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

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a one Bassara contacted the American representation at Alicante and<br />

<strong>in</strong>troduced himself as sole accredited negotiator for the Dey of Algiers.<br />

Accord<strong>in</strong>g to him, the Dey “did not believe the government of the United<br />

States had ever appo<strong>in</strong>ted two commissioners to treat <strong>with</strong> him, who had died<br />

after their appo<strong>in</strong>tment;” and therefore, he would not accept any another agent<br />

except him. 22<br />

As no other source confirms or belies the <strong>in</strong>formation, one may<br />

suppose that there might have been some truth <strong>in</strong> it because given the<br />

untrustworthy conduct of the American government before and then, the Dey<br />

ended by not believ<strong>in</strong>g the Americans. Therefore, he might have decided to<br />

take negotiations s<strong>in</strong>gle-handedly <strong>with</strong>out wait<strong>in</strong>g for American emissaries.<br />

One may not discard the possibility that Bassara might have acted<br />

<strong>with</strong>out the knowledge of the Dey as a result of Jewry <strong>in</strong>trigues. Bassara (or<br />

Bouchara) was a Jew broker whose f<strong>in</strong>ancial house Bassara & Co had been<br />

used by the American government for some time and he was at cutthroat<br />

competition <strong>with</strong> the Bacris, the accredited brokers of the Deys of Algiers. 23 As<br />

P. E. Skjoldebrand expla<strong>in</strong>ed, Bassara was also Sweden’s broker but the Bacris<br />

“secretly <strong>in</strong>disposed” the Dey towards peace <strong>with</strong> the Swedes and caused much<br />

trouble—go<strong>in</strong>g up to a declaration of war; and only until they were obliged to<br />

deal <strong>with</strong> the Bacris could they restore good relations <strong>with</strong> Algiers. He<br />

therefore recommended that the Americans should switch to the Bacris. 24<br />

An<br />

22 ASP/FA, 1:327, Letter from D. Humphreys to the Secretary of State, December 25, 1793.<br />

23 Schuyler, American Diplomacy, P. 213; Parker, Uncle Sam <strong>in</strong> Barbary, p. 82.<br />

24 Ibid., 1:415, Brother of the Swedish Consul to D. Humphreys, Esq. Nov. 13, 1793. O’Brien was also<br />

of the same view, ASP/FA, 1:419, Capta<strong>in</strong> O’Brien to Colonel Humphreys, November 16, 1793. Note:<br />

O’Bryen changed the spell<strong>in</strong>g of his name to O’Brien.<br />

301

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