Our Naval War with France--The Tribute Paid to the Barbary States by
Christian Nations--War Declared Against the United States by
Tripoli--Bainbridge, Decatur, Stewart, Dale and Preble.
Now I suspect that if my young readers were asked to name the nations
with which, at one time or another we have been at war, they would not
be likely to include France in the list. All the same, we have had a war
with her, though it was confined to the ocean and there was no formal
declaration on either side.
A few years after the close of our Revolution one of the most appalling
uprisings in the history of the world took place in France. The kings
and nobility ground the people into the very dust until they were goaded
into revolt, which overturned the throne and was marked by atrocities
that shocked the world. Incredible as it may seem, there were a million
people put to death during the awful days of the Reign of Terror.
The mad rulers, not satisfied with deluging their own country with
blood, were at war with most of the neighboring nations. They seemed to
wish to array themselves against all mankind and began a system of
action toward us which soon became unbearable.
They seemed to think we could be scared into paying the rulers immense
sums of money for the privilege of being left alone. They encouraged
their naval officers to capture American vessels, and when we sent
commissioners to France to protest they were coolly told that outrages
upon our commerce would not be stopped until we paid the leaders several
hundred thousand dollars in the way of bribes. Then it was that one of
our commissioners made the memorable reply: "Millions for defence, but
not one cent for tribute."
Our representatives were driven out of France and the capture of our
vessels by French cruisers continued. So Congress met, cancelled all
treaties with France, formed an army, placed Washington, then an old
man, at the head, formed a new navy and told the men-of-war to go out
and give the insolent nation a lesson she very much needed.
And France got the lesson. The fighting on the ocean, beginning in 1798,
continued for two years and a half. The French cruisers succeeded in
capturing only one vessel from the American navy, while 84 armed French
ships, mostly privateers, mounting more than 500 guns, were captured by
our vessels. In February, 1801, a treaty of peace was signed with
France, which brought our troubles with her to an end.
Now, if you will examine your map of Africa, you will notice a group of
countries along the southern coast of the Mediterranean that are known
as the Barbary States. Their names are Morocco, Algiers, Tunis, and
Tripoli. I remember when I was a boy how easy it was to learn the names
of the capitals of those countries, for each one was the same as the
country itself.
The people of the Barbary States are only half civilized or barbarous,
but they have always had a mighty high opinion of themselves, though it
can hardly be as high to-day as it was a hundred years ago. They looked
upon the "dogs of Christians" as heathen nations, only fitted to be
their slaves, and it must be admitted that it was quite natural they
should hold the leading maritime nations of Europe as well as ourselves
in contempt, for all deserved it.
The favorite business of those barbarians was playing pirate. Their
corsairs roamed up and down the Mediterranean, eagerly hunting for
Christian merchant vessels, that they might kill the crews and divide
the plunder among themselves. Sometimes, by way of variety, they would
throw their captives into dungeons and then notify the governments to
which they belonged that they would be set free upon the payment of a
large sum of money to their captors. If the government did not choose to
pay the ransom, why their captors would give themselves the pleasure of
putting the prisoners to death.
Now, it would have been an easy thing for any one of the Christian
nations interested to send a fleet into the Mediterranean, which,
speaking figuratively, would have wiped those miscreants off the face of
the earth; but such an enterprise would have cost a good deal of money,
so, instead of punishing the wretches as they deserved, the countries
paid them a yearly sum of money on their promise not to disturb vessels
when they ran across them.
So it was that, year after year, we sent a good round gift to those
barbarians. You know our Government is often slow in meeting its
obligations, and it happened now and then we were late in sending our
tribute to the swarthy rulers. When that occurred, the Dey, or Bashaw,
imposed a heavy fine to remind us of the expense of trifling with him.
We meekly bowed our heads, paid it, and tried to be more prompt
afterward. Then, too, the mighty ruler sometimes expressed a wish to
receive naval stores instead of money, and we were happy to oblige him.
Of course, he set his own valuation on what he received, which was
generally about one-half of what they cost our Government, but we made
no complaint.
It came about that the Dey of Tripoli got the idea into his head that we
were not paying him as much as we did his neighbors. In his impatience,
he decided to give us a lesson as badly needed as it was in the case of
France, to which I have alluded. So he declared war against the United
States. It would be interesting to know what ideas the Dey had of the
Republic on the other side of the Atlantic.
One good thing resulted from our flurry with France. A number of good
ships had been added to our navy. Better still, many young officers,
brave, skilful and glowing with patriotic ardor, were serving on those
ships. They eagerly welcomed the chance of winning glory. To them the
war with Tripoli offered the very opportunity for which they longed.
Among these was William Bainbridge, who was born in 1774 and died in
1833. He began life as a sailor at the age of fifteen, and was in
several engagements before he was appointed to the navy in 1798, during
our war with France.
Another was Stephen Decatur, born in Maryland in 1779 and killed in a
duel with Commodore Barron in 1820. His father was a gallant officer in
the Revolution, and his two sons were among the bravest officers who
ever trod the quarter deck. Both entered the service in 1798, and
Stephen is generally regarded as the best type of the young American
naval officer during the early years of the present century.
Still another was Charles Stewart, born in Philadelphia in 1778, and,
like those whom I have named, he entered the navy as lieutenant in 1798.
It will always be one of my pleasantest recollections that I was well
acquainted with Stewart, and spent many hours talking with him about the
stirring scenes in which he took part. He lived to be more than ninety
years of age, dying in 1869, and for a good many years occupied a modest
little home, just below Bordentown, New Jersey. When eighty-eight years
old he was as active as a man of half his years. I came upon him one
wintry day, when he was of that age, and found him in the barn,
shoveling corn into a hopper, of which a sturdy Irishman was turning the
crank. The old admiral kept his hired man busy and enjoyed his own work.
He was of small figure, always wore an old-fashioned blue swallow-tail
with brass buttons, took snuff, and would laugh and shake until his
weatherbeaten face was purple over some of his reminiscences of the
early days of the Republic.
Think of it! He remembered seeing Benedict Arnold burned in effigy in
Philadelphia in 1781; he recalled Paul Jones, and had drunk wine and
talked with Washington.
Stewart and Decatur were of about the same age, and attended the old
Academy in Philadelphia. They were bosom friends from boyhood. Stewart
told me that Decatur was a good student, but there was hardly a boy in
the school, anywhere near his own age, with whom he did not have a
fight. He would "rather fight than eat," but he was not a bully, and
never imposed upon any one younger or weaker than himself.
A great many of my talks with old Admiral Stewart related to the war
with Tripoli, which began in 1801 and lasted nearly four years. As you
will learn, Stewart had a great deal to do with that war, and most of
the incidents that follow were told to me by him, a fact which insures
their truthfulness and interest.
Among others to whom I shall refer was Commodore Richard Dale, who was
born in 1756, and died in 1826. He was older, as you will notice, than
the three whom I have mentioned. As to his bravery, it is enough to say
that he was first lieutenant on the _Bonhomme Richard_ during her
terrible fight under Paul Jones with the _Serapis_, and served with
that wonderful naval hero on the _Alliance_ and the _Ariel_. Had he not
been made of the right stuff he never could have held such a position
when a very young man.
[Illustration: COMMODORE EDWARD PREBLE.]
Another hero was Commodore Edward Preble, born in 1761 and died in 1807.
When only sixteen years old he joined a privateer, and at eighteen was
active in the attacks of the _Protector_ on the British privateer
_Admiral Duff_. He was on the _Winthrop_, and fought bravely in the
battle which resulted in the capture of a British armed brig. He was
commissioned lieutenant in 1798, and the year following commanded the
_Essex_.
From what I have told you, it will be seen that it was a gallant band
that our Government sent into the Mediterranean in 1801 to chastise the
barbarians and compel them to respect the Stars and Stripes.