[56] Relation of Seven Years Slavery under the Turks of Algier: Osborne's Voyages, Vol. II. p. 468.
[57] Relation of Seven Years Slavery: Osborne's Voyages, Vol. II. p. 470.
[58] In the melancholy history of war, this is remarked as the earliest instance of bombarding a town. Sismondi, who never fails to regard the past in the light of humanity, remarks, that "Louis the Fourteenth was the first to put in practice the atrocious method, newly invented, of bombarding towns,—of burning them, not to take them, but to destroy them,—of attacking, not fortifications, but private houses, not soldiers, but peaceable inhabitants, women and children,—and of confounding thousands of private crimes, each one of which would cause horror, in one great public crime, one great disaster, which he regarded only as one of the catastrophes of war." (Histoire des Français, Tom. XXV. p. 452.) How much of this is justly applicable to the recent sacrifice of women and children by forces of the United States at Vera Cruz! Algiers was bombarded in the cause of freedom; Vera Cruz, to extend slavery!
[59] Siècle de Louis XIV., Chap. XIV.
[60] Voltaire, Siècle de Louis XIV., Chap. XIV.
[61] Gentleman's Magazine, Vol. XVIII. p. 441.
[62] To the relations of these missions we are indebted for works of interest on the Barbary States, some of which I am able to mention. Busnot, Histoire du Règne de Muley Ismael, à Rouen, 1714. This is by a father of the Holy Trinity, and was translated into English. J.B. de la Faye, Relation, en Forme de Journal, du Voyage aux Royaumes de Tunis et d'Alger pour la Rédemption des Captifs, à Paris, 1726. Voyage to Barbary for the Redemption of Captives in 1720, by the Mathurin-Trinitarian Fathers, London, 1735. This is a translation from the French. Braithwaite's History of the Revolutions in the Empire of Morocco, London, 1729. This contains a journal of the mission of John Russel, Esq., from the English government, to obtain the liberation of slaves in Morocco. The expedition was thoroughly equipped. "The Moors," says the author, "find plenty of everything but drink, but for that the English generally take care of themselves; for, besides chairs, tables, knives, forks, plates, table-linen, &c., we had two or three mules loaded with wine, brandy, sugar, and utensils for punch."—p. 82.
[63] Roscoe, Life of Cervantes, p. 43.
[64] Witness an illustrative record. "The following goods, designed as a present from his Majesty to the Dey of Algiers, to redeem near one hundred English captives lately taken, were entered at the custom-house, viz.: 20 pieces of broadcloth, 2 pieces of brocade, 2 pieces of silver tabby, 1 piece of green damask, 8 pieces of Holland, 16 pieces of cambric, a gold repeating watch, 4 silver ditto, 20 pound of tea, 300 of loaf-sugar, 5 fusees, 5 pair of pistols, an escrutoire, 2 clocks, and a box of toys."—Gentleman's Magazine, 1734, Vol. IV. p. 104.
[65] Memoirs of Abraham Brown, MS.