Alexandria gazette, commercial and political. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1812-1817, 1815-08-28
"A MEMOIR,

"A MEMOIR,
LJnon the necessity and the prneticnb'tat!'
| of putting an end to the R'rac'es q
the Barbary States.
iPresented at Vienna, for the conslde
ration of the Congress, in Aug. 1914, o.
lsr Sidney Smith, President OF the Ton
federation Of Knights.
Translated from the Leyden Folitlea
Journal, for the Boston .. Advertiser
FIRST PART.
While the means Of eftecting the abo'
lIition Of the trade in the Negroes on the
Western coast Of Africa are under dis
lcussion, and Europe in attempting to ex,
Itend the benefits Of commerce, and Of
security of person and property, to the
interior of that vast continent inhabited
lby a people mild. industrious and ca
liable Of enjoying in the highest degree tho
advantages Of civilization, it is astonish
ling that no attention is given to the
Northern border Of that same country
inhabited BY practical Turks, who MOI
,nly oppress the natives of their vicinity
TOUT take them by force, or purchase them
as slaves. to employ them in their cruis'
Inc vessels to tear from their homes the
| ,onest laborers the peaceful inhabitants
| If the shores Of Eurore.-This shame
,ul piracy, is not only revolving to huma
Iaity but it letters commerce in TIE mos
Injurious manner, since no mariner car
lat the present day navigate the Mediter
ranean or even tie Atlantic, without fear
+; IF being seized by these pirates, and car
| red into African slavery.
The government of Algiers is compos
| ed of the officers of an Ortu or regimen
Iof reyolted Janissaries and soldiers, wht
do not pretend even in appearance to &C
knowledge the authority of the ottoman
Porte, which vet does not acknowledge
| their independence. The Dey is always
that one Of the officers of the Orta who
lis the most distinguished for his cruelty
HE maintains himself at the head of the
Regency or Divan, by enriching his ad
lherents, that is by permitting all kinds
Ief violence in Africa, and piracies by sea
against the weaker European nations, o.
those whose immediate vengeance he
does not fear.
Even the Ottoman flag is not sufficient
!! to protect her Grecian subjects, and to
| place them in security against the attacks
of the Algerine corsairs. Lastly, the
iDev, either from caprice of cruelty, 0,
from the barbarous policy Of destroying
1.-The commerce of his rivals of Tunis and
|Tripoli, has captured the cargoes OF some
vessels of the Archipelago. and of f.
|aypt. loaded with corn, which had fallen
into his power.
The Pacha o! Egypt in his just anger:
arrested all the Algerines whom he found
1n his states, and demanded in vain res
tituticn of the cargoes upjustly seized by
the Dev of Algiers.
The Ottoman Porte saw with indlgna-
,ion aud anger, that revolted vassal dsr-
ed to permit acts the most outrageous,
the most atrocious against his peaceful
subjects, which irnpeded commerce
which he more than ever needed to pay
the troops of the Pachas employed on the
eastern frontiers Of the Ottoman empire
to resist the Wacaabite and other hume
rous Arabian tribes, who are constantly
by theirinroads threatening the existence
Of that tottering government.
On the other hand Europe is interest
ed to support the Ottoman government,
as a recognised sovereignty, and as al
mower which can restrain the Pachas and
r-erolted Beys, and prevent them from
committing piracies like A!siers. Ih'sl
interest of Europe is increased by the
necessity in which she is often found OF
importing the corn of the black sea or OF
the Kile. in one efwhich countries therel
is always an abundance, since the unla
vorahle seasons in the north OF the ot-l
tonan territory are always counterba-
Ianced by good season the same year
IN the South, and rice rersa.
But if Barbarian, calling himself ap|
;ndependent Prince, but not recognised
as such BY the Ottoman Sultan, his legl'|
innate sovereign, can at will, threaten:
alarm. and capture the Greeks, ana thel
mariners of the small European states
who alone carry on commerce Whlch|
the vessels of the great powers DO not
find sufficiently proftablet to be pursued 4
because they cannot navigate their YES
-ols a. on small an eypense-lt this aUda-