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

called a ‘string of lies.’ Many Barlow letters reflect the Dey’s growing
suspicions and lack of confidence in American agents and government
especially if one knows that the three/four months pledge dragged on for over a
year without payments honoring the treaty being made. In a letter dated
October 18, 1796 he wrote to Pickering, Barlow described the ‘impatience’ of
the Dey who, according to him stated:
I would wait no longer. I have been amused all year by a string of lies. It
is possible that your money has been dancing all over Europe for a year
and has happened to alight at last at Leghorn just at the moment when
the English were to blockade that port? No—you either have no money
in Europe or you never intend to pay it. 127
When Barlow pleaded for patience, the Dey allegedly answered:
I have more patience than God. I have resisted all your enemies who
have tried to overturn your peace. My heart has struggled against my
judgement. I wished to think you honest, but I begin to think you the
most faithless nation among all the infidels. …. 128
The accounts are too long to detail here but, to make a long story short,
the Americans have since claimed that they had paid close to one million
dollars for the treaty (Tables 7 & 8). But by their own records, they only paid
half that sum to the Dey of which $200,000 were treacherously procured from
the Regency’s treasury. 129 The same may also be said of the annual payments
(tribute) fixed by the treaty in the form of naval stores. When Barlow left
Algiers in July 1797, not the slightest material was delivered. Obviously, the
127 NDBW, 1:199, Barlow to Secretary of State, October 18, 1796.
128 Ibid.; also Cantor, “Barlow’s Mission,” p. 187; Barnby, Prisoners of Algiers, p. 293.
129 Recent research has revealed that consular correspondence does not mention “any of these amounts
paid, either in cash or in kind, nor is there any indication when and how the $200,000 was repaid to the
Bakris.” Parker, Uncle Sam in Barbary, p. 256.
330