firmed by your taking the trouble to inquire into it, and there are two gentlemen who will attend in person, if it be necessary.
“Our own consul, a worthy man, confirmed all I had heard from these people, and gladly gave me every information on the subject; and I plainly saw that he had used all his influence to effect their release, but to no purpose; his influence, which is much greater than that of the consul of any other nation, extends to being able to avoid insult to his person and house, and barely that. A short time ago, a Turk came to rob his garden – Mr. M‘Donald had him secured until be heard from Algiers respecting it. The next day an order arrived for all the consuls to leave their country-houses, and only to be allowed to live in the city! This they promptly refused doing, saying, that nothing but force should make them leave their habitations.
“The Danish consul, a respectable and amiable man, was once actually taken to the bani, and irons put on him, until his nation paid some tributary debt! The Swedes are obliged to furnish artists for making gunpowder for them. The French government have sent them a builder for their navy: he told me so himself! The Spanish vice-consul either of Bona or Oran I myself saw in heavy irons, working with the other slaves! Thus, these infidels trample equally on all the rights of nations and of nature.
“The next case is that of the two Messieurs Tereni; they are brothers, and were respectable inhabitants of Leghorn, taken by these pirates, made slaves of, and two thousand pounds worth of property taken from them, although in possession of a passport from General Oakes, and returning from England to their own country. Their history has long been known to our government, and, by command of the secretary of state, our consul has endeavoured to use his influence for their release; but he has been many times refused, and all he has been able to obtain for them, is permission for their living under his protection, on condition that they pay a dollar per month for not working in the mines. This is the very greatest indulgence which consular influence is able to obtain at Algiers. With great satisfaction I bear witness that the English, Danish, and Swedish consuls, treat Christian slaves with the utmost humanity, I might almost say, politeness.
“The very many other cases I could state of insult to the English nation, by treating the passports of her governors with contempt, &c. I will reserve for your farther information, should you require it; but one recent and flagrant insult I must here mention. There are at this moment, in irons and in slavery at Algiers, the captain and crew of a Gibraltar trader. Their little vessel was taken and confiscated, and our consul has been many times refused their release, although proofs of their being English subjects have been as many times offered by him.
“Permit me now to give you a description of the bani, or prison, the only house they have, and of the hospital. I visited them both, in com-