Though the salutary lesson taught them by Lord Exmouth’s guns terrified the pirates both of Algiers and of Tunis into surrendering upward of three thousand captives, they were not reformed nor were they capable of reformation. The leopard cannot change its spots. Ere many months had passed the Algerines were again at their work of plundering, burning, and slave-hunting, though on a smaller scale; and in 1824 another British squadron under Sir Harry Neal had again to bombard Algiers, but the great pirate city was not thoroughly tamed until its occupation by the French in 1830. Through one of those curious anomalies with which the musty pages of history are enlivened, the result which the European powers in concert had been unable to accomplish in spite of three hundred years of outrage and insult was brought about by the stroke of a fan. The incident which was destined to have such important consequences for North Africa and for civilization arose—as modern international incidents have frequently arisen—from a financial controversy. During the period of the Directory two Algerine Jews, Bacri and Burnach, had supplied the French government with large quantities of grain, but their claims were repudiated by the succeeding governments of Bonaparte and the Bourbons. The question of the debt would not in itself have been sufficient to produce a rupture, but the dey, Hussein—to whom the Jews had probably promised a substantial rake-off—pressed the claim as his own. Exasperated by the numerous delays, he sent for the French consul, M. Deval, whom he received at the _kasbah_ in a sort of pavilion. The interview, which was exceedingly acrimonious, was abruptly terminated when, giving rein to his passion, the pirate chieftain struck the French envoy in the face with his fly-flap. France’s retaliation for this affront was more prompt than vigorous; it took the form of an ineffectual blockade of the port of Algiers by a squadron of war-ships. Though this action inconvenienced it did not particularly worry the dey, who showed his contempt by firing on _La Provence_, a vessel which entered the harbor of Algiers under a flag of truce in August, 1829. This ended the patience of the French government, which determined to terminate the intolerable situation by a punitive expedition, the minister of war, Marshal de Bourmont, himself taking the command. On June 14, 1830, the red-trousered battalions disembarked under cover of the war-ships at Sidi-Ferruch. Five days later they smashed the enemy at Staoueli. On July 4 the Fort de l’Empereur was blown up. On the following day Algiers capitulated, and the pirate standard which had flaunted so long above the _kasbah_ was replaced by the tricolor. After terrorizing the Mediterranean and defying Christendom since the Middle Ages, the Barbary pirates had come to the end of the road.