ere made upon the shore, and the inhabitants swept off into
slavery. Speaking of one such case in 1799, he had said: "My blood
boils that I cannot chastise these pirates. They could not show
themselves in the Mediterranean did not our Country permit. Never let
us talk of the cruelty of the African slave trade, while we permit
such a horrid war." But he knew, both then and afterwards, that Great
Britain, with the great contest on her hands, could not spare the
ships which might be crippled in knocking the barbarians' strongholds
about their ears, and that no British admiral would be sustained in a
course that provoked these pirates to cast aside the fears that
restrained them, and to declare war on British commerce, which, as it
was, he had difficulty to protect. He estimated ten ships-of-the-line
as the force necessary, in case the batteries at Algiers were to be
attacked. Exmouth, twelve years later, with fuller information,
thought and found five to be sufficient.

Nelson's conduct and self-control were sorely tested by the necessity
of temporizing with this petty foe, who reckoned securely on the
embarrassments of Great Britain. He acted with great judgment,
however, holding a high tone, and implying much in the way of menace,
without at any time involving himself in a definite threat, from
which he could not recede without humiliation; careful and precise in
his demands, but never receding from them, or allowing them to be
evaded, when once made; sensible of the difficulties in his way, as
well those raised by his own Government as those dependent upon his
opponent, but equally aware that he held in his hands, if authorized
to use it, the power to suppress the career of depredation, upon which
the Dey relied to support his revenue, and to content his officers.
Personally, he favored a short and summary proceeding, accordant to
his own decided character. The Dey proving immovable when first
summoned, he proposed to the British Government "that on the 28th of
April next, when, if he means to send his cruisers to sea, they will
be out, that, on that day, every ship under my command should have
strict orders (to open on that day) to take, sink, burn, and destroy
every Algerine, and that on that day the port of Algiers should be
declared in a state of blockade. Thus the Dey could get neither
commerce, presents, or plunder; and, although the other Powers may
rejoice at the war with us, yet I am firmly persuaded that it wi