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

of enemy shipping than caused by the illiteracy of the Algerian corsairs as it is
generally assumed. 56 Admitting that the corsairs were illiterate, and the quasimajority
of them was illiterate, nonetheless passports were adequately handled:
Algiers had structured its navy in a strict respect of treaties by assigning a
khodja to the captain, so that exactly such documents could be read properly.
This principle was reiterated in a number of treaties and additional articles
signed between 1682 and 1816. 57
Article IV of the treaty of 1682 clearly
referred to such reciprocal passes:
All merchants’ ships, or vessels, of His said Majesty’s subjects shall be
obliged to produce such a pass as aforesaid. And any of the ships of war,
or other vessels, of His said Majesty, meeting with any ships, or other
vessels, of Algiers, if the commander of any such Algier[s] ship, or
vessel, shall produce a pass firmed by the chief governors of Algiers,
and a certificate from the English Consul living there. 58
2. 3. Treaties and Tributes
Incorporated first in the treaties of 1622 and 1626 with the
Netherlands to compensate loss of commerce, the principle of tribute paid in
the form of naval commodities was enlarged in subsequent treaties to maintain
a balance of power with the European countries. Progressively, however, it lost
its original meaning and became a source of tension between Algiers and the
western countries. In 1661, Algiers signed a treaty of commerce with France
that permitted the latter to reoccupy its trading posts on the Algerian eastern
coast in return for payment of tribute. In this case, tribute was understood as a
56 Devoulx, “La Marine d’Alger,” p. 385; for forgeries, see Lane-Poole, Barbary Corsairs, pp. 270-71.
57 Hertslet, Collection of Treaties and Conventions, p. 59; for all the treaties between Algiers and Great
Britain see pp. 58-88.
58 Ibid., p. 60. For substantial extracts from the treaty see Appendix 2A.
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