The Pirates Own Book (52 page)

The French effected a landing at Sidy-el-Ferruch, a small promontory,
about five leagues to the west of Algiers, and half a league to the east
of the river Massaflran, where it discharges itself into the bay. On the
14th of June they all landed without opposition.

After a continued series of engagements and skirmishes the army got
within cannon shot of Algiers, where they broke ground and began
entrenching, and the French works being completed, the heavy breaching
cannon were all mounted; and at day-break on the 4th of July, General
Lahitte, having assured himself by personal inspection that all was
ready, ordered the signal rocket to be thrown, and at the same moment
the whole French batteries opened their fire within point blank
distance, and with a report which shook the whole of Algiers, and
brought the garrison, who were little expecting so speedy an attack,
running to their posts. The artillery was admirably served, and from one
battery which enfiladed the fort, the balls were seen to sweep away at
once an entire row of Algerine cannoneers from their guns. The Turks
displayed the most undaunted courage; they answered shot for shot,
supplied with fresh men the places of such as were slain, stopped up
with woolsacks the breaches made by the balls, replaced the cannon which
the French fire had dismounted, and never relaxed their exertions for a
moment. But the nature of their works was ill-calculated to withstand
the scientific accuracy with which the besiegers made their attack.
Every ball now told—the tower in the centre was completely riddled by
shots and shells; the bursting of these latter had disabled great
numbers of the garrison. By seven o'clock the besieged had begun to
retire from the most damaged part of their works; by half-past eight the
whole outer line of defence was abandoned, and by nine the fire of the
fort was extinct. The Turkish general, finding opposition hopeless, had
sent to the Dey for commands; and in reply was ordered to retreat with
his whole remaining force to the Cassaubah, and leave three negroes to
blow up the fort. The tranquillity with which they performed this fatal
task deserves record. The French, finding the enemy's fire to fail,
directed all theirs towards effecting a practicable breach. The fort
seemed to be abandoned;—two red flags floated still on its outside line
of defence, and a third on the angle towards the city. Three negroes
were seen calmly walking on the ramparts, and from time to time looking
over, as if to examine what progress the breach was making. One of them,
struck by a cannon-ball, fell, and the others, as if to revenge his
death, ran to a cannon, pointed it, and fired three shots. At the third,
the gun turned over, and they were unable to replace it. They tried
another, and as they were in the act of raising it, a shot swept the
legs from under one of them. The remaining negro gazed for a moment on
his comrade, drew him a little back, left him, and once more examined
the breach. He then snatched one of the flags, and retired to the
interior of the tower; in a few minutes he re-appeared, took a second
and descended. The French continued to cannonade, and the breach
appeared almost practicable, when suddenly they were astounded by a
terrific explosion, which shook the whole ground as with an earthquake;
an immense column of smoke, mixed with streaks of flame, burst from the
centre of the fortress, masses of solid masonry were hurled into the air
to an amazing height, while cannon, stones, timbers, projectiles, and
dead bodies, were scattered in every direction—the negro had done his
duty—the fort was blown up.

In half an hour the French sappers and miners were at work repairing the
smoking ruins, their advanced guards had effected a reconnoissance along
the side of the hill towards the fort Bab-azoona, and their engineers
had broken ground for new works within seven hundred yards of the
Cassaubah. But these preparations were unnecessary; the Dey had resigned
all further intention of resistance, and at two o'clock a flag of truce
was announced, which proved to be Sidy Mustapha, the Dey's private
secretary, charged with offers of paying the whole expense of the
campaign, relinquishing all his demands on France, and making any
further reparation that the French general might require, on condition
that the troops should not enter Algiers. These proposals met with an
instant negative:—Bourmont felt that Algiers was in his power, and
declared that he would grant no other terms than an assurance of life to
the Dey and inhabitants, adding that if the gates were not opened he
should recommence his fire. Scarcely had Mustapha gone, than two other
deputies appeared, sent by the townsmen to plead in their behalf. They
were a Turk called Omar, and a Moor named Bouderba, who having lived for
some time at Marseilles, spoke French perfectly. They received nearly
the same answer as Mustapha; but they proved themselves better
diplomatists, for they spoke so much to the general of the danger, there
would be in refusing the Janissaries all terms, and the probability that
if thus driven to despair they might make a murderous resistance, and
afterwards destroy all the wealth and blow up all the forts before
surrendering, that Bourmont, yielding to their representations, became
less stern in his demands; and Mustapha having returned about the same
time with the English vice-consul, as a mediator, the following terms
were finally committed to paper, and sent to the Dey by an interpreter.

"1. The fort of the Cassaubah, with all the other forts dependent on
Algiers, and the harbor, shall be placed in the hands of the French
troops the 5th of July, at 10 o'clock, A.M.

"2. The general-in-chief of the French army ensures the Dey of Algiers
personal liberty, and all his private property.

"3. The Dey shall be free to retire with his family and wealth wherever
he pleases. While he remains at Algiers he and his family shall be under
the protection of the commander-in-chief. A guard shall insure his
safety, and that of his family.

"4. The same advantages, and same protection are assured to all the
soldiers of the militia.

"5. The exercise of the Mohammedan religion shall remain free; the
liberty of the inhabitants of all classes, their religion, property,
commerce, and industry shall receive no injury; their women shall be
respected: the general takes this on his own responsibility.

"6. The ratification of this convention to be made before 10 A.M., on the
5th of July, and the French troops immediately after to take possession
of the Cassaubah, and other forts."

These terms were so much more favorable than the Dey could have
expected, that, of course, not a moment was lost in signifying his
acceptance: he only begged to be allowed two hours more to get himself
and his goods out of the Cassaubah, and these were readily granted. It
may, indeed, be wondered at that he and his Janissaries should be
allowed to retain all their ill-gotten booty, under the name of private
property; but Count de Bourmont, though not without talent, was
essentially a weak man, and was in this instance overreached by the wily
Moor. The whole of next morning an immense number of persons were seen
flying from Algiers, previous to the entry of the French army, and
carrying with them all their goods, valuables, and money. They fled by
the fort Bab-azoona, on the roads towards Constantina and Bleeda; and
about a hundred mounted Arabs were seen caracolling on the beach, as if
to cover their retreat. No opposition to it, however, was made by the
French troops, or by their navy, which had now again come in sight.

At twelve o'clock the general, with his staff, artillery, and a strong
guard, entered the Cassaubah, and at the same moment all the other forts
were taken possession of by French troops. No one appeared to make a
formal surrender, nor did any one present himself on the part of the
inhabitants, to inquire as to what protection they were to receive, yet,
on the whole, we believe the troops conducted themselves, at least on
this occasion, with signal forbearance; and that of the robberies which
took place, the greater number were perpetrated by Moors and Jews. One
was rather ingenious. The minister of finance had given up the public
treasures to commissioners regularly appointed for the purpose. Amongst
others, the mint was visited, a receipt given of its containing bullion
to the amount of 25,000 or 30,000 francs, the door sealed, and a sentry
placed. Next morning the seal was perfect, the sentry at his post, but
the bullion was gone through a small hole made in the back wall.

The amount of public property found in Algiers, and appropriated by the
French, was very considerable, and much more than repaid the expenses of
the expedition. The blockade of the last three years had, by
interrupting their commerce, caused an accumulation of the commodities
in which the Algerines generally paid their tribute, so that the
storehouses at the Cassaubah were abundantly filled with wool, hides,
leather, wax, lead and copper. Quantities of grain, silks, muslins, and
gold and silver tissues were also found, as well as salt, of which the
Dey had reserved to himself a monopoly, and, by buying it very cheap at
the Balearic Isles, used to sell it at an extravagant rate to his
subjects. The treasure alone amounted to nearly fifty million of francs,
and the cannon, projectiles, powder magazines, and military stores,
together with the public buildings, foundries, dock-yards, and vessels
in the harbor, were estimated at a still larger amount; while the entire
expense of the expedition, including land and sea service, together with
the maintenance of an army of occupation up to January, 1831, was
computed not to exceed 48,500,000 francs; so that France must have
realized, by her first connection with Algiers, a sum not far short of
£3,000,000 sterling—a larger amount, we will venture to say, than is
likely to accrue to her again, even after many years of colonization.

In a few days the Dey had embarked for Naples, which he chose as his
future place of residence; the Janissaries were sent in French vessels
to Constantinople; the Bey of Tippery made his submissions, and swore
allegiance to the French King; orders were issued, and laws enacted in
his name; the Arabs and Kalyles came into market as usual with their
fowl and game; a French soldier was tolerably safe, as long as he
avoided going to any distance beyond the outposts; and, on the whole,
Algiers the warlike, had assumed all the appearance of a French colony.

Captain Gow sailed from Amsterdam, in July, 1724, on board the George,
galley, for Santa Cruz, where they took in bees'-wax. Scarcely had they
sailed from that place, when Gow and several others, who had formed a
conspiracy, seized the vessel. One of the conspirators cried, "There is
a man overboard." The captain instantly ran to the side of the vessel,
when he was seized by two men, who attempted to throw him over; he
however so struggled, that he escaped from their hands. One Winter, with
a knife, attempted to cut him in the throat, but missing his aim, the
captain was yet saved. But Gow coming aft shot him through the body and
throwing him over the rail he caught hold of the main sheet; but Gow
taking up an axe, with two blows so disabled him that he fell into the
sea and was drowned. The conspirators proceeded to murder all who were
not in their horrid plot, which being done, James Williams came upon
deck, and striking one of the guns with his cutlass, saluted Gow in the
following words: "Captain Gow, you are welcome, welcome to your
command." Williams was declared lieutenant, and the other officers being
appointed, the captain addressed them, saying: "If, hereafter, I see any
of you whispering together, or if any of you refuse to obey my orders,
let every such man depend upon it, that he shall certainly go the same
way as those that are just gone before."

Their first prize was the Sarah Snow, of Bristol. After they had rifled
the vessel and received one man from it, they allowed her to prosecute
her voyage. The Delight, of Poole, was the next vessel that fell into
their hands; but they not long after captured two others, from one of
which they received a quantity of fish, and from the other bread, beef,
and pork. They also forced two men from the latter ship. A French ship,
not long after, furnished them with wine, oil, figs, oranges, and
lemons, to the value of 500
l
. In a short time after, they captured
their last prize, and, as she made no resistance, they plundered and
dismissed her.

They next sailed for the Orkney Isles to clean, but were apprehended by
a gentleman of that country, brought up to London, and tried before a
Court of Admiralty, in May, 1725. When the first indictment was read,
Gow obstinately refused to plead, for which the Court ordered his thumbs
to be tied together with whipcord. The punishment was several times
repeated by the executioner and another officer, they drawing the cord
every time till it broke. But he still being stubborn, refusing to
submit to the court, the sentence was pronounced against him, which the
law appoints in such cases; that is, "That he should be taken back to
prison, and there pressed to death." The gaoler was then ordered to
conduct him back, and see that the sentence was executed the next
morning; meanwhile the trials of the prisoners, his companions, went
forward.

But the next morning, when the press was prepared, pursuant to the order
of the Court the day before, he was so terrified with the apprehension
of dying in that manner, that he sent his humble petition to the Court,
praying that he might be admitted to plead. This request being granted,
he was brought again to the bar, and arraigned upon the first
indictment, to which he pleaded Not guilty. Then the depositions that
had been given against the other prisoners were repeated, upon which he
was convicted, and received the sentence of death accordingly, which he
suffered in company with Captain Weaver and William Ingham.