Star.
London, England, 1814-10-13 00:00:00

.3 iM B r coßsif.rßs.

The following is an interesting Narrative of the
treatment recently ex:erienced by a tnoit respectable
individual (a British subject) who v..as taken by the
Algerines, when on his voyage from England to
in a vessel belonging to the latter country :
4. We set sad irorn the Island of St. Pietro, where
we had taken shelter from several suspicious vessels
that had been seen h.)vering around us th,2 day before.
The inhabitants of this iittle spot are a gcod and a
peaceful people. They enjoy a perfect ire.edorn, and
would be corn;iletely happy, but for the veil frequent
landings and incursions of the AlgerineF, who some
pew years ba,:k carried away the whole population
to hard labour and slavery, from winch they were
afterwards rescued by the munificence of the King of
Uardinia.

" The sun was slowly rising above the horizon, II
when four sitspicioussail, the same which had been seen
two days before, appeared in sight. On approaching
nearer, the whole extent of our dangerous situation
became mote evident. We immediately attempted
to alter our course ; but by an unlucky fatality, the
wind, which hitherto had been rather fresh, failed us
on a sud.ien. An iron hand seemed to fasten us to
the waves. The seamenb stupified by terror and grief,
at the sight of those well-known ships, forgot their
duties, and nothing was attempted for our safety.—
For six long hours did we remain in this awful state
of suspense, till at last the four strange sail, which we
now made out to be the Algerine squadron, came
within pistol-shot of us. Their boats were soon hoisted
out, and we were boarded in an instant, amidst the
clash cf naked scinietars, and the heart-rending, hor-
rible noise of the most barbarous and insulting exul-
tation. As soon as the vessel had been taken pos.
session of, and part of the passengers, amongst whom
I found myself, had been handcuffed and thrown
ipto the boats, we were taken on board their flag-ship.
—On our arrival thither, the Turks and the Moors
raised their ferocious shouts of victory, and we were
dragged before the first Rais, who assigned to the
whole of us a most wretched hole in the cable tier,
surrounded by darkness, and lying upon hard coils
of ropes ! Who shall describe the horrors of our situa-
tion ? It seemed to us a dream full of horrible sha-
dows and unreal mockery. On all parts we were
assailed by the cries of desrair. The sullen blasphe
mies of the sailor, our fellow-sufferer ; the impreca-
tions of the unhappy father, who had left his children
behind him.; the loud grief of the weeping mothers;
arid the sobs of the innocent babes, reached us from
every point of this dar k abode, and deafened onr ears!
0 Gon! what a eight !

" We continued ci nizing for two-and-twenty days

in search rf prey, ourselves become corsairs ; and
two basons of /u.icurv: formed our daily focd. Lock.
man v.-as asked, ashy he travelled in company with ei
? ' Ti) see how they have contrived to be-
come so wicked and profl.gate,' was his reply.
" At lair Alters came in view, and such had been
our state of uncertain and tormenting suspense, as
well as the treatment which we had experienced on
board of the Algei ate frigate, that we hailed the
capital of those free-benters with the same joy with
which the Knights of Christ bowed to the Sarine of
Jerusalem. We were landed amidst a noisy multitude,
who followed us to the house in which the Mi..isters
of the Regency were ranged in a barbifous attire.—
Here we found bc,l..h the Consul and Vice-Consul of
Great Britain, and we tremblingly awaited fur the
great sentence which was to decide our destiny. Our
papers were examined, and in spite of the efforts'
inade in our favour by the Consul, M. Macdonald,
our vessel arid cargo were condemned as lawful prize,
and ourselves sent to the Bagno, or. great Galley.—,
There we were told that all were slaves who set their
feet in that place ; and there was written on those
gates as on those of hell,

" Uscite dl speranaa o Voi, the entrate."

" The troubles and agitation of our mind may be
more readily imagined than described. We, accus-
tomed to live among civilized nations, and in the so-
ciety of genteel and amiable people, to be thus con-
demned to pass our miserable days amidst barbarians!
We, coming from happy England, from the seat of
true liberty and the sacred laws, to be robbed of our
freedom and property, to be insulted and made
wretched by a contemptible race of slaves and assas-
sins ! And in what times—in what circumstances ?

Wl.en the sun of liberty dawned on the world—when,
after so many years of calamity, Europe began to
...hope for some serene days—when, in fine, we could
have returned to our own country, and to the enjoy-
ment of long-suspended tranquillity. And shall we,
at such a time, be condemned to drag a miserable
existence as slaves, and die on the wretched shores
of Africa ?

I had been given to understand that great inte-
rest had been made for me ; and in fact, a Turkish
soldier cantle to us to desire that I, in particular, might
be treated with some respect. Rape bcgari to cheer
tray dt. jectvii cenntenance. But evening came,
srd with it the fatal badges of slavery. The fetters
which each slave carries to his feet, were brought,
and, as a special mark of favour, I was permitted to
wait till next day, when I should be suffered to put
them on myselt.

• iat dawn of day our jailors waked us, and we
pr. hared ourselves to march off to the morning la-
b.:ti:i. si.2!it of those fitters harrowed up my
and it shrunk within me. I grasped them with
my parched and convulsive Lands, and encircled my
legs with them, while teats of rage ran down pny
c:letks, and a chilly shuddering shook all my limbs,
To HEAVEN I then raised my hands—my head sunk
how on my breast, and I surrendered myself in silent
sorrow to my wretched destiny. •
• The same day on which I saw my ltgs encircled
by tie letteit; of slavery, I was srt free throsth the
intercesson of iLc liri!klt Consul. I have not suf-

ficient expiessiuns to thank that worthy Minister as
he deserves. That life which I owe to his kind and
powerful intercession, will be for ever conse,trated to
his service.

t, Two hours after this happy event, I was told
th.rt I might go to the port and recover my baggage,
but every thilig had vanished—all was lost. The
linen, dresses, trinkets, a good sum of money, and
even the trunks themselves were no where to be fouad,
and I was left in a state of absolute wretchedness.—
Even a box of choice books, although entirely useless
to those barbarians, bad disappeared ; bin they said,
perhaps, as that Caliph who set fire to the library of

Alexandria, g, if :hero books are conformable to the
Alcomn they are useless—if contrary to it they ought
to be burned." _ .

‘g What grieves me more, however, is the irrepa-
rable loss of all my manuscripts. This very nume-
rous collection of inedited papers, in prose. and in
verse, to which I intended devoting part of my time
in preparing them for the press, formed the principal
objects of my voyage, and promised me some delight-
ful occupation :tad a flattering prospect. Alas ! all
is gone. Six ye:us labour, reseal diel, and meditation,
are last for ever ; as are the wish and courage of
writing again in future. I longed for an honourable
employment of my time, and find myself condemned
to ignominious indolence and obscurity—to a life
without an object, and without any brilliant illusion.
Alfieri used to say, that in order to insure content, a
man ought either to be full of some noble passion, or
have in view some noble object. It was Om opinion
of Lord Rochester, that to live a happy and a merry
life, one ought either to write fine things, or perform
things worthy of being written.
66 Without some ray of glory—without the warmth
of some noble sentiment, life is not worth having.--
This agitation of feelings, or this vanity, if you chose
to call it so, will be readily forgiven to any unfortu-
nate author. It is well known that when Camoens
was shipwrecked, he swam ashore
.with one hand,
while with the other he kept his immortal poem above
the water.

" The servant-maid of the celebrated lyric poet Le
Brun, appearing one day before him with all his ma-
nuscripts in her hands, threatened him to consign all
his glory to the flames if he did not marry her. Le
Brun, frightened at the imminent danger in which
his verses were of being reduced to ashes, and of thus
losing his hopes of immortality, sent iur a lawyer
immediately and married her. I am neither Camoens
nor Le Brun, but every one loves his children, and
to save my own manuscripts I could" hive married
the Bey's grandmother.
"During the few days which I continued in Africa,
living in the country, and at the house of the British
Consul, I used to go every morning into town to
visit my unfortunate companions, and particularly the
two brothers, Messrs. Terrens of Leghorn, one a
respectable merchant, the other an excellent painter.
They were both slaves in Algiers, and by special fa-
vour exempt from the public labours. My visits
could be but short, and I always returned full of
sorrow from that horrible city. The heart feels op-
pressed and heavy within the walls of Algiers—it
seems as if you breathed with difficulty and pain in
that land of terror and despotism.
" The sight of tyrants and slaves, of oppressors
and oppressed, of haughty barbarians and unhappy
wretches—that contrast of arrogance and submisAon,
of vi. fence and fear—the possibility of being insulted
and ill-treated with impunity, of being imprisoned
and pat to death on a mere suspicion or whim of an
absclute tyrant—all tended to render one miserable,
to disturb and agitate the mind, and finally to sus-
pend even the faculty of thinking.
" Whoever has not experienced what slavery is,
and has not seen what takes place in Algiers, does
not know the most horrible of all misfortunes, and in
what state of wretchedness and dejection the mind
of an unhappy mortal may fall.
There were in Algiers above 1600 slaves, and
every year more than one hundred die of anger and
sorrow, or from fatigue and repeated blows. Shut
up every night in the Bagno, the naked earth is the it
bed in places open to the wind and rain. They are
called tip again at the dawn of day, and hurried with
heavy blows to their daily hard labours, which last
till evening.
" Some amongst them are employed in the arse-
nal, and for the smallest transgression they Pre un-
mercifully beaten, even to the infliction of five hun-
dred strokes of bastinado. Others are condemned
like beasts to drag or carry huge stones from the
mountains, and often fall and are buried under those
ample ruins. I have seen some of them return to
town mutilated and reeking with blood—l have seen
them fall on the road, and be obliged, like the vilest
brute, to rise under the infliction of heavy and re-
peated blows, whilst others would suffer the treat-
ment, and remain prostrate and insensible, waiting
and wishing for death.
" The nourishment of these wretches consists of,
two loaves of bread in the morning, and one in the'
evening—a bread as black as charcoal, and bitter as
poison. They are all miserable, without hope or
comfort—they are despised, insulted, and ill-treated
by the Moorish and Turkish rabble. Without mi-
nisters or the exercise of religion, these poor aban-
doned wretches are deprived even of the consolations
deriving from them. There is onlyone poor priest, paid'
by Spain, who has the care of a small hospital, and
attends to the burying of Christians. Some years ago, I
before Spain had bought the present small cemetery,
the poor deceased Christian slaves were denied the
sacred rites of sepulture, and remained in the open
air apt): rid food for the dogs.
_ _

" Unfortunakely the ransom is rendered extremely
difficult on account of the cleat sums they demarld.,
The Bey asked fifteen hundred piastres for every Si.
cilian individual ; the predominant passions of these
barbarians being avarice and ambition, they think of
little else but of getting money.
" The Bey and some other families are possessed
•f immense riches. Justice with him is summary,
harsh, and arbitrary ; every thing is corrupted and
bought with gold. The A lgerines are cunning,
wicked, and perspicacious. To know how to deceive
and avoid deception is what forms their great politi-
cal study, and they bast of it.

" The present Bey, Hadgy.Aly-Pascie, is the
most cruel and ferocious of any that Algiershas ever
had. He is in the sixth year of his reign, and owes
this long duration to his extreme vigilance and cru-
elty. His government is made up of injustice, vio-
lence, and desrtism. There is, indeed, a Regency
in Algiers, composed of several Ministers, and a
Divan of c ld Agas, but both these bodies are subser-
vient to tho imperious will of the tyrant, or are de-
spised by him. Whenever he shews himself to the
public, numerous guards surround him on every side,
and the people, not daring to lcok the monster in the
face, fall prostrate to the ground, and exclaim Sala-
meleck, as he palsos. This fellow boasts that his king.
dom is a cave of robbers. He once complained that
the English had taken a small vessel belonging to
him, and on that occasion he observed to them--c It
is wrong in you to do so; if wz do it, it is because we
are robbers, and I am at the head of them.'—lt

is quite an enigma, that with so small a naval
force as these scoundrels have, and so ill managed as
their corsairs are, they should be the terror of the
seas, and the desolation of the neighbouring countries.
—While Christian nations are making long and de-
structive wars against each other, for trivial objects,
often from mere rivaiship and ambition, they allow
these infidels, who are the perpetual enemies of the
civilised world, to trample on every right and the
laws of nations—to destroy commerce—ta annihilate
the mutual exchange of benefits deriving from the
intercourse of one kingdom with another—to give to
war an atrocious aspect ; and they sufFer that the in-
habitant of civilised Europe should become the slave
of a Mahometatt and a barbarian ! Oh, shame !
shame on her who is Quern of the Seas ! Europe
expects from England security of n.tvigatiun, and
England owes it to her high character to obtain it.—
We should never cease to call aloud for war—for a
war of extermination against the African monsters,
against the ferocious tyrants cf Barbary !"