Thus was a peace concluded with Algiers, which cost the United States first and last more than a million of dollars, and left them tributary to a horde of pirates.*

This treaty continued in force till 1812, when it suited the Dey's policy to break it, and to adopt a course, which, says Mr Shaler, has drawn upon the Algerines, either directly or indirectly, greater calamities than they ever before encountered, and its effects will probably cease only with the extinction of their independence as a piratical power. The motives inducing to this step need not here be developed.

The epoch which was selected by the reigning Dey of Algiers for a declaration of war against the United States, gave to it a character of the most deliberate and determined hostility. On the seventeenth of July of the above year, (1812,) an American ship called the Alleghany, arrived here with the tribute in military and naval stores, which was then due from the United States to the Regency. This vessel was received with demonstrations of apparent satisfaction, and was begun to be unloaded, when the Dey sent for the invoices and bills of lading of all her cargo. When they were explained to him, he expressed the utmost discontent at not finding the quantity of powder, and large cables, that he pretended to have positively required, and great indignation at the same vessel having been made the means of conveyance of some gunbarrels for Morocco, that were landed at Gibraltar, and of some small quantities of private property; which he affected to regard as personally disrespectful.

'He ordered, in consequence, that the Consul should pay in cash the amount due from the United States to the Regency, and depart on the twentyfifth of the same month, with his family and all American citizens that might be here, on pain of the ship and cargo being confiscated, and himself, his family, and his countrymen here, reduced to slavery. The Consul, keeping steadily in view what he regarded as the interests of his country, made all proper remonstrances against this arbitrary proceeding, but in vain, and was compelled to depart on the day named. In September following, a small American brig, of little value, with a crew of eleven persons, was sent into Algiers as a prize to their

*The correspondence between ministers, consuls, agents, and other persons, and also the Messages of the President, and Reports of the Secretary of State, respecting the relations between the United States and Algiers, down to the period of ratifying this treaty, may be found among the 'Confidential Documents,' published in the tenth volume of American State Papers.

cruisers. This insignificant prize proved to be the only advantage that they ever obtained from a war which they had declared with so much arrogance, and, in their opinion, with prospects of the most brilliant success. In the following year, the American government made an indirect attempt to ransom their captives in the power of the Algerines, who positively rejected any negotiation on the subject, alleging that they regarded their American slaves as above any pecuniary ransom.' pp. 120-122.

During the war with England, which existed at this period, the attention of our government was but partially drawn to these outrages of the Algerines; but as soon as peace was restored, by the ratification of the treaty of Ghent, the Congress of the United States declared war against the Regency of Algiers, and made such appropriations as to render the means of conducting it prompt and efficient. The degradation of paying tribute to lawless banditti, and of being subjected to their caprice, was no longer to be endured. A squadron was fitted out for the Mediterranean, under the command of Captains Bainbridge and Decatur, and these two commanders were appointed commissioners, conjointly with Mr Shaler, to propose and conclude a treaty of peace. The first division of this squadron, under Commodore Decatur, with Mr Shaler on board, sailed from New York in May, 1815. Early in the succeeding month they arrived in the Mediterranean, and soon captured an Algerine frigate and brig. A few days afterward, the squadron appeared off Algiers, and the two commissioners propounded to the Regency the terms on which they were authorized to renew the peace. At that time the Algerine cruisers were at sea, and such was the imposing attitude of the American squadron, and the impression made by the recent captures, that the conditions dictated by the commissioners were immediately assented to. From the date of this treaty, all tribute from the United States to these pirates was abolished, the laws of nations were recognised, and the American government was ever after to stand on the same footing, as the most favored nations. The captured frigate and brig were by agreement given up to the Dey.

After this treaty was concluded, Mr Shaler landed in Algiers as Consul General from the United States, which station he has held ever since. The Dey, stimulated probably by the agents of a foreign power, sought a pretence to break the treaty, and renew hostilities; but the differences were settled by the prudent management of the Consul, and peace has not since becn

interrupted. While the present policy of the European governments exists, however, it is necessary for the United States to keep a respectable naval force in the Mediterranean, to impress on these depredators the certainty, that any attempts to resort to their old practices will meet with a prompt and exemplary chastisement. In short, however much the causes are to be deprecated, yet it is a truth of no small moment, that the service to which our navy has been called, in humbling the Barbary pirates, has been a primary source of its own increase, and of our character and prowess as a nation.

In the year 1816, Algiers was bombarded by the combined English and Dutch fleets, under command of lord Exmouth, with entire success. Peace was made on such terms as the admiral chose to dictate. By one article of the treaty, Christian slavery was forever after abolished in Algiers. It is about fifty years since private cruising for prisoners, with the view of enslaving them, was prohibited. It then became a monopoly of the government. Whatever may be the fate of the treaty just mentioned, the spirit of the age will hardly allow this practice to be renewed for any length of time. The powers, which are still disgraced by a tribute to the Algerine pirates, are Naples, Sweden, Denmark, and Portugal, each of which pays annually twenty four thousand dollars, besides presents, and other tokens of degradation, whenever there is a change of consuls.

Mr Shaler's third chapter is devoted to a full, instructive, and highly entertaining description of the city of Algiers. After a residence there of ten years in a public station, with no ordinary habits of practical and philosophical observation, he must have been peculiarly well qualified for writing such an account. Whoever reads it, with all the reasonable expectations excited by these circumstances, will not be disappointed. The topography of the city, its fortifications, public buildings, and police, as well as the character of the people, their pursuits, and customs, receive a brief and discriminative examination.

Algiers is situate on the side of a hill, which rises by a sudden ascent from the seashore, and, as the houses are whitewashed, it has a brilliant and picturesque appearance when approached from the sea. It is surrounded by a high wall; the streets are extremely narrow, and the houses flat roofed, after the eastern fashion. The fortifications of the harbor are so formidable, as to make an attack by ships alone a hazardous undertaking. They have been strengthened since lord Exmouth's bombard

ment. The Casauba, a strong citadel, commands the town and the batteries.

The population of the city was estimated at one hundred thousand by Dr Shaw, and some other writers have placed it one third higher, but our author thinks it does not exceed fifty thousand. The public buildings consist of nine mosques, three colleges, five bagnios, barracks for the Turkish soldiers, bazars, or market places, and the palace formerly occupied by the Deys. The city is governed by officers distinct from those, who administer the government of the kingdom, and these officers are commonly natives. This local city government is highly commended by the author, who observes, that there is probably no city in the world, where there is a more vigilant police, where fewer cognizable crimes are committed, or where there is better security for person and property.' This statement exhibits a singular contrast with the barbarous tyranny of the Turkish rulers, but Mr Shaler is particular in discriminating between the character of the native Algerines, and their Turkish masters. He thinks wrong impressions have gone abroad, respecting the natives. They are,' says he, 'a people of very insinuating address, and in the common relations of life, I have found them civil, courteous, and humane.' He speaks, moreover, of their toleration. Although superstitious, and rigidly attached to the Mohammedan faith and ceremonies, yet they manifest no special hostility to those, who adopt different modes of faith and worship. The train of circumstances, connected with the mode of government in this country, has produced a peculiar effect on the state of property.

'A consequence of the uninterrupted prosperity of Algiers, for so long a course of years, has been the accumulation of great wealth in private families, through their alliances by marriage with the Turks. Thus, though all the power is exclusively in the hands of the latter, the fortunes which they acquire are gradually absorbed into the native families, where they generally remain unmolested. Nothing can be more insecure than the fortune of a living Turk; but that of a native, who is ineligible to any important public employment, and consequently passive in all political revolutions, is as well protected here as in any other country. From the operation of these causes, Algiers may be regarded as one of the richest cities in metallic wealth in the world. The aged widow of Achmet Pashaw, with whom the United States concluded their first peace with the Regency, lately died here, and is reputed to have left a fortune of several

millions of dollars. The heirs of Mustapha Pacha, his successor, from whom the Consular dwelling of the United States is rented, possess real estate in the city and immediate neighbourhood, worth half a million of dollars. Both of these chiefs were publicly executed.' p. 53.

As all the great officers of the government have for centuries exercised their power to grasp and hoard, and as the families of these persons have rarely left the country, it is easy to see that large fortunes must have been accumulated in the hands of individuals. It was only necessary that laws, suitable for protecting property thus acquired, should exist and be respected, which it seems has been the case. The hoarded treasures of the Dey are estimated at fifty millions of dollars.

Various customs, prevailing among the people, are described by the author. We select his account of that relating to marriage.

'Ladies of condition seldom or never walk abroad. Though these secluded dames bloom as it were in the desert, from the complaints of their husbands respecting their extravagance in dress, it may be inferred, that they exercise no inconsiderable portion of influence in society, and are perhaps silently preparing the public mind for a restoration of the rights, of which barbarism and ignorance have defrauded them.

There are few Algerines who avail themselves of the Mohammedan law which allows a plurality of wives; they are generally contented with one, to whom however is attached a number of black female slaves, according to the wealth and dignity of the parties. Marriages in general in Algiers are contracted much as elsewhere in Mohammedan countries; but the nature of their government, and the consequent condition of the superior classes, have had a silent and sure effect in favour of the sex. It is unreasonable to suppose that a rich heiress, and there are always many in Algiers, would be delivered up as a slave to the caprice of the barbarian who espouses her; conditions are therefore made in the marriage contract, which place her on a certain equality with her husband, or at least protect her from arbitrary ill treatment. It would be injurious to the understandings of the ladies to supsuppose, that they have not improved these advantages; their effects have been gradually extended, and the consequence has been, that the Moorish women are less slaves to their husbands, than to custom and long received notions of decorum and propriety.

Marriages are planned and contracted through the agency of the mothers and female relations of the parties, the women of