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

On June 28, the squadron arrived at Algiers unhindered; the city was
defenseless as all Algerian corsairs were out at sea. At Algiers, the new Dey
Omar Agha had just ascended to Deyship after two of his predecessors were
murdered within the space of less than one month by revolted janissaries. 111
Chaos was still reigning when the American force showed up at the Bay of
Algiers and Shaler and Decatur found no difficulty forcing a treaty on the Dey.
Negotiations started on June 29 and were carried aboard the American flagship
by the Algerian Minister of the Marine and the Swedish Consul. The Algerian
minister requested a truce to permit deliberation with the Dey but the
Americans rejected it. According to the report made to the Secretary of the
Navy, Decatur hastened for the signature of the treaty threatening: “not a
minute, if your squadron appears in sight before the treaty is actually signed by
the Dey, and the prisoners sent off, ours will capture it.” 112 Within the span of
three hours, the Algerian minister and Swedish consul left and returned to the
flagship with the treaty signed; that was at about the same time an Algerian
corsair was returning to port. 113 Dey Omar Agha signed the treaty to spare the
corsairs. A copy of the treaty was sent to the United States for ratification. The
vessel which carried it passed Gibraltar but never reached the United States. 114
Another copy was not ratified until December 21, 1815; five days later the
treaty was proclaimed by the President. 115
111 Grammont, Histoire d’Alger, pp. 373-75.
112 ASP/NA, 1:396, Stephen Decatur to Secretary of the Navy, June 20, 1815; Shaler, Sketches of
Algiers, pp. 274-75.
113 Ibid.
114 Irwin, Diplomatic Relations, p. 180. On board the vessel were also the 9 released prisoners.
115 SaL, 3:315.
366