From Majorca they proceeded to Cadiz, and from thence to England, which they reached in safety.
Several expeditions at different periods were fitted out by different European nations to chastise the pirates. The Emperor, Charles V., in the plenitude of his power, sailed with a formidable armament in the year 1541, and affected a landing. Without doubt he would have taken the city, if a terrible storm had not risen, which destroyed a great part of his fleet and obliged him to re-embark with his shattered forces in the greatest precipitation. The exultation of the Algerines was unbounded; they now looked on themselves as the special favorites of heaven; the most powerful army which had ever attempted their subjection had returned with the loss of one third their number, and a great part of its ships and transports. Prisoners had been taken in such abundance, that to show their worthlessness, they were publicly sold in the market-place at Algiers, at an onion a head.
For nearly a century after this, little occurs of note in Algerine history except a constant system of piracy. In 1655 the British Admiral Blake gave them a drubbing.
The French were the next to attack these common enemies of Europe. Admiral Duguesne commanded the expedition, and after bombarding the place a short time, the Dey himself soon began to be terrified at the destruction these new engines of naval war made, when an unfavorable wind arising, compelled the fleet to make all sail for Toulon.
Relieved from the terror of immediate destruction, the Algerines returned to their old ways, making descents on the coast of Provence, where they committed the most dreadful ravages, killing, burning and destroying all that came in their way. The Dey also recovered, not only his courage, but his humor; for learning what a large sum the late expedition against his city had cost, he sent to say, "that if Louis would give him half the money, he would undertake to burn the whole city to please him." The French accordingly sent a new expedition under the same officers the next year. Duguesne again sailed, and in front of the city was joined by the Marquis D'Affranville, at the head of five other stout ships. A council of war was held and an immediate attack resolved upon, in consequence of which, the vessels having taken up their stations, a hundred bombs were thrown into the town during that day, and as many more on the following night, when the town was observed to be on fire in several places; the Dey's palace, and other public buildings were in ruins; some of the batteries were dismounted, and several vessels sunk in the fort. This speedy destruction soon determined the Dey and Janissaries to sue for peace; and a message to this effect was sent to Duguesne, who consented to cease firing, but refused to negociate regarding terms, until all the captives taken fighting under the French flag were given up as a preliminary step. This was agreed to, and one hundred and forty-two prisoners immediately sent off. In the mean time the soldiery becoming furious, assassinated the Dey and elected a new one, who ordered the flag to be hoisted on the city walls. Hostilities were now renewed with greater fury than before, and the French admiral threw such volleys of bombs into the city, that in less than three days the greatest part of it was reduced to ashes; and the fire burnt with such vehemence that the bay was illuminated to the distance of two or three leagues. Rendered desperate by the carnage around him, the new Dey ordered all the French captives who had been collected into the city to be cruelly murdered, and binding Father Vacher, the French Resident, hand and foot, had him tied to a mortar and fired off like a bomb against the French fleet. This wanton piece of atrocity so exasperated Duguesne, that, laying his fleet as near land as possible, he continued his cannonade until he had destroyed all their shipping, fortifications, buildings; in short, almost the whole of the lower town, and about two-thirds of the upper; when finding nothing else which a naval force could do, and being unprovided for a land expedition, he stood out leisurely to sea, leaving the Algerines to reflect over the sad consequences of their obstinacy. For several years after this they kept in the old piratical track; and upon the British consuls making a complaint to the Dey, on occasion of one of his corsairs having captured a vessel, he openly replied, "It is all very true, but what would you have? the Algerines are a company of rogues, and I am their captain."
To such people force was the argument; and in 1700 Capt. Beach, falling in with seven of their frigates, attacked them, drove them on shore, and burnt them. Expeditions at various times were sent against them, but without effecting much; and most of the maritime nations paid them tribute. But a new power was destined to spring up, from which these pirates were to receive their first check; that power was the United States of America.
In 1792 his corsairs, in a single cruise, swept off ten American vessels, and sent their crews to the Bagnio, so that there were one hundred and fifteen in slavery.
Negociations were at once set on foot; the Dey's demands had of course risen in proportion to the number of his prisoners, and the Americans had not only to pay ransom at a high rate, with presents, marine stores, and yearly tribute, but to build and present to the Dey, as a propitiatory offering, a thirty-six gun frigate; so that the whole expenses fell little short of a million of dollars, in return for which they obtained liberty for their captives, protection for their merchant vessels, and the right of free trade with Algiers. The treaty was signed September 5th, 1795; and from that time, up to 1812, the Dey continued on tolerable good terms with Congress; indeed, so highly was he pleased with them, in 1800, that he signified to the consul his intention of sending an ambassador to the Porte, with the customary presents, in the Washington, a small American frigate, at that time lying in the harbor of Algiers. In vain the consul and captain remonstrated, and represented that they had no authority to send the vessel on such a mission; they were silenced by the assurance that it was a particular honor conferred on them, which the Dey had declined offering to any of the English vessels then in harbor, as he was rather angry with that nation. The Washington was obliged to be prepared for the service; the corsair flag, bearing the turbaned head of Ali, was run up to her main top, under a salute of seven guns; and in this respectable plight she sailed up the Mediterranean, dropped anchor before the seven towers, where, having landed her cargo, she was permitted to resume her own colors, and was thus the first vessel to hoist the American Union in the Thracian Bosphorus.
