About Algeria: Algiers, Tlemçen, Constantine, Biskra, TimgadThomas-Stanford, Charles
History
About Algeria: Algiers, Tlemçen, Constantine, Biskra, Timgad
Thomas-Stanford, Charles
Algeria -- Description and travel
It is naturally impossible for a traveller to traverse Algeria without
being constantly conscious of the effects of the French conquest. His
own presence there otherwise than as a Christian slave is one of them,
and not the least important one for him. But in the course of his
journeyings he will be so frequently informed of important incidents in
the series of campaigns, of the connection of localities he is visiting
with some phase of victory or defeat, that a short résumé of the lengthy
transactions may not be out of place. With many side-issues the story
resolves itself in the end, as such war-histories often do, into a
struggle for the mastery between two great men. The Frenchman won the
rubber.
Stern as was the lesson which Lord Exmouth inflicted, it was soon
forgotten, and the ingrained habit of centuries reasserted itself. A
subsequent Dey set himself to re-create a fleet, and in 1820 he had
forty-four vessels with 1560 sailors. Fresh trouble arose with the
British consul, and the weakness of the admiral who was sent to support
him only made matters worse. The Dey refused to see Mr. McDonell, who
had been forced to leave, and treated Mr. St. John, who replaced him,
with ignominy. “All the disgraceful ceremonies in the intercourse
between the representative of Great Britain and the Turkish authorities
were continued. The consul was obliged, the moment he came in sight of
the Dey’s palace, to walk bareheaded in the hottest sun; in waiting for
an audience he had to sit on a stone bench in the public passage; he
could not wear a sword in the Dey’s presence, nor ride to the palace,
though his own servants, if Mohammedans, might do so.” And the corsair
fleet began once more to harry the coasts of France and Spain.
In the early days of the Turkish domination the corsairs had been
influenced by political preferences. They had especially waged war
against the Spaniards, who had expelled the Moors, and whose sovereign,
Charles V, was the enemy of the Sultan. They respected the vessels of
Francis I, the Sultan’s ally. So may even pirates follow the dictates of
conscience. But as time went on the high character of the Algerian
corsairs suffered some abasement through association with the renegades
of Christendom, and French and Spanish vessels met a like fate,—all was
fish that came to their net. The French, who had formerly felt that the
Spaniards were getting no more than their deserts, and had even afforded
Kheir-ed-Din a temporary refuge in the port of Marseilles during a
storm, were naturally hurt at the ingratitude of these proceedings. They
went so far, in the reign of the Grand Monarque, as to bombard Algiers
on two occasions,—with the customary result. Their fleets sailed away;
Algiers rebuilt itself, and proceeded upon its piratical way. No one has
ever rivalled the Deys in the art of taking a beating, and coming up
again with a smile,—unless it be their ultimate conquerors.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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