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

and “deal with them” 52
this means that implicitly he was recognizing that he
had no authority over his own subjects. Worse, this also implies that he was
conceding that he was unable to protect his subjects against foreign attacks.
Curiously, each time the Sublime Porte had made an agreement with any of the
European powers authorizing ‘punitive’ measures against Algiers, that power
approached Algiers with the purpose of concluding a separate peace treaty.
This happened in 1619 when Algiers had been maintaining pressure on the
Bastion of France and forced France to negotiate with it separately; it happened
again in 1622 when Algiers refused to recognize the capitulations of 1612
between the Ottoman Empire and The Netherlands and again in 1628 when a
another capitulation with France (1604) gave it larger concessions in Algerian
ports. The English, however, proceeded differently: after associating
Constantinople to the bilateral treaty signed with Algiers in 1622, England
acted unilaterally for a new one in 1662. A year later, they obtained a
declaration from the Sublime Porte which implicitly admitted that Algiers
could deal directly with the European powers. In all cases, this implies that
Algiers was in fact and deed a sovereign political entity recognized by all.
Yet, this did not prevent the Turkish ruling elite in Algiers from rushing
to the rescue of the Turks of the Orient, origin and religion oblige, each times
the Ottoman Empire had been threatened by those same Christian powers. The
last time this occurred was in 1827; the military operations caused full
52
Montmorency, “The Barbary States in International Law,” p. 89, 90; Panzac, Corsaires
barbaresques, p. 28; also see “The Commandement obtained of the Grand Signior, by her Majestics
Ambassadour, for the quiet passing of her Subjects to and from his Dominions, sent to the Viceroy of
Argier (1584)” in Appendix 1B.
126