The general bowed his head in shame.
General Eaton, in the opinion of all of us who marched with him, and of many with whom I afterwards talked, could well complain of the way he was treated by the United States Government. He had won at Derne a victory that many thought was superior to the naval victories won over Tripoli, and by his campaign had opened the way for a peace that saved the United States the payment of hundreds of thousands of dollars in warships and tribute money. Yet he had been allowed to enter upon his enterprise in such a manner that if successful the Administration would receive full credit for sending him, while if he failed, he could be blamed for acting without authority.
At Tripoli, peace was being made after this manner: Colonel Lear, then at Malta, received a letter from the Spanish consul at Tripoli asking him to come to that place under a flag of truce, as the Bashaw wanted to discuss peace. A few weeks later Captain Bainbridge wrote to Commodore Barron that the Tripolitan minister of foreign affairs, Sidi Mohammed Dghiers, who was opposed to the war, was about to leave the city, and that it would be well to send an envoy to treat for peace before the minister left.
Colonel Lear sailed from Malta on the Essex, which joined the blockading frigates Constitution and President of Tripoli. The white flag hoisted by Lear was answered by the hoisting of a similar flag on the Bashaw's castle. The terms agreed upon were that the United States was to pay him $60,000 for the ransom of the American captives remaining after an exchange of prisoners, man for man, had been made; that the American forces should withdraw from Derne, persuading Hamet to go with them; and that in the course of time Joseph was to restore to Hamet his wife and children.
The articles were signed on board the Constitution. A salute of twenty-one guns was then fired by the Bashaw's battery and answered by the Constitution. The people of the city crowded to the wharves celebrating the making of peace. The released American officers and sailors ran to the wharves to leap into the barges that were to take them out of the hated town.
Sage men have predicted that the historians of the future would say that Colonel Lear acted unwisely in making the peace, and that if he had delayed for a few weeks, until bomb vessels and gunboats on the way from America had arrived, a squadron would have assembled before Tripoli that would have frightened the Bashaw into agreement with any terms the United States' fleet chose to lay down. That we should have had to pay ransom for the American captives at Tripoli after we had captured the powerful province of Derne, and with such a strong fleet in the Mediterranean, was not in accord with American traditions.
The act of Colonel Lear in making peace with the reigning Bashaw seems to have been for the purpose of blocking Eaton's triumph. "Eaton," said an officer holding a high place in the Mediterranean squadron, "was running away with the honor of the Tripolitan war. Between an army and navy jealousy is common. What had the navy done long before, after the achievement of Preble? Hence the readiness to snatch the first chance for peace."
The politics of the matter gave me little concern. Here was General Eaton needing money. With money he could hire Arab tribes, buy caravans loaded with food, march on to Tripoli. Here was my opportunity, and my duty.