The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-08-01

mands, and as these were not satisfied quickly enough to suit their august maJesties, the American flagstaff was cut down, and war declared in Tripoli on April 15, 1901,
 Previous to this, in the year 1S00 Captain Bainbridge, in the sloop-of- war George Washington, had entered the harbor of Algiers and anchored un- der the batteries for the purpose of paying the annual tribute to the Dey. After the tribute had been landed the Dey requested that the vessel be placed at his disposal, as he wished to use her for the conveyance of envoys and pres ents to the sultan of Turkey. Bain- bridge at first refused this request, but the Dey threatened to blow his ship | out of the water if denial were persist | ed in, and as the American consul ad- vised the captain that war would follow furthur refusal, Bainbridge felt it his duty to acquiesce. The argument of | the Dey, who must have been highly | original and humorous old gentleman, was that the Americans paid him trib- ute. and therefore became his slaves. Therefore he had right to give or ders to the commanders of their ships l oL Wll. AIu llllS lTUlll dl of the sultan of Turkey!
 l AS the George Washington was about E to sail on the Dey's errand he demand I ed that the American flag at the peak | give way to the Algerian colors, but
 was kind enough to allow the United States ensign to be flown at the fore as
 a great concession. As the ship was
 under the guns of the Mussulman bat
 teries, this last indignity had to be sub | mitted to, and thus the American sloop- | of-War George Washington sailed from l the harbor of Algiers by order of the Dey of Algiers and under the Algerian | Colors! On her return from her mission | further indignities were offered to the | ship and her commander, who had a | most huniliating tale for the ears of | the American government when his ship came home in the summer of 1901. ! three frigates, the President, Philadel l Before she arrived a squadron of | phia and Essex, and one schooner, the 1 Enterprise, were ordered to the Medi- | terranean under the command of Cap | tain Richard Dale. They sailed on the | 20th of May, 1901, not knowing of Trip | offs declaration of war. But an out | break from the Barbary States had been feared and Dale was to pacify l them by show of force off their prin- | cipal ports. On the 1st of July the l squadron arrived at Gibraltar, where l two corsairs of Tripoli were found. l Their being stationed in the straits was
 a suspicious incident, and the Philadel- l phia watched them so closely that they \ were unable to get to sea, and finally \ npY11na1Ia6 tn Htca,aohorlS thniy>
 crews and send them to the south coast | in small boats. The President and the l Enterprise now made sail for Algiers, | and shortly after the appearance of | these two formidable vessels off the | Dey's dominions a wonderful revusion | of sentiment was apparent in that old 1 gentleman. He hastened to assure the Yankee commodore that his previous actions and utterances had been entire ly misunderstood that he had behaved ] throughout in the most philanthropic | manner and that nothing could exceed | in warmth the affection that he had al-
 ways felt for the United States govern
 ment and people. Meanwhile the Essex had been employed in conveying Ameri- can merchantmen through the straits
 and the Enterprise had been cruising off Malta.
 On August the Enterprise encoun- l tered the enemy's war polacca, Tripoli, | in an action at short range. Though | the vessels were nearly equal in size | crew and armament, it was found after | the Tripoli's surrender that the cool, quick and accurate fire of the Ameri-
 cans had killed and wounded fifty of | the Mussuln1an's crew of eighty while | not one of the hundred Americans had | been injured On the 24th of August | the President appeared off Tripoli and shortly afterward brought to'-i. e., stopped-a Greek ship that was trying to enter the harbor. Thirty-five Tripo- litans were found on board of her. i These were detained and afterward ex- l changed for six captured Americans. As winter cruising in the Mediterrane-
 an was considered dangerous, the Pres
 ident and the Enterprise returned to
 the United States in December, leaving
 on the station the Philadelphia and Es- sex, which patrolled the sea so vigil lantly that not single American mer-
 chantman was captured during the
 winter.
 l Captain Morris was appointed to ] lllt IhSullGlIdfledl SQuduTO1l
 in May, 1902, when his force consisted
 of the frigates Chesapeake Constella-
 tion and New York, the corvettes Ad-
 ans and John Adams, and the schooner
 Enterprise. This force, although not
 strong enough to capture such heav- fly fortified stronghold as Tripoli, was
 yet so formidable as to overawe the
 Emperor of Morocco and the Bey of
 Tunis, who gladly joined the Dey of
 Algiers in hasty retraction of their
 hostile utterances and arrogant de-
 mands.
 Early in June Morris assembled his
 entire force before Tripoli, and soon af-
 ter his arrival chased eleven wheat
 laden coasters into the old harbor The
 Mussulmans were in great need of
 grain, and a large body of troops was
 sent from Tripoli to defend the vessels.
 They were hauled up on the shore, high
 breastworks were constructed from the
 bags of wheat, and the position was
 deemed safe from attack. But the next l morning Lieutenants Porter and Law
 renee pulled inshore with a boat party,
 and in the face of a heavy fire routed
 the enemy and burned the boats The
 forces engaged were so close to each |