He was very glad when, in the following September, he was ordered to return in the Constellation to the Mediterranean.
The American fleet in the Mediterranean was by this time so large that the Bashaw was convinced that the Americans were in earnest.
He was glad to make a treaty of peace and release the prisoners on payment of a small ransom.
In October, 1806, Oliver Perry returned to America. He was greatly disappointed that he had not been able to take a more active part in the war.
He spent most of the next two years in Newport, dividing his time between study and his many friends.
VI.—More Trouble with England.
While America was having these troubles with the Barbary States, France and England were still at war. Commerce all over the world was affected, and in some cases almost destroyed by this long war.
The French emperor, Napoleon Bonaparte, had forbidden all vessels of other nations to enter British ports. The English, in turn, said that no vessel should enter a port of France, or of any country belonging to France.
But the Americans had to endure still further injuries from the English. British war vessels claimed the right to stop American ships on the sea, search them, and carry off American sailors, claiming them as deserters from the English navy.
The French could not do this; for no American sailor could be accused of being a runaway Frenchman.