Crew of the Ship Dolphin, of Philadelphia, captured July 30, 1785.
| Sequins. | ||||
| Richard O'Brien, master, price demanded | 2,000 | |||
| Andrew Montgomery, mate | 1,500 | |||
| Jacob Tessanier, French passenger | 2,000 | |||
| William Patterson, | seaman | (keeps a tavern) | 1,500 | |
| Philip Sloan, | " | 725 | ||
| Peleg Loring, | " | 725 | ||
| John Robertson, | " | 725 | ||
| James Hall, | " | 725 | ||
Crew of the Schooner Maria, of Boston, captured July 25, 1785.
| Isaac Stevens, master (of Concord, Mass.) | 2,000 | |
| Alexander Forsythe, mate | 1,500 | |
| James Cathcart, seaman (keeps a tavern) | 900 | |
| George Smith, | " (in the Dey's house) | 725 |
| John Gregory, | " | 725 |
| James Hermit, | " | 725 |
| ——— | ||
| 16,475 | ||
| Duty on the above sum, ten per cent | 1,647½ | |
| Sundry gratifications to officers of the Dey's household | 240⅓ | |
| ——— | ||
| Sequins 18,362⅚ | ||
| This sum being equal to $34,792.[103] | ||
In 1793 no less than one hundred and fifteen of our fellow-citizens were groaning in Algerine slavery. Their condition excited the fraternal feeling of the whole people, while it occupied the anxious attention of Congress and the prayers of the clergy. A petition from these unhappy persons, dated at Algiers, December 29, 1793, was addressed to Congress. "Your petitioners," it says, "are at present captives in this city of bondage, employed daily in the most laborious work, without any respect to persons. They pray that you will take their unfortunate situation into consideration, and adopt such measures as will restore the American captives to their country, their friends, families, and connections; and your most humble petitioners will ever pray and be thankful."[104] The action of Congress was sluggish, compared with the patriot desires throbbing through the country.
Appeals of a different character were now addressed to the country at large, and these were efficiently aided by Colonel Humphreys, the friend and companion of Washington, who was at the time our minister in Portugal. Taking advantage of the common passion for lotteries, and particularly of the custom, not then condemned, of employing them to obtain money for literary or benevolent purposes, he proposed a grand lottery, sanctioned by the United States, or particular lotteries sanctioned by individual States, to obtain the freedom of our countrymen. He then asks, "Is there within the limits of these United States an individual who will not cheerfully contribute, in proportion to his means, to carry it into effect? By the peculiar blessings of freedom which you enjoy, by the disinterested sacrifices you made for its attainment, by the patriotic blood of those martyrs of liberty who died to secure your independence, and by all the tender ties of nature, let me conjure you once more to snatch your unfortunate countrymen from fetters, dungeons, and death."
This appeal was followed by a petition from American captives in Algiers, addressed to ministers of every denomination throughout the United States, praying help. Beginning with an allusion to the day of national thanksgiving appointed by President Washington, it asks the clergy to set apart the Sunday preceding that day for sermons, to be delivered simultaneously throughout the country, pleading for their brethren in bonds.
"Reverend and Respected,—
"On Thursday, the 19th of February, 1795, you are enjoined by the President of the United States of America to appear in the various temples of that God who heareth the groaning of the prisoner, and in mercy remembereth those who are appointed to die.
"Nor are ye to assemble alone; for on this, the high day of continental thanksgiving, all the religious societies and denominations throughout the Union, and all persons whomsoever within the limits of the confederated States, are to enter the courts of Jehovah, with their several pastors, and gratefully to render unfeigned thanks to the Ruler of Nations for the manifold and signal mercies which distinguish your lot as a people: in a more particular manner, commemorating your exemption from foreign war; being greatly thankful for the preservation of peace at home and abroad; and fervently beseeching the kind Author of all these blessings graciously to prolong them to you, and finally to render the United States of America more and more an asylum for the unfortunate of every clime under heaven.