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

proverbs,” one may but agree with his writing. 96 But when he goes on saying
that the seizure of the American ships was an “aggressive act against the
United States of America, yet that brand new nation had absolutely no hostile
thoughts or intentions against Algiers,” 97 one is inclined to think that the order
of words, particularly the actors, may well be turned all the way around and
that for good reasons. Taking into consideration the sequence of a number of
elements, an undeniable fact emerges: the Americans had developed hostile
attitudes and planned hostile action against Algiers long before the latter even
became aware that such a people and a country existed.
a) Hostile attitudes: in American history, the writings of the ‘Founding
Fathers’ are sacred. When Benjamin Franklin in his pre-revolutionary historical
and political writings stated without cause that “Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli…
are enemies to be still apprehended,” 98 he was in fact laying the foundations for
American animosity towards Algiers for generations to come. Time after that,
and as minister plenipotentiary to France, he officially moaned for protection
against the “Barbary pirates;” but to the American Secretary for Foreign
Affairs Livingstone he expressed thoughts of aggression when he wrote him in
1783 wondering why “Europe do [sic] not combine to destroy those nests [of
pirates].” 99
Franklin’s wonder was superseded by Jeffersonian plans for
“cutting them [Barbary corsairs] to pieces by piecemeal” and the progressive
96 Barnby, Prisoners of Algiers, p. 11.
97 Ibid.
98 Franklin, Memoirs, 2:195, The Canada Pamphlet (1760).
99 DCAR, 4:149, Franklin to Robert R. Livingston, July 22, 1783.
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