With a view to secure their freedom, informal agencies were soon established under the direction of our minister at Paris; and the Society of Redemption—whose beneficent exertions, commencing so early in modern history, were still continued—offered their aid. Our agents were blandly entertained by that great slave dealer, the Dey of Algiers, who informed them that he was familiar with the exploits of Washington, and, as he never expected to see him, expressed a hope, that, through Congress, he might receive a full-length portrait of this hero of freedom, to be displayed in his palace at Algiers. He, however, still clung to his American slaves, holding them at prices beyond the means of the agents. These, in 1786, were $6000 for a master of a vessel, $4000 for a mate, $4000 for a passenger, and $1400 for a seaman; whereas the agents were authorized to offer only $200 for each captive.[90] In 1790, the tariff of prices seems to have fallen. Meanwhile, one obtained his freedom through private means, others escaped, and others still were liberated by the great liberator Death. The following list, if not interesting from the names of the captives, will at least be curious as evidence of the sums demanded for them in the slave market:[91]—
| Sequins. | |||
| Crew of the Ship Dolphin, of Philadelphia, | |||
| captured July 30, 1785. | |||
| 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., | 1,647 | ½ | |
| Sundry gratifications | |||
| to officers of the Dey's household, | 240 | 1/3 | |
| __________ | ____ | ||
| Sequins | 18,362 | 5/6 | |
| This sum being equal to $34,792. |
In 1793, there were one hundred and fifteen American slaves in Algiers.[92] 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 dated at Algiers, December 29, 1793, was addressed to the House of Representatives, by these unhappy persons.[93] "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 petitioners will ever pray and be thankful." But the action of Congress was sluggish, compared with the swift desires of all lovers of freedom.
Appeals of a different character, addressed to the country at large, were now commenced. These were efficiently aided by a letter to the American people, dated Lisbon, July 11, 1794, from Colonel Humphreys, the friend and companion of Washington, and at that time our minister to Portugal. Taking advantage of the general interest in lotteries, and particularly of the custom, not then condemned, of resorting to these as a mode of obtaining money for literary or benevolent purposes, he suggested a grand lottery, sanctioned by the United States, or particular lotteries in the individual states, in order to obtain the means required to purchase 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 shortly after by a petition from the American captives in Algiers, addressed to the ministers of the gospel of every denomination throughout the United States, praying their help in the sacred cause of Emancipation. It begins by an allusion to the day of national thanksgiving appointed by President Washington, and proceeds to ask the clergy to set apart the Sunday preceding that day for sermons, to be delivered contemporaneously throughout the country in behalf of their brethren in bonds.[94]
"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.
"Reverend and Respected,—