, and then sailed back to Algiers
with orders from the Sultan to the Dey. He delivered these to the Dey,
and in accordance with them, the Dey immediately declared war on France,
and notified all the French in Algiers that if they had not left his
dominions within forty-eight hours, they would be sold into slavery.
There was no French ship in the harbor, and it looked, for a time, as
though, the French would not be able to get away, but as soon as he
learned of their predicament, Bainbridge gathered them together and took
them over to Spain--an act for which he received the personal thanks of
Napoleon Bonaparte.

Bainbridge was, of course, glad to get away from Algiers, but he had by
no means seen the last of the Barbary pirates. Returning to the United
States, he was given command of the Philadelphia, and sent back to the
Mediterranean with Commodore Preble's squadron to give the pirates a
lesson. The Philadelphia went on ahead to Tripoli and began a vigorous
blockade of that port, but, in chasing a Tripolitan vessel which was
trying to enter the harbor, ran hard and fast on an uncharted reef, and
keeled over so far that her guns were useless. The Tripolitans were not
long in discovering her predicament, swarmed out of the harbor in their
gunboats, and soon had the American vessel at their mercy.

With what bitterness of spirit Bainbridge hauled down his flag may be
imagined. He and his men were taken ashore and imprisoned and their
vessel was got off the reef and towed into the harbor. From the window
of their prison, the Americans could see her riding at anchor, flying
the flag of Tripoli, and the sight did not render their imprisonment
more pleasant. But one night, they heard shots in the harbor, and,
looking out, beheld the Philadelphia in flames, and the little ketch
bearing Decatur and his men fading rapidly away through the darkness
toward the harbor mouth. Six months later, they watched the American
assault upon the harbor, but their hearts fell when the American
squadron finally gave up the attempt and withdrew. It was not until the
following year that peace was made, and Bainbridge and his men released,
after a captivity of nineteen months. Never since that time has the
United States paid tribute to any nation.

When the second war with England began, President Madison and his
advisers thought it foolhardy to attempt to oppose Great Britain on the
ocean, for she had the strongest fleet of any nation in the w