Bruce's Residence at Algiers as British Consul.
We have already stated that Bruce had been appointed to the consulship
of Algiers, to succeed Mr. Aspinall, who had been recalled. This
gentleman had, with great firmness and integrity, opposed many unjust
demands made on him by the dey, who, in consequence, sent a letter to
England requesting that he might be dismissed, and Mr. Ford, a British
merchant, appointed in his stead. This official document, addressed "to
the English vizier, Mr. Pitt," is a curious specimen of barbarous
diplomacy: "My high friend: For some time past, John Ford was a merchant
at Algiers, whom we desire you to appoint consul, and send him a day the
sooner to us, because your consul in Algiers is an obstinate person, and
like an animal!"
This Mr. Ford died in England; and Bruce, on his arrival at Algiers,
presented to the old dey credentials from his Britannic majesty,
graciously appointing as consul "our trusty and well-beloved James
Bruce, Esq., whom, by his birth and education, as well as by his
knowledge and experience, we have judged to be every way qualified for
this trust."
Ali Pasha, the dey of Algiers, was one of those savage characters who,
on the coast of Barbary, are very appropriately distinguished by the
appellation of great men. In the history of mankind, it is curious to
observe how, in the various conditions of society, different
descriptions of men rise to the surface, where they remain until a moral
revolution, altering their specific gravity, obliges them to sink into
oblivion. In a highly-civilized community, a man rises to distinction by
the estimable qualities of his nature: in an uncivilized country he
climbs above his comrades by violence and cruelty. The Dey of Algiers
was, therefore, well-suited to the manners of the country in which he
lived. Although a very old man, Bruce found him preparing most
vigorously for the siege of Oran: his tent and camp equipage were ready;
and he declared it to be his intention to command in person, that, by
dying at the siege of Oran, he might merit Paradise.[5] On the 1st of
May, 1763, Bruce wrote to Lord Egremont to announce his arrival; and the
concluding sentence of even this, his first official communication, to
use a vulgar expression, "smells strongly of the shop," or, rather, of
the shambles, which he was doomed to inhabit: "I have nothing farther to
trouble your lordship with," says the new consul, "at present, only that
the late aga was strangled a very few days ago by order of the dey, and
that Amor Rais, late ambassador in England, has been deprived of his
employment here as captain of the port, and is gone on a pilgrimage to
Mecca."
Shortly afterward the prime minister, who had been expected to succeed
the dey, was arrested in his presence, and instantly strangled; and all
his relations, and even his friends, were privately put to death, in
order to stifle any inclination they might feel, to complain of the
murder of this personage. Not long after, the French Consul hesitating
to comply with some orders received from the dey, he immediately loaded
him with chains, and threatened to have him harnessed to the
stone-carts!
On the appointment of every new consul at Algiers, it had always been
customary that he should bring with him a present, which is generally
supposed in England to be delivered to the dey himself: but this is not
the case. It is distributed among all the public officers, who consider
it as their due rather than as a gift which they are fortunate enough to
receive. Bruce's present consisted principally of blue cloth, his
distribution of which furnished an odd picture of rank at Algiers, which
seems to be what we should term "High Life below Stairs"--for the dey's
"chief cook" shared equally with the "dey's brother," his "chamberlain,"
his "ambassador to the Ottoman Porte," and his "two principal
secretaries"--each of whom received eleven yards of cloth: the dey's
"second cook," the "admiral," the "first commander of the navy," the
"captain of the port," and the "master carpenter," each received eight
yards; while the "captain of marine," the "secretary for prizes," the
"comptroller of the dey's house," and his highness's "barber," claimed
four yards. In consequence of a late increase in the number of officers,
Bruce's present was not sufficient to satisfy them all: he therefore
himself purchased articles to a considerable amount, respecting which he
thus wrote to his friend Mr. Wood, the under-secretary of state: "For my
own part, though I hope his majesty and the secretary of state will
consider the circumstances of this expense of mine, so that I may not
lose this L213; yet, if they should not do it, I shall myself never
repent having advanced the money, and lost it, rather than, in my time,
his majesty should lose the affection of this people."
About the year 1757, a vessel bound to Algiers was seized by the
Spaniards in Oran, and the dey had ever since importuned the British
government for indemnification for the cargo. Bruce had firmly resisted
this claim (which the government at home also refused to admit), but it
placed him in a very difficult situation, and on the 8th of March, 1764,
he thus wrote to Lord Halifax: "I am much importuned for your lordship's
answer to the demand of compensation for the cargo belonging to the
Algerines, seized on board a British bilander[6] in the port of Oran.
They imagine it is owing to my not having wrote, or to my having
received the money and not inclining to pay it, that as yet they have
obtained no satisfaction. Twenty or thirty of them are concerned in this
cargo, and it is all that many of them have in the world. Upon this
account I have already been exposed to very great personal danger from
the license of the soldiers, which I should in no way regret were the
occasion honourable, or did it conduce to his majesty's service."
On the 3d of June Bruce again addressed Lord Halifax, to inform him of
the situation of affairs, and frankly to explain to him the fatal error
that had been committed by the British government in recalling the late
consul, Mr. Aspinall. "The demand of the Moors still continues. I cannot
conceal from your lordship that I have been very lately, with little
decency, forced to appear before a Turkish judge, to answer whether I
would or would not oblige myself personally for the payment of this
debt; and it is with very much concern that I acquaint your lordship
that the recall of Mr. Aspinall has had the very worst effect upon
British in particular, and Christian affairs in general: the king has
declared that he will change consuls every two years; for which he
assigns no reason, though it is in order to receive presents more
frequently; and he is now assuming the nomination of consuls himself,
having, as he says, begun with the English. He has lately appointed a
slave consul for Venice, and has refused the consul the republic sent.
He has made a Jew consul of Ragusa; and, I am told, is soon to change
the Dutch likewise. The king is now turned old, and his memory nearly
gone: he is altogether guided by one Maltese and one Spanish renegado,
who lead him into these measures."
Bruce proceeds to unfold the horrid private character of the dey, which
we must beg to leave in total darkness. He then proceeds to remind his
lordship, that his object in accepting the consulship of Algiers was to
have an opportunity of making drawings of the principal antiquities in
that part of Africa; and he accordingly requests three months' leave of
absence in order to visit the interior, with his majesty's permission,
on his return, to resign his situation: he concludes his letter by nobly
recommending that Mr. Aspinall should be restored to the consulship of
Algiers. During the whole period of Bruce's residence, every leisure
moment had been employed in improving his knowledge of the Arabic and
Moorish languages. Secluded in his study, he occupied himself in
translating some Arabic manuscripts, which, with great trouble, he had
collected, and his only recreation when abroad was in conversing with
the natives. "My immediate prospect," he says, "of setting out on my
journey to the inland parts of Africa had made me double my diligence;
night and day there was no relaxation from these studies."
In about a month after his last letter, Bruce informed Lord Halifax that
he had been to the dey to remonstrate with him about an English sailor
who was then treated as a slave. "The only answer I could get," says
Bruce, "was, '_that when the king paid for his redemption, his majesty
should have him; till when he should continue a slave, though it was
till his death_.' This is the tone with which the king now speaks, ever
since his successful endeavour in procuring Mr. Aspinall's return, and
his putting the French consul in the stone-carts and chains without
consequences; and we have now neither personal nor national privileges,
but are treated at discretion. Denmark has agreed to pay constantly, in
stores, near L10,000 per annum; Sweden and Holland do the same; and to
give me the preference over the others, not less than L2000 yearly is
distributed by the other consuls in jewels and watches, as private
presents to the regency; Venice has spent about L20,000 to make peace,
and pays L4000 yearly; France, to rescue its trade, which amounts to a
monopoly of every valuable production of the coast, is always giving and
always ill-treated; England, only once in the eight or nine years, upon
the change of consuls, gives a scanty present: so that our whole weight
must consist in the countenance showed us from home, which they now
believe they can prevent by any application from hence; and with this I
am constantly threatened if I but speak of grievances ever so gently."
Bruce then repeats his request for permission to quit this troubled
scene, and to commence his long-wished-for inquiries. But, determined
that it should not be thought his object was to shrink from danger, he
concludes by saying, "Though, if there is any remonstrance his majesty
directs to be made to this regency that may interfere with this journey,
I willingly waive it for the sake of his majesty's service."
This letter was scarcely despatched, when he again addressed Lord
Halifax as follows: "Since I had the honour of writing last to your
lordship, that I had been called before a Turkish judge about the demand
of Oran, things have come to what I hope is the extremity, though it is
difficult to say what is the utmost length these people may go, after
their recent behaviour to the French consul. Two days ago, an English
ship was sent out of this port by order of the dey, without any passport
endorsed, or without any bill of health or other paper of expedition
from the British consulate; a slave of the king's acting as his
majesty's consul in clearing her out of the port. As his majesty's
commission is thus superseded, it remains with your lordship to consider
what remedy is to be applied. I have avoided any explanation farther
with the king, that no opportunity might be given to say, as in the
case of the French consul, that I did not behave with proper respect;
and though my first intention, upon receiving this affront, was to leave
Algiers and to return to Mahon, to avoid either ignominy or danger, yet,
not having his majesty's leave, and uncertain what turn these people may
take concerning our trading-vessels, I have resolved to await your
lordship's answer in Algiers rather than desert his majesty's service.
Your lordship is so much better a judge of what is necessary in this
case, that it is presumption in me to mention it; only, if it be allowed
for me to guess by what I have lately seen, all negotiation is but lost
time unless _force_ be before their eyes."
A few days afterward, the English sailor who had been imprisoned by the
dey appeared before Bruce, hacked, mangled, and covered with bruises. He
was sent to Bruce by the express order of the dey, to show, as he said,
"that he cared neither for the King of England nor his consul!" Nor were
other subjects of complaint wanting, as will appear from the following
letter which Bruce addressed to Lord Halifax:
"On the 18th war was declared against the emperor; and some Tuscan
sailors and passengers arriving unfortunately on board a French vessel,
they were dragged from under the French colours, against the law and
practice of all nations, and made slaves; the French consul being too
much intimidated, by being put lately in irons, to venture to
remonstrate against this affront to their flag. My lord, in this country
of murder, chains, and torture, your lordship will not expect me to be
more explicit than I am _as to measures_. I am not certain but that the
doctor[7] will be stopped, and my letters seized to-morrow.... I was
just finishing my letter to your lordship, when word is brought to me
that, this morning early, the master and supercargo of the
above-mentioned vessel were carried before the dey, and were
bastinadoed over the feet and loins in such a manner that the blood
gushed out, and then loaded with heavy chains, the lightest of which
weighs a hundred weight. The captain, it is thought, will not live. They
are not allowed meat, drink, or clothing, or room to lie in, and subsist
wholly on an allowance from me.... The same day it was proposed to give
my vice-consul, Mr. Forbes, a thousand bastinadoes, to extort from him a
confession of the contents of my papers. He has fled to my house for
protection, where he continues in great fear; for, being _much affected
with the gout_, a very small proportion of the thousand bastinadoes
would kill him; nor could he satisfy them in a single syllable, as I
have never, in writing or copying letters to your lordship, used any
hand but my own; and it being now, I fear, the time in which some
restraint may be put on my liberty, I can no longer venture to preserve
even copies, so beg your lordship will pardon the variations of such
letters as are intended as duplicates, as the difference will never be
very material."
It is surely impossible for any one to read the above letter without
being filled with feelings of astonishment that this country, which,
like all others, has so often waged war for trifles, or to repel
imaginary insults, should ever have submitted to such repeated insults
from so petty and barbarous a government as that of Algiers.[8]
Soon after Bruce's last letter, full of indignation, he again wrote to
Lord Halifax, recommending, in the strongest terms, force, as the only
way of maintaining the national dignity at Algiers; and fearing lest
his advice on so important a measure should be questioned, he refers
Lord Halifax to several individuals in England who knew him, "and who,"
he says, "will, I hope, fully satisfy your lordship that I am incapable
of representing anything in a false or aggravated light." After thus
boldly recommending forcible measures, which would have been so highly
dangerous to his own personal security, he adds: "I myself have received
from a friend some private intimations to consult my own safety and
escape. The advice is impracticable, nor would I take it were it not so.
Your lordship may depend upon it, that, till I have the king's orders,
or find that I can be of no farther service here, nothing will make me
leave Algiers but force. One brother has already, this war, had the
honour to lose his life in the service of his country. Two others,
besides myself, are still in it; and if any accident should happen to
me, as is most probable, from these _lawless butchers_, all I beg of his
majesty is, that he will graciously please to extend his favour to the
survivers, if deserving, and that he will make this city an example to
others how they violate public faith and the law of nations."
In order fairly to appreciate the disinterested firmness of the above
letter, it should be remembered that Bruce was remaining at Algiers
against his will, and that he had long ago repeatedly applied for his
majesty's permission to resign the consulship.
A violent dispute now took place between Bruce and the dey about
passports. On the taking of Minorca by the French, a number of English
passports fell into the hands of the enemy; and the French governor,
naturally wishing to embroil England in disputes with the Barbary
States, filled up the blanks of these passports, and then sold them to
Spaniards, Neapolitans, and other enemies of the Barbary regencies. As
soon as this fraud was detected, the British governors of Gibraltar and
Mahon furnished the ships of their nation with written certificates,
which they imprudently termed _Passavans_: but these pirates not being
able to read them, and observing that they differed in shape and form
from the old printed passports, inveighed against the supposed duplicity
of the English, and importuned their master the dey to order every ship
to be seized which carried a passavant. Bruce opposed this counsel with
steady resolution; but the old dey, holding several passavans in his
hand, answered him, with great emotion, in these very memorable terms:
"The British government knows that we can neither read nor write; no,
not even our own language. We are ignorant soldiers and
sailors--robbers, if you will--though we do not wish to rob you. War is
our trade, and we live by that only. Tell me how my cruisers are to know
all these different writings and seals?"
Bruce, neither intimidated nor convinced by the savage eloquence of the
dey, again remonstrated; upon which he was disowned as consul, his
dragoman was taken from him, and he was ordered to quit the country in
three days. "In reply," says Bruce, "I begged the dey to excuse me if I
considered myself still as British consul, and if I denied it to be in
the power of any foreign prince to annul my commission." An English ship
happening to arrive about this time with a passavant, was broken in
pieces, and the crew hurried into slavery. Bruce now prepared to embark,
but the storm suddenly subsided. The unruly passions of the dey, though
deaf to reason, had listened to the subtle admonitions of his officers,
who explained to him the ruinous consequences of a war with England.
Regular printed passports arrived, and "thus ended," says Bruce, "an
affair the least pleasing, the least profitable, and one of the most
dangerous in which I was ever engaged."
In communicating intelligence of his own dismissal, and of the above
proceedings of the dey to Lord Halifax, Bruce again recommended that the
remedy of force, that actual cautery, should be applied; and always
ready to share in every service of danger which he conceived it his duty
to propose, he offered to return with any expedition against the place.
"I shall always esteem it," he says, "an honour to venture my life in
his majesty's service, without rank or reward, in the station he shall
be pleased to employ me."
Considerable time elapsed before Bruce received from England any reply
to his communications from Algiers; and but little notice was taken of
the request which he had so repeatedly made for leave of absence to
visit Tunis and the interior. In the months of November and December,
1764, he thus addressed Lord Halifax:
November 3.--"I take the liberty, my lord, to offer your lordship my
most humble thanks for having laid my request of leave to resign this
consulship before the king. Very disagreeable and dangerous as my
situation is, if his majesty or your lordship think that it is more for
the advantage of the service that I should remain till these disputes
are settled, rather than that they should be taken up by my successor, I
am entirely at his majesty's disposal, only I hope that some resolution
may be speedily taken for the safety of commerce and of the king's
servants. I beg leave to remind your lordship of my request, that before
my resignation I might have permission to visit Tunis and some other
places in the inland country. My absence will not exceed three months,
and his majesty's affairs here will be perfectly safe, and well
conducted during that time by Mr. Forbes, my vice-consul."
Again, on the 14th of December, he thus acknowledges the receipt of an
order to await the arrival of a consul who had been at last appointed to
succeed him. "I should have been much obliged to your lordship if it had
been thought proper to have procured me permission to have made the
proposed journey to Tunis, as I requested in several letters; but, as I
have not had any return, and as it would be impossible, without the
protection of the king's commission, to make it with any effect, I
submit. My lord, in disputes with these regencies, it has almost
uniformly been the practice to join his majesty's consul in the
commission for adjusting these differences. Excuse me, my lord, if I,
with all possible humility, observe, that the contrary now, and the
immediate arrival of a successor, has in my case every appearance of
disgrace, which I cannot but feel sensibly, after having in so
disagreeable and dangerous a conjuncture done everything possible to
protect his majesty's commerce, and maintain the character of my
commission."
In justice to the memory of Lord Halifax, it is proper to give his
sensible reply to the latter part of Bruce's letter. "With regard to the
appearance of disgrace which you are apprehensive the arrival of a
successor at such a juncture may carry, you have the satisfaction to
know that your conduct has been honoured with his majesty's approbation,
and that it was in consequence of your repeated desires to resign and
return home that another consul has been appointed in your stead."
Previous to the arrival of Bruce's successor, the dey caused a letter to
be written to his Britannic majesty, to complain that a party of
Algerine soldiers had been captured off Gibraltar by the Spaniards, in
consequence of secret intelligence of their approach having been given
to the Spanish commander by the British garrison. The above statement is
necessary in order to explain the following translation of this most
curious letter.
"MUSTAPHA HAN.
ALLY, Son of Mohammed, God protect him.
"The help of the helpers and guard of kings, mighty king, the most
merciful, with the help of God at Mecca--commander of the whole
Mohammedans under God! God preserve the king!
"King of land and sea--king, son of king, the king of mercy,
Mustapha Han, may God maintain his glory and his kingdom for
ever--Sovereign lord of my country, also of the west! Ally Bacha,
God fulfil his desires, to his most sacred majesty King George the
third--God grant him long life and _our love_.
"King, defender of Christian faith, king of England, France, and
Ireland, our beloved, great, and noble friend whom God prosper, may
God direct you to do good to me, and may you enjoy your crown for
ever, and our friendship for ever, amen.
"The love and friendship, I continue: now what I beg from your
majesty in the name of God the most mighty, always in mutual
friendship, and pray God to continue our friendship till death,
which that's certain.
"Now, I beg your majesty will listen to what I am going to say
without fail. My great beloved friend, the foundation of this
letter is Athebeck, from my dominions with a parcel of soldiers
when they came below Gibraltar the people in the garrison gave
notice to the Spaniards, and they took 'em, and this treachery
cannot subsist between us. Now, I beg your majesty will do us
justice, and pray God preserve your majesty, and may our friendship
continue for ever. Amen.
"Allgier,
Ally Basha,
the 22d of month
Ramazan, in the year
1178, Dettusura."
(Which corresponds with the
16th of March, 1765.)
As soon as it was known that a consul was coming from England to succeed
Bruce, the effect was produced which he had apprehended; for every one
pretended to consider that it was in consequence of the King of
England's disapprobation of his conduct. Bruce was therefore treated
with great indignity. The cruelties, indeed, of the dey seemed to
increase with his age. In a single morning, seventeen Turks were seized
and strangled in his presence; he even condemned to death his own
brother; and for every trifling complaint brought before him, he
prescribed King Richard's remedy of "Off with his head!"
At last the new British consul arrived, accompanied by Captain Cleveland
of the navy. This consul was, however, shortly afterward recalled; and,
in less than two years, two others succeeded to the same dangerous
post. One of these gentlemen, on sailing from England, was recommended
by the government to do everything in his power to accommodate the
troublesome affairs of Algiers. His obsequious, courtier-like conduct
forms a striking contrast with Bruce's firm, manly behaviour; and he was
very shortly recalled for overacting his part of conciliation, by
allowing the dey to impose a tax on English vessels which he had no
right whatever to demand.
In the following letter this gentleman thus informs Lord Halifax of the
death of the dey: "I have now the mortification to acquaint you of the
death of his excellency _the good old dey_, Alli Bashaw, who was seized
with a violent cold and pleuritic complaint the 24th past. He continued
in a declining way till Sunday the 2d inst., when he expired between one
and two o'clock in the morning, aged seventy, after having reigned
eleven years and forty days. The divan was immediately assembled, and
about seven the hamagee or treasurer was chosen to succeed him. The
colours were then hoisted at the palace, the garrison, and harbour, as
also at the several forts, with a discharge of cannon. At eight I paid
my respects to the new dey, Mohammed Bashaw, and was well received.
About nine the old dey was carried out to be interred, and all was
quiet."
In this whining requiem, which one of Bruce's successors, a British
consul, sings over the carcass of that old sanguinary tyrant Alli
Bashaw, the dey of Algiers, the reader will probably start at the
appellation of the "good old dey:" yet the consul's letter is
unfortunately but a specimen of those diplomatic reports which, from
distant countries, are too often made to coincide with the supposed
views and fancies of the minister at home.
The long intervals which elapsed between the letters that Bruce had
addressed to Lord Halifax, he regularly devoted to study, in making
himself familiar with everything that could be necessary for his
intended journey. A Greek priest, a native of Cyprus, had attached
himself to Bruce on his first arrival in Algiers. From this venerable
man he acquired a knowledge of the modern Greek, which was of the
greatest assistance to him in Abyssinia; and the reader will soon learn
what essential service this priest rendered to Bruce when he afterward
met with him in Egypt. From Mr. Ball, the king's surgeon at Algiers, he
also acquired professional information of the most valuable description,
and which afterward became his passport in all the countries which he
visited.
In this manner did Bruce pass his time at Algiers, deliberately
preparing himself for the great discovery which was the ultimate object
of his ambition. His paltry disputes with the dey, and the neglect which
attended his repeated applications to England for permission to commence
his journey, would have engrossed the whole attention of most people,
and distracted with petty distress the minds of many: but neither these,
nor the enervating effects of the African climate, could shake his
unalterable determination; and after having been detained at Algiers for
two years and a quarter, he was no sooner relieved by Captain Cleveland
than he immediately prepared for his departure. Accordingly, on the 25th
of August, 1765, he sailed from Algiers, his mind filled with the most
agreeable ideas, and rejoicing to run his arduous course.
FOOTNOTES:
[5] Bruce's official letters from Algiers (preserved in the Colonial
Office) give so correct and extraordinary a picture of that barbarous
government, and of the singular situation in which he was placed there,
that we have great pleasure in being permitted to lay some of them, in
an authentic shape, before the public.
[6] A small flat-bottomed vessel of seventy or eighty tons burden, of
the description used for the transportation of goods on the canals in
Holland.--_Am. Ed._
[7] Dr. Ball, the bearer of despatches from Bruce for England.
[8] About the time of writing the above (in the year 1830), Algiers was
attacked and captured by the French. Whether they will retain the
acquisition then made, or, in renouncing it, take measures, in concert
with other nations, to prevent its again becoming a resort for pirates,
remains to be seen.--_Ed._[9]
[9] There can be no doubt that it is the intention of the French
government to keep permanent possession of that country, as they are now
(in 1840) operating with an army of not less than 50,000 men to complete
its subjugation.--_Am. Ed._