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

CHAPTER VIII
The Advent of Gunboat Diplomacy,
1798-1816
This treaty, I flatter myself will be considered honorable to the United
States, particularly when we compare the small force employed on this
occasion with the formidable expeditions which have often, and without
success, been sent against Algiers. It has been dictated at the mouth of
the cannon; and I beg you leave to express to you my opinion, that the
presence of a respectable naval force in this sea will be the only certain
guarantee of its observance. 1 Stephen Decatur (1815)
Introduction
Formally, differences between Algiers and the United States were
settled and relations were well defined by the treaty of 1795. Actually, as the
circumstances which immediately followed the signature of the treaty
demonstrated, they were far from being so. While the Americans were plainly
satisfied by the terms of the treaty, the Deys were to endure an almost twodecade
long period during which the United States consistently failed to abide
by the terms of the treaty. That line of conduct in American foreign policy was
1 ASP/NA, 1:396, Naval Operation against the Barbary Powers in 1815, Stephen Decatur to Secretary
of the Navy, July 5, 1815.
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