"Hostilities will go on until a treaty is made," Decatur replied, "and a treaty will be made nowhere but on board the Guerrière!"
The officer came out again the next day and began haggling over terms in true Oriental fashion. Decatur stuck to his terms, which included the release of all Americans held in slavery and the restoration of their property. He demanded an immediate decision, threatening:
"If your squadron appears before the treaty is signed by the Dey and if American captives are on board, I shall capture it."
The port officer left. An hour afterward an Algerine man-of-war appeared. Decatur ordered his officers to prepare for battle. Manning the forts and ships were forty thousand Turks.
Before the squadron got under way, however, the Dey's envoy was seen approaching, flying a white flag—the token of surrender.
All of the terms had been agreed to. We were to pay no further tributes to the pirate prince. Our ships were to be free from interference. Ten Americans that had been held in captivity were delivered up. They knelt at Decatur's feet to thank God for their release and rose up to embrace their flag.
From Algiers, Decatur sailed to Tunis and then to Tripoli, and actually forced their rulers to pay indemnities for breaking, during the period of our war with Britain, the treaties they had made with the United States.
Decatur thus put an end to the attacks of the Moors upon American merchant ships. He had set an example that Britain was soon to follow.