CHAPTER IX.
TROUBLE BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND ALGIERS.—THE WAR WITH FRANCE.—WHAT OUR NAVY DID.—FROM GIBRALTAR TO MARSEILLES.
"The first time our government ran against Algerine pirates," said Haines, "was in 1785, when they captured two vessels from the United States, and sold their crews—twenty-one men altogether—into slavery. The President set about getting these men released just as soon as he heard of the capture of the ships. The diplomatic agents of the United States in Europe were instructed to make arrangements in that direction; but the Dey of Algiers believed that he had found a new mine of wealth, and demanded an enormous price for the ransom of the unhappy sailors."
"Did our government pay it?" I asked, as Haines paused.
"No, they did not," was the reply; "they determined that they would not establish a precedent for such exorbitant demands. In France there was a religious society called the Mathurins, that was established hundreds of years ago for the purpose of releasing Christian captives who were held by the infidels. Our government employed the chief of the Mathurins to negotiate the liberation of our men, but he didn't succeed. Several other attempts were made, but the Dey refused to come down in his price, because he thought the Americans would pay anything rather than let their citizens be slaves, or, at any rate, their white citizens, as we had plenty of negro slaves in our country and thought that kind of slavery was all right.
"Well, the thing dragged along a good while. Our government appropriated forty thousand dollars to ransom those men. One after another two commissioners were appointed to negotiate the business, but each of 'em died before he got to Algiers.
"Before the negotiations for these twenty-one men were concluded, ten more American ships had been captured, and more than a hundred sailors sold from them into slavery. It was not till 1795 that we brought the miserable business to an end, and got the release of the prisoners by paying eight hundred thousand dollars in cash, with a promise of an annual tribute of twenty-five thousand dollars, and a ship-of-war worth one hundred thousand dollars."
"Do you mean that we were to give them a ship-of-war every year?" I asked.