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

you will go over yourself [to Algiers]—the measure which
unquestionably will enable you to seize more certainly, than when at
distance, one of those moments of good humor and caprice which the
letters transmitted through you from Algiers designate as the lucky
seasons for impressing the Dey, and consider as having, unfortunately
for our country, escaped without being caught. 51
Shortly after, Humphreys received instructions for negotiations from the
President. In October 1794, the Dey gave him permission to come to Algiers to
treat for peace on the same terms as those of the Dutch. 52
Instead, with
complete disregard, Humphreys decided to return to the United States which he
reached late in December. In an undated letter to Humphreys which appears in
Cathcart’s Diplomatic Journal and Letter Book, the latter revealed the impact
of that decision on the Dey: “he concluded that the United States were trifling
with him as his predecessor had been trifled with in 1786 and by John Lamb
and others since.” 53
2. 1. An Extraordinary Envoy at Negotiations
It was not until May 1795 that Humphreys returned to Europe with
further instructions and a commissioned agent, Joseph Donaldson, for helping
with negotiations. 54 He also engaged the services of an American expatriate
and intellectual Jacobin, Joel Barlow, who would arrive at Algiers in March
51 ASP/FA, 1:528, Secretary of State to Colonel Humphreys on the Algerine Business, July 19, 1794.
52 Cathcart, “Diplomatic Journal and Letter Book,” p. 330.
53 Ibid. From the events he recounted, the letter was written after May 1796, time at which he departed
from Algiers with a letter from the Dey to President Washington.
54 ASP/FA, 1:529, Secretary of State to Colonel Humphreys.
311