But, as there was no time for deliberation, the camp was instantly broken up; and then the sad effects of what they had suffered began to appear in a stronger light, and deeper calamities were about to be added to those which they had already endured. Some could hardly bear the weight of their arms; others, unable to force their way through deep roads, sunk down and died; many perished by famine, as the whole army subsisted chiefly on roots and berries, or on the flesh of horses, killed for that purpose by the emperor's orders; numbers were drowned in the swollen brooks; and not a few were slain by the enemy, who, during the greatest part of the retreat, harassed them day and night. When they arrived at Matafuz, the weather was so much improved as to allow a renewal of the communication with the fleet, whence they were supplied with provision, and animated with the prospect of returning in safety to Europe. But in cherishing this hope they were only preparing for themselves a deeper disappointinent; for no sooner were they on board than, a new storm arising, the ships were scattered, and compelled to take refuge in the nearest ports of Italy or Spain. The emperor himself was driven back to the African coast, where he was obliged by contrary winds to remain several weeks; and at last he reached his own dominions in a condition very different from that in which he finished his triumphant expedition against Tunis.

It was remarked that, during these severe disasters, his fortitude and magnanimity never forsook him. He endured as great hardships as the meanest soldier; exposed his person to all dangers; visited the sick and wounded; and encouraged every one by his words and example. When the army embarked, he was among the last who left the shore, although a body of Arabs hovered at no great distance ready to fall on his rear. By these virtues he atoned in some measure for his obstinacy and presumption, in undertaking an expedition at once so fatal and so mortifying to his subjects.*

These hostilities, pursued by Charles, had indeed their origin at a still earlier period. When, at the end of the fifteenth century, the Moors were expelled from Spain by Ferdinand and Isabella, the fears and hatred of the Christians followed them to their new abode on the opposite

Reign of Charles V., vol. iii., p. 223.

shores. Cardinal Ximenes, who at that period directed the councils of his royal master, prevailed on him to fit out an armament, in order to prevent the vindictive Mussulmans from acquiring such a degree of strength as might render them formidable to the united kingdom of Castile and Arragon. A fleet, carrying 5,000 soldiers, proceeded from the harbour of Malaga in the month of August, 1504, and landing near the fort of Marsa-Kebir, the "Portus Magnus" of the Romans, took possession of it with little loss. About five years afterward, the cardinal himself, whose zeal never cooled, assumed the direction of a powerful armament, the object of which was to reduce Oran, a town not more than a league distant from the seaport just described. This enterprise was likewise crowned with complete success; upon which the most reverend prelate committed the care of the expedition to Don Pedro de Navarro, the general-in-chief, after instructing him to extend his conquests over the whole of the adjacent country.

The Spanish commander, upon reducing several places in the neighbourhood, shaped his course towards Bujeya, which fell to him without making any resistance. The surrender of this stronghold, which the Moors and Arabs deemed impregnable, was followed by the submission of all the others along the coast; the rulers of which sent deputies to the victor to solicit peace, expressing their readiness to receive his soldiers in name of garrison, and even to become tributary to the crown of Castile. Algiers, which was then of no great importance, was the first to open its gates; and it was at this conjuncture that the troops of Ferdinand built the fortress on the small rocky isle at the mouth of its harbour, which has since been enlarged into those magnificent defences wherein the piratical inhabitants have, during two centuries, reposed their confidence. But the Moors soon became impatient of the heavy yoke imposed on them by their bigoted conquerors. They seized the first opportunity to revolt, with the view of chasing from their towns the infidel invaders; in the course of which effort they adopted the impolitic resolution of asking the aid of Barbarossa, who, as we have seen, terminated his alliance by subjecting them to the government of his patron the Grand Turk.

The Spaniards, though driven from the open country, still kept possession of Oran and other fortified stations on the

coast, which they retained till the year 1708, when the Algerines, taking advantage of the weakness entailed upon their enemies by the Succession War, succeeded in expelling the Christian garrisons. In 1762, Philip V. sent the Count of Montemar, at the head of an army of 30,000 men, who beat the Moors, the Arabs, and the Turks united, and once more established the authority of his sovereign in Oran and along the contiguous shore. This conquest was maintained down to the year 1790, when the place was entirely destroyed by an earthquake. On this melancholy occurrence, Charles IV., unwilling to incur the expense of rebuilding it, gave orders to evacuate the ruins; having previously concluded a treaty with the dey, in virtue of which he ceded it to his highness, as well as the artillery and military stores, the greater part of which had been saved. Since that period, the Europeans have had no establishment on the coast of Barbary, but with the consent of the sovereign of Algiers and the Beys of Tunis and Tripoli.

We find in a periodical work a notice of another expedition made by Spain for the chastisement or recovery of Algiers. In 1775, General O'Reilly is said to have landed near that receptacle of freebooters, but was compelled to re-embark in haste and with considerable loss.*

The French, though at a different period, were no less active than the Spaniards in their attempts to suppress the Barbary corsairs. In 1617, M. Beaulieu was sent against the Algerines with a squadron of fifty men-of-war, which defeated their fleet and took two of their vessels, while their admiral sunk his own ship and crew rather than fall into his enemies' hands. By such decisive measures Louis XIII. obtained permission to build a fort on their coasts in place of the one formerly occupied by the Marsilians, which the na tives had demolished. This, after some difficulty, he accom. plished, and it was called the Bastion of France; but the situation being afterward found inconvenient, the French purchased the fort of La Cala, and obtained liberty to trade with the Arabs and Moors.

Enriched with the booty acquired in their piratical expeditions, and inspirited by their occasional success over the fleets of the greatest nations of Europe, the chiefs of Algiers,

* Penny Cyclopædia, vol. i., p. 329.

though they consented to make terms with England, France, and Holland, swore eternal war against the Spaniards, Portuguese, and Italians, whom they regarded as the most determined enemies of the Mohammedan name. At length, Louis XIV., provoked by the outrages they committed on the coasts of Provence and Languedoc, sent Admiral Duquesne, in 1682, at the head of a considerable force, to chastise the robbers and release the captives who had fallen into their hands. These orders were executed with so much vigour, that the town, assailed by cannon and bombs, was soon enveloped in flames; the great mosque was battered down, and most of the houses were laid in ruins. A sudden change of wind prevented him from fully accomplishing his purpose; and it was not till the summer of the following year that he poured upon the devoted inhabitants the vengeance of an incensed and injured kingdom. Sending showers of bombs into the city several successive days and nights, he created so much devastation that the army and all ranks of the state sued for peace. The preliminary conditions were, the surrender of all Christian slaves taken under the French flag, and the delivery of certain hostages to secure a due fulfilment of the treaty; which latter stipulation, as it seemed to involve the fate of two high officers, led to a revolution in the government, the murder of the dey, and the renewal of hostilities with greater fury than ever.

Duquesne, enraged at this breach of faith, continued to pour in such volleys of shells that, in less than three days, the greater part of the city was reduced to ashes; and the fire burnt with such vehemence, that the sea was illumined by it more than two leagues around. The new dey, unmoved at these disasters, breathed only revenge; and after having put to death all the French who happened to be in his power, he ordered their consul to be tied hand and foot, and fastened alive to the mouth of a large cannon, whence he was shot away and blown to atoms. By this piece of inhumanity the admiral was so exasperated, that he did not leave Algiers until he had utterly destroyed its fortifications, shipping, arsenals, and stores, and reduced nearly the whole cf its buildings to a mass of rubbish.*

All the powers of Europe, indeed, who had ships at sea,

* Encyc.opædia Britannica, seventh edition, article Algiers.

found it necessary from time to time to interpose for the protection of their trade and the honour of their flag. The Dutch, for example, after several bloody combats, consented to pay a sum of money, and thereby purchase for their national colours a show of respect, and for their merchantmen an exemption from plunder. The Danes and Swedes, too, despairing of success by compulsory means, adopted a similar policy. The Austrians and Russians, on the other hand, were protected by the special authority of the Porte, who had bound himself to that effect by positive treaties. The Americans, about twenty years ago, checked by a vigorous attack the lawless exactions of the Algerine power. Having lost in battle a frigate and a brig, the dey acceded to a pacification, by which he consented to renounce all tribute, and to pay to the victors 60,000 dollars as a compensation for the ships his cruisers had robbed or otherwise injured. The Italian States have all along been the severest sufferers from the Barbary corsairs, because, while they have had a great number of small vessels employed in their coasting-trade, they possessed no navy of sufficient strength to repress the depredations to which they were exposed.

In 1620, a squadron of English men-of-war was sent against Algiers under the command of Sir Robert Mansel; but of this expedition we have no other account than that it returned without effecting any thing important. It has been already stated that, during the vigorous government of the Commonwealth, the gallant Blake inflicted a severe castigation on the Tunisians, and at the same time taught the marauding subjects of the dey to dread the power of England. During more than a century, no events occur which might illustrate the tone of feeling that subsisted between the Barbary States and our government. The losses sustained by the Algerines during the repeated attacks by Duquesne, in 1682 and the following year, had so far brought them to reason, that they consented to enter into a treaty advantageous and honourable to the government of James the Second. But, notwithstanding their desire for peace with a nation now become so formidable at sea, they lost no opportunity of making prizes of all such British ships as they could conveniently reach. Upon some outrage of this kind, Captain Beach, in 1695, drove ashore and burnt seven of their frigates-an act of vigour which produced a renewal of negotiation, and ex