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

“then I was determined to see how far I could work on him [Dey].” 52 On its
side, the American government also decided to deliver a small ship (a
schooner) instead of stores. 53 In 1805, Tobias Lear, United States new consul to
Algiers (1803-12) innovated; he decided to pay annuities with a cargo of
12,000 bushels of wheat purchased in Malta which permitted to settle
“accounts for one year at least” and make “great saving to the United States.” 54
Definitely, all seems to indicate that the American government decided not to
honor its treaty. Needless to say that such conduct caused much annoyance at
Algiers.
2. 1. The Crisis of 1807
The first serious problem in relations between Algiers and the United
States came in 1807. In 1807, and as far as Algiers was concerned, the United
States was again behind its schedule of payments; 55 the last dating back to
Lear’s wheat payments of July 1805. In Europe, Great Britain and France were
drifting towards war and Thomas Jefferson, then United States president since
1801, was expecting an American involvement into hostilities—as it had
indeed been the case since 1794. In consequence of that, he thought that
American dues to Algiers might complicate the task for him—perhaps feared
he British-instigated hostilities on the side of Algiers again? So he wrote
52 As cited in London, Victory in Tripoli, p. 60.
53 Upham, Timothy Pickering, pp. 270-72. The schooner Hamdullah was constructed for the purpose; it
cost $18,000.
54 SPPD, 5: 441, Tobias Lear to James Madison, July 5, 1805.
55 ASP/FA, 3:33, Circular From Tobias Lear to William Kirkpatrick, December I6, 1807.
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