Ottoman Algeria in Western Diplomatic History with ... - Bibliothèque

the westerners developed arguments which enabled them to evade payments so
that they could make huge profits at the detriment of Algiers. That condition
led to diplomatic tensions and deterioration in relations.
Subsequently, disrespecting earlier treaty commitments, the western
powers played for time and under different pretexts refused to deliver the
agreed on naval material.
When pressed for respect of the treaties, they
complained and cheated: sometimes they were needed at home because of war
here and there; sometimes they pretended that they could not produce them in
sufficient quantities; and finally, as a last resort, they often delivered articles of
the worst quality and least quantity in total disregard of treaties. Add to this the
enormous delays in deliveries—sometimes it could take years before they were
delivered, all this crowned with complaints and disgust about the Deys’
impatience, avarice, insolence, and tyranny. Here indeed lay the difficulties and
complexities of relations between Algiers and the western countries throughout
the two centuries-period during which they maintained diplomatic relations.
Second, the principle of redemption or exchange of captives was rarely
respected by western countries. Corsairing in Algiers as in the Netherlands, and
the rest of the western world, was a meticulously organized enterprise. 37
Corsairs/privateers were authorized to prey on enemy ships and captures,
including ships, freight, crews and passengers, when declared legal prizes by a
37 In England and the USA, corsairing is called privateering. A privateer used similar methods as a
pirate, but acted while in possession of a commission or Letter of Marque from his government or
monarch authorizing the capture of merchant ships belonging to an enemy nation. For further details
see Stark, Abolition of Privateering, pp. 49-78.
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