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

I explained to you, sir, that it was the custom, as I have seen and known
that the French and Spanish ships of war going on the like mission,
hoisted at Algiers and Constantinople the Algerine flag on the main; that
at sea he wore his pennant, and was more his own master. On this, you
observed, it being a forced business, that, if there was a right to
acquiesce to one point, there was no alternative but by the same rule
acquiesce to the other relative to the flag. 43
What in fact O’Brien suggested to Bainbridge was to hoist the ‘Algerine
flag at departure from Algiers and arrival at Constantinople only as it was
customary; for the rest of the voyage, he might hoist the American flag; but
Bainbridge preferred to keep it all the way to Constantinople! In other terms,
after ‘much ado about nothing’, Bainbridge thought it safer for his ship to keep
the ‘Algerine flag’ for fear that he might meet other corsairs on the high seas,
particularly the French with whom the Americans were at war. 44 Thus, what
seems to have been a less honorable historical truth was converted to heroism
and later served as excuse for attacking Algiers. In all cases, when Bainbridge
reported to the Secretary of the Navy, like Eaton before him, he recommended
war:
Did the United States know the easy access of this barbarous coast
called Barbary, the weakness of their garrisons, and the effeminacy of
their people, I am sure they would not be long tributary to so pitiful a
race of infidels. 45
But despite fulminations from all quarters in the United States, it seems
that custom continued to prevail at Algiers. In 1809, when the new Dey sought
the use of an American vessel to send the Algerine ambassador to
43 ASP/FA, 2:353-4, Copy of a letter from Mr. O’Brien to Captain Bainbridge, October 9, 1800.
44 The Quasi-War between the United States and France lasted from 1798 to 1801.
45 NDBW, 1:378, Letter to the Secretary of the Navy, Oct. 10, 1800.
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