influenced by a consideration of the great expense it would require to put them in a condition to be sent to the United States-the impossibility of disposing of them in the Mediterranean, and by the pressing instances of the dey himself, who earnestly represented that this would be the best method of satisfying his people with the treaty just concluded, and consequently the surest guarantee for its observance on his part. The policy of the measure we think sufficiently obvious, when it is considered that the dey would most likely, in case of their refusal, have fallen a victim to the indignation of the people, and that, in all probability, his successor would have found his safety only in disowning the peace which had been made by his predecessor. There being, as we before stated, some dispute with the Spanish authorities with regard to the legality of the capture of the Algerine brig, it was stipulated on the part of the American commissioners, in order to induce the Spaniards to give her up, that the Spanish consul and a Spanish merchant, then prisoners in Algiers, should be released, and permitted to return to Spain if they pleased. According to the last advices the brig was still detained by the Spanish government, and the ultimate disposal of this vessel will probably be settled by an amicable negociation.

Commodore Decatur despatched captain Lewis in the Epervier, bearing the treaty to the United States, and leaving Mr. Shaler at Algiers, as consul-general to the Barbary states, proceeded with the rest of the squadron to Tunis, with the exception of two schooners under captain Gamble, sent to convoy the Algerine vessels home from Carthagena. He was prompted to this visit, by having been informed that a misunderstanding existed between our consul and the bashaw of Tunis, into the nature of which he considered himself bound in duty to inquire. Here he was officially informed by the consul of a violation of the treaty subsisting between the United States and the bashaw, first, in permitting two prizes of an American privateer to be taken out of the harbour by a British cruiser, and secondly, in permitting a

company of merchants, subjects of Tunis, to take the property of an American citizen at their own price, and much below its real value.

The truth of these allegations being thus officially verified, commodore Decatur addressed a letter to the prime minister. of Tunis, demanding satisfaction for these outrages exercised or permitted by the bashaw, and a full restoration of the property thus given up or sacrificed. The bashaw, through the medium of his prime minister, acknowledged the truth or the facts, as well as the justice of the demands; but begged twelve months to pay the money. This was refused; and on receiving assurances that it would be paid forthwith, the commodore went on shore, where he received the visits of the different consuls. The brother of the prime minister of Tunis chanced to arrive with the money at this time, and seeing the British consul in conversation with commodore Decatur, threw down the bags which contained it with great indignation, at the same time addressing the consul in English, which he spoke fluently, "You see, sir, what Tunis is obliged to pay for your insolence. You must feel ashamed of the disgrace you have brought upon us. You are very good friends now, but I ask you whether you think it just first to violate our neutrality, and then to leave us to be destroyed, or pay for your aggressions." As soon as the money was paid, the bashaw prepared to despatch a minister to England, to demand the amount which he had been obliged to pay in consequence of this requisition of the American commodore.

After adjusting these differences, the squadron proceeded to Tripoli, where commodore Decatur made a similar demand for a similar violation of the treaty subsisting between the United States and the bashaw, who had permitted two American vessels to be taken from under the guns of his castle by a British sloop of war, and refused protection to an American cruiser lying within his jurisdiction. Restitution of the full value of these vessels was demanded, and the money, amounting to twenty-five thousand dollars, paid by the

bashaw into the hands of the American consul. After the conclusion of this affair, the American consular flag, which Mr. Jones, the consul, had struck, in consequence of the violation of neutrality above mentioned, was hoisted in the presence of the foreign agents, and saluted from the castle with thirty-one guns. In addition to the satisfaction thus obtained for unprovoked aggressions, the commodore had the pleasure of obtaining the release of ten captives, two Danes, and eight Neapolitans, the latter of whom he landed at Messina.

After touching at Messina and Naples, the squadron sailed for Carthagena on the 31st of August, where commodore Decatur was in expectation of meeting the relief squadron, under commodore Bainbridge. On joining that officer at Gibraltar, he relinquished his command, and sailed in the Guerriere for the United States, where he arrived on the 12th of November, 1815. Every thing being done previous to the arrival of the second division of the squadron, under commodore Bainbridge, that gallant officer had no opportunity of distinguishing himself, as we are satisfied he always will where occasion occurs. Pursuant to his instructions he exhibited this additional force before Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli, where they were somewhat surprised at the appearance of the Independence seventy-four, having always been persua ded that the United States were restricted by their treaties with England from building ships of that class. When colonel Lear was consul at Algiers he endeavoured to convince the ministers of the dey that such was not the case; but they always replied, "If you are permitted to build seventy-fours, let us see one of them and we shall be satisfied." Commodore Bainbridge sailed from Gibraltar thirty-six hours before the Guerriere, and arrived at Boston the 15th of November.

Thus was concluded an expedition in which, though 'few, perhaps no opportunities occurred for a display of the hardy prowess of our sailors, the nation acquired singular honour, in humbling and chastising a race of lawless pirates, who have long been the inveterate scourges of the Christian world.

Independently of the glory thus accruing to the republican name, the probable advantages arising from this sudden and unlooked-for appearance of an American squadron immediately after a war with Great Britain, we think will be manifold. This circumstance will give them an idea of the power and resources of the United States altogether different from that which they before entertained; and serve to convince them of the danger of provoking their resentment under any expectation of the destruction of their navy by any power whatever. That the assurance of an immediate war with England was what principally encouraged the dey of Algiers to commence hostilities against the United States, under a conviction that our little navy would speedily be annihilated, is evident from the following fact. One of the dey's officers one morning insinuated, whether true or false we cannot say, to the British consul at Algiers, that it was his fault that they declared war. "You told us," said he, "that the American navy would be destroyed in six months by you, and now they make war upon us with two of your own vessels they have taken from you!"

We are aware that the states of Barbary pay little attention to the faith of treaties, and that they profess a perfect contempt for that code which is called the law of nations, which, they say, was established without their consent, and consequently is not binding on them. We know that the pi ratical habits of these people are almost unconquerable, and their antipathy to the Christian name inveterate. But we also know that those whom no obligations can bind, are best restrained by their apprehensions of punishment when they offend. Fear is a potent auxiliary in the attainment of justice, as well as the prevention of offence, and the recollection of a chastisement, when it does not stimulate to revenge, is generally effectual in preventing a repetition of those outrages which brought down the punishment. Without calculating, therefore, on the good faith or the good will of the Barbary states, we cannot but permit ourselves to hope and behieve that the late display of our naval force in the Moditer

ranean, and the prompt energy of the distinguished officer who directed it, will have secured to the United States a lasting peace, unshackled by any degrading compliances on our part, and gained by an honourable exertion of force in a just

cause.

The prowess of these

Whatever may be the actual advantages resulting from the operations of the American squadron in the Mediterranean, and whether the treaty made by commodore Decatur will be permanent or not, still is there one thing growing out of it which can never be forgot by the people of the United States. It is the recollection of having humbled these proud barbarians, that have so long been the terror of the Mediterranean, and the scourge of the Christian name. renowned freebooters, has long been connected with the romantic exploits of chivalry, and is associated with our earliest recollections. The Christian knight had always his fiercest encounters, his most desperate struggles with some "paynim Moor," and though the reputation of the knight, as well as a due regard to poetic justice, rendered it indispensable that the Christian should triumph, still his triumph was always gained with infinite difficulty. A proof of the opinion long entertained of their prowess is, that they are everywhere represented in the old legends, as of a gigantic stature. It is one of the errors of ignorance to make the body, rather than the mind, the criterion for heroism, and there is hardly a distinguished champion of the early ages that was not remarkable for the dimensions of his frame, because it was by this that the writers of romance endeavoured to give to their simple readers a more striking image of strength and ferocity.

Independently of the reputation which the Moorish race sustains in the works of imagination, most familiar in our childhood, they possess also strong claims to historical renown. In Spain they long maintained a splendid empire, and the glor ry of Pelagio, of the Cid Rodrigo, and Gonsalvo, is principally derived from the agency of these heroes in the expulsion of the Moorish kings of Cordova and Grenada. Few have for