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

personally written to him.” 47 The British attitude played in favor of the United
States as the Dey would later tell Cathcart:
Go and tell your Ambassador that I accept his terms, more to pique the
British who are your inveterate enemies, and are on very bad terms with
me, than in consideration of the sum which I esteem no more than a
pinch of snuff. 48
Joel Barlow, an American emissary who was sent later to Algiers, remarked
that there was some truth in the Dey’s declaration, because at Algiers it was
generally believed that the British opposed a peace treaty with the United
States. 49
Barnby considered that to a great extent what the Dey said was
honest. 50
2. A Peace Treaty at Last!
Despite that truce, capture of additional American ships, and failure of
attempts at negotiations, the prospect of a peace was not abandoned. Having all
done to sabotage the Algiers-Portugal truce, which at the end was not ratified
by Portugal, the American government once more prompted Humphreys to set
out for Algiers. To encourage him, the new Secretary of State Edmund
Randolph, who succeeded to Jefferson on his resignation in December 1793,
wrote him a letter the least that could be said about it is that it was obscure and
not correct—one may even say that it smelt intrigue; Randolph wrote:
47 Barnby, Prisoners of Algiers, p. 192.
48 Cathcart, the Captives, p. 184.
49 Frank E. Ross, “The Mission of Joseph Donaldson, Jr., to Algiers, 1795-1797,” The Journal of
Modern History, 7: 4 (Dec., 1935), p. 427.
50 Barnby, Prisoners of Algiers, p. 191.
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