The Southern Literary Messenger, Vol. I., No. 9, May, 1835Various
History
The Southern Literary Messenger, Vol. I., No. 9, May, 1835
Various
American literature -- 19th century -- Periodicals
From Tunis the American squadron proceeded to Algiers, where Mr. Lear
landed, and was received with great respect by the government. At this
time it would doubtless have been easy to have relieved the United
States from the annual tribute of naval stores and munitions to the
value of twenty-one thousand dollars, which they were bound to pay to
that Regency by the treaty of 1795; but the Algerines had not
committed any notable infraction of the terms of that treaty, and
there was no cause of quarrel. In 1807 the government of the United
States, in anticipation of an immediate war with Great Britain,
recalled its naval forces from the Mediterranean, which sea was not
again visited by an American armed vessel until 1815. The peace with
Tripoli and Tunis has, however, continued without any absolute
interruption to this time; with Algiers it was broken in 1812, when
the Dey, emboldened by the absence of the American ships of war, and
instigated, as we shall show, by the British government, thought
proper to commence hostilities against the United States, for which a
signal retribution was exacted in 1815.
The occurrences of the war between Tunis and Algiers would be devoid
of interest, however faithfully related. Algiers had long maintained a
degree of arrogant influence over Tunis, which was very galling to the
sovereigns of the latter country. This was effected partly by
superiority in military and naval forces, partly by the aid of the
Ottoman Porte, which very naturally sided with Algiers against a state
scarcely acknowledging its dependance on the Sultan, but principally
by bribes to the high officers of the Tunisian government. To free his
kingdom from this nightmare had been the incessant endeavor of
Hamouda, and was the object of the war; its results were favorable to
the Tunisians, both at sea and on land; peace was made in September,
1808, and the influence of Algiers appears never since to have been
felt in the councils of Tunis.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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