CHAPTER IX. TUNIS BETWEEN 1800 AND 1837. The hostilities between the Regency of Tunis and the French Republic only ceased in February 1802. The Bey, however, soon managed to pick other quarrels with his European allies and tributaries. The Danish Consul fell into disgrace for offering Hamouda some arms mounted in copper gilt instead of gold, and thirty notable Spaniards were relegated to the common prison because two gun-boats sent from Madrid contained eighteen guns instead of twenty-four. It was only in 1804 that these unfortunate persons were liberated, and then only on the Government of His Most Catholic Majesty humbly tendering for the Bey’s acceptance a large money present and two _chebecks_, each carrying twenty-six guns. The Dutch fleet also arrived with an envoy charged “to fix the annual payment to the Pacha and if possible to compound for it by giving the Bey a lump sum in ready money.” Under these circumstances it is hardly surprising that Hamouda Bey, proud of his diplomatic successes with Holland, Sweden, Denmark, Spain, and the United States, embarked on a deadly conflict with his neighbour the Dey of Algiers which lasted till 1809. No sooner had a peace been signed with Algeria than a fresh complication arose with Spain. The Bey informed the Spanish _junta_ that unless the debts of the Consul were paid he should order his corsairs to attack all the Spanish ships they met with, and even to ravage the coasts of Spain. The difficulty was only settled by the payment of a large sum of money. In 1810 the Bey sent Muhamed Djelouli to London to complain of the capture of French vessels by English ships on the Tunisian coasts, and the matter appears to have been satisfactorily arranged. During a revolt which broke out towards the end of the following year nearly all the Turkish troops formerly so powerful in the Regency were annihilated. Peace was hardly restored when England undertook the task of negotiating a treaty for Sicily in consideration of a present of 100,000 dollars. The first mission failing to secure its objects, the whole Mediterranean squadron under Admiral Freemantle arrived at Goletta. The scope of this demonstration was not only to conclude the Sicilian treaty, but to support an endeavour of Lady William Bentinck to purchase the release of a number of Christian slaves. After much hesitation Hamouda Bey agreed to a convention with Sicily which was to have effect as long as the English occupation of that island continued, and nearly 500 slaves were released. An attempt subsequently made under the auspices of France to obtain the liberation of the Neapolitan captives was not equally successful. The Bey refused to accept less than 400,000 dollars _for a treaty_ and the slaves, and as the Neapolitan envoy could only offer 150,000, the negotiations fell through. Hamouda Pacha died suddenly on the 15th September 1814. Native annalists are not agreed as to whether