fail the midland wave — 
 
 Great fallen pcw’rs, whofe gems and golden bribes 
 Buy paltry paffports from thefe favage tribes — 
 
 Ye, whole fine purples, filks,and fluffs of gold 
 {An annual tributej their dark limbs infold — 
 
< ) 
 
 *«, whofe mean policy for them equips, 
 
 To plague mankind, the predatory (hips — — 
 
 Why will you buy your infamy fo dear ? 
 
 Is it feTf-int’reft, or a daftard fear ? 
 
 Is it becaufe ye meanly think to gain 
 A richer commerce on th’ i-.fefted main? 
 
 Is it becaule ye meanly v/iih to fee 
 
 Your rivals chain’d, yourfelves ignobly free? 
 
 Who gave commillions to thefe mrmfters fierce. 
 
 To hold in chains the humbled univerfe ? 
 
 Would God, would nature, won d their conqu’ring fwords^ 
 Without your meannefs, make them ocean’s lords? 
 
 What ! Do you fear ? nor dare their power provoke? 
 Would not that bubble burft beneath your ftroke? 
 
 And (hall the weak remains of barb’rous rage, 
 
 Infulting, triumph o’er th’ enlighten’d age ? 
 
 Do ye not fi-el confufion, horror, Uiame, 
 
 To bear a hateful, tributary name ? 
 
 Will ye not aid to wipe the foul difgrace, 
 
 And break the fetters from the .unian race ? 
 
 Then, though unaided by hole migh'y powers. 
 
 Ours be the tod ; the danger, glory ours : 
 
 1 hen, O my friends, by hea/’n ordain’d to ree, 
 
 From tyrant rage, the long inteft^d fea — 
 
 Then let trail rm, though folitary, fraud, 
 
 The fvvord, and olive branch in either hand : 
 
 An equal peace propofe with reafon’s voice, 
 
 Or rufh to arms, if arms lliould be their choice. 
 
 Stung by their crimes, can aught your vengeance flay ? 
 Can terror daunt you ? or can death difmay ? 
 
 The foul enrag’d, can threats, can tortures tame, 
 
 Or the dark dungeon quench th’etherial flame? 
 
 Have ye not once to heav’n’s dread throne appeal’d. 
 And has not heav’n your independence feal’d ? 
 
 What was the power ye dar’d that time engage. 
 
 And brave the terrors of its hoftile rage ? 
 
 Was it not Britain, great in warlike coils. 
 
 The firft of nations, as the queen of ifles — 
 
 Britain, whofe fleets, that rul’d the briny furge, 
 
 Made navies tremble to its utmoA verge, 
 
 Whofe Angle arm held ha'f the world at odds, 
 
 Great nurfe of fages, bards, and demigods ! 
 
 But what are thefe whofe threat’nings round you burft; 
 Of men the dregs, the feebleft, vileft, worft ; 
 
 Thefe. are the pirates from the Barb’ry ftrand. 
 Audacious mifereants, fierce, yet feeble band! 
 
 Who, impious, dare (no provocation giv’n) 
 
 Jnfult the rights of man — the laws of heav’n I