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

privateering, was not officially abolished until 1856; and even then, the United
States refused to adhere to the International Declaration of Paris on the
abolition of privateering. 91 In fact, only interpretations changed as a result of a
shifting balance of power in favor of the western countries.
Legally, the already thin-line separating corsairing from piracy was
weakened by the very reason that legitimated the continuation of corsairing:
i.e., the existence of a state of war with an enemy. Algiers’ traditional enemies,
including Spain, Portugal, the Italian States, and Malta with whom Algiers did
not conclude early peace treaties, were progressively removed from the circle
of “enemy” either by Algiers itself or because of international changing
circumstances. With the eternal enemy Spain, Algiers concluded a one-hundred
years’ truce in 1786—in fact, a peace treaty but limited in duration. Even
though considered favorable to Algiers, as the price it fixed for tribute and
redemption of prisoners was often decried as excessive by the westerners, the
treaty did not put an end to Spanish occupation of Oran. Tensions persisted
until it was evacuated in 1792; that put an end to three centuries of reciprocal
hostilities and warfare. More, by late 18 th century, Spain was already removed
to the rank of a second-rate world power and was no more encroaching on
Algerian sovereignty. The list of enemy countries was further reduced when
Algiers concluded a truce with Portugal in 1793; later it was followed by a
peace treaty signed in 1810 and renewed in 1813.
91 Stark, Abolition of Privateering, pp. 39-45; James Fairbanks Colby, “Privateering,” in John J. Lalor,
ed., The Cyclopaedia of Political Science, Political Economy, and the Political History of the United
States, vol. 3 (New York: Maynard, Merrill, and Co. 1899), p. 92.
145