beating. A long
series of expeditions was undertaken by the British fleet during the reign
of Charles II., sometimes single-handed, sometimes in combination with the
Dutch. In 1682 and 1683 the French bombarded Algiers. On the second
occasion the Algerines blew the French consul from a gun during the action.
An extensive list of such punitive expeditions could be made out, down to
the American operations of 1801-5 and 1815. But in no case was the attack
pushed home, and it rarely happened that the aggrieved Christian state
refused in the end to make a money payment in order to secure peace. The
frequent wars among them gave the pirates numerous opportunities of
breaking their engagements, of which they never failed to take advantage.

After the general pacification of 1815, the suppression of African piracy
was universally felt to be a necessity. The insolence of a Tunisian
squadron which sacked Palma in the island of Sardinia and carried off 158
of its inhabitants, roused widespread indignation. Other influences were at
work to bring about their extinction. Great Britain had acquired Malta and
the Ionian Islands and had now many Mediterranean subjects. She was also
engaged in pressing the other European powers to join with her in the
suppression of the slave trade which the Barbary states practised on a
large scale and at the expense of Europe. The suppression of the trade was
one of the objects of the congress of Vienna. Great Britain was called on
to act for Europe, and in 1816 Lord Exmouth was sent to obtain treaties
from Tunis and Algiers. His first visit produced diplomatic documents and
promises and he sailed for England. While he was negotiating, a number of
British subjects had been brutally ill-treated at Bona, without his
knowledge. The British government sent him back to secure reparation, and
on the 27th of August, in combination with a Dutch squadron under Admiral
Van de Capellen, he administered a smashing bombardment to Algiers. The
lesson terrified the pirates both of that city and of Tunis into giving up
over 3000 prisoners and making fresh promises. But they were not reformed
and were not capable of reformation. Algiers renewed its piracies and
slave-taking, though on a smaller scale, and the measures to be taken with
it were discussed at the conference or congress of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1818.
In 1824 another British fleet under Admiral Sir Harry Neal had again to
bombard Algiers. The great pirate city w