LITMIR.BIZ

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Bologna—of the Paintings there—Route from Bologna to Rome—Description of the Paintings in St. Peter's—the Vatican—the Capitol—Belvidere—Albano—Barbarini Palace—in the Palaces Spado—Little Farnese—Corsini—Borghese, &c.—Route from Rome to Naples—Dissertation on Ancient and Modern Rome, Florence, &c., &c."

CHAPTER II.

       Table of Contents

      Bruce's Residence at Algiers as British Consul.

      We have already stated that Bruce had been appointed to the consulship of Algiers, to succeed Mr. Aspinall, who had been recalled. This gentleman had, with great firmness and integrity, opposed many unjust demands made on him by the dey, who, in consequence, sent a letter to England requesting that he might be dismissed, and Mr. Ford, a British merchant, appointed in his stead. This official document, addressed "to the English vizier, Mr. Pitt," is a curious specimen of barbarous diplomacy: "My high friend: For some time past, John Ford was a merchant at Algiers, whom we desire you to appoint consul, and send him a day the sooner to us, because your consul in Algiers is an obstinate person, and like an animal!"

      This Mr. Ford died in England; and Bruce, on his arrival at Algiers, presented to the old dey credentials from his Britannic majesty, graciously appointing as consul "our trusty and well-beloved James Bruce, Esq., whom, by his birth and education, as well as by his knowledge and experience, we have judged to be every way qualified for this trust."

Ali Pasha, the dey of Algiers, was one of those savage characters who, on the coast of Barbary, are very appropriately distinguished by the appellation of great men. In the history of mankind, it is curious to observe how, in the various conditions of society, different descriptions of men rise to the surface, where they remain until a moral revolution, altering their specific gravity, obliges them to sink into oblivion. In a highly-civilized community, a man rises to distinction by the estimable qualities of his nature: in an uncivilized country he climbs above his comrades by violence and cruelty. The Dey of Algiers was, therefore, well-suited to the manners of the country in which he lived. Although a very old man, Bruce found him preparing most vigorously for the siege of Oran: his tent and camp equipage were ready; and he declared it to be his intention to command in person, that, by dying at the siege of Oran, he might merit Paradise.[5] On the 1st of May, 1763, Bruce wrote to Lord Egremont to announce his arrival; and the concluding sentence of even this, his first official communication, to use a vulgar expression, "smells strongly of the shop," or, rather, of the shambles, which he was doomed to inhabit: "I have nothing farther to trouble your lordship with," says the new consul, "at present, only that the late aga was strangled a very few days ago by order of the dey, and that Amor Rais, late ambassador in England, has been deprived of his employment here as captain of the port, and is gone on a pilgrimage to Mecca."

      Shortly afterward the prime minister, who had been expected to succeed the dey, was arrested in his presence, and instantly strangled; and all his relations, and even his friends, were privately put to death, in order to stifle any inclination they might feel, to complain of the murder of this personage. Not long after, the French Consul hesitating to comply with some orders received from the dey, he immediately loaded him with chains, and threatened to have him harnessed to the stone-carts!

      On the appointment of every new consul at Algiers, it had always been customary that he should bring with him a present, which is generally supposed in England to be delivered to the dey himself: but this is not the case. It is distributed among all the public officers, who consider it as their due rather than as a gift which they are fortunate enough to receive. Bruce's present consisted principally of blue cloth, his distribution of which furnished an odd picture of rank at Algiers, which seems to be what we should term "High Life below Stairs"—for the dey's "chief cook" shared equally with the "dey's brother," his "chamberlain," his "ambassador to the Ottoman Porte," and his "two principal secretaries"—each of whom received eleven yards of cloth: the dey's "second cook," the "admiral," the "first commander of the navy," the "captain of the port," and the "master carpenter," each received eight yards; while the "captain of marine," the "secretary for prizes," the "comptroller of the dey's house," and his highness's "barber," claimed four yards. In consequence of a late increase in the number of officers, Bruce's present was not sufficient to satisfy them all: he therefore himself purchased articles to a considerable amount, respecting which he thus wrote to his friend Mr. Wood, the under-secretary of state: "For my own part, though I hope his majesty and the secretary of state will consider the circumstances of this expense of mine, so that I may not lose this £213; yet, if they should not do it, I shall myself never repent having advanced the money, and lost it, rather than, in my time, his majesty should lose the affection of this people."

About the year 1757, a vessel bound to Algiers was seized by the Spaniards in Oran, and the dey had ever since importuned the British government for indemnification for the cargo. Bruce had firmly resisted this claim (which the government at home also refused to admit), but it placed him in a very difficult situation, and on the 8th of March, 1764, he thus wrote to Lord Halifax: "I am much importuned for your lordship's answer to the demand of compensation for the cargo belonging to the Algerines, seized on board a British bilander[6] in the port of Oran. They imagine it is owing to my not having wrote, or to my having received the money and not inclining to pay it, that as yet they have obtained no satisfaction. Twenty or thirty of them are concerned in this cargo, and it is all that many of them have in the world. Upon this account I have already been exposed to very great personal danger from the license of the soldiers, which I should in no way regret were the occasion honourable, or did it conduce to his majesty's service."

      On the 3d of June Bruce again addressed Lord Halifax, to inform him of the situation of affairs, and frankly to explain to him the fatal error that had been committed by the British government in recalling the late consul, Mr. Aspinall. "The demand of the Moors still continues. I cannot conceal from your lordship that I have been very lately, with little decency, forced to appear before a Turkish judge, to answer whether I would or would not oblige myself personally for the payment of this debt; and it is with very much concern that I acquaint your lordship that the recall of Mr. Aspinall has had the very worst effect upon British in particular, and Christian affairs in general: the king has declared that he will change consuls every two years; for which he assigns no reason, though it is in order to receive presents more frequently; and he is now assuming the nomination of consuls himself, having, as he says, begun with the English. He has lately appointed a slave consul for Venice, and has refused the consul the republic sent. He has made a Jew consul of Ragusa; and, I am told, is soon to change the Dutch likewise. The king is now turned old, and his memory nearly gone: he is altogether guided by one Maltese and one Spanish renegado, who lead him into these measures."

      Bruce proceeds to unfold the horrid private character of the dey, which we must beg to leave in total darkness. He then proceeds to remind his lordship, that his object in accepting the consulship of Algiers was to have an opportunity of making drawings of the principal antiquities in that part of Africa; and he accordingly requests three months' leave of absence in order to visit the interior, with his majesty's permission, on his return, to resign his situation: he concludes his letter by nobly recommending that Mr. Aspinall should be restored to the consulship of Algiers. During the whole period of Bruce's residence, every leisure moment had been employed in improving his knowledge of the Arabic and Moorish languages. Secluded in his study, he occupied himself in translating some Arabic manuscripts, which, with great trouble, he had collected, and his only recreation when abroad was in conversing with the natives. "My immediate prospect," he says, "of setting out on my journey to the inland parts of Africa had made me double my diligence; night and day there was no relaxation from these studies."

      In about a month after his last letter, Bruce informed Lord Halifax that he had been to the dey to remonstrate with him about an English sailor who was then treated as a slave. "The only answer I could get," says Bruce, "was, 'that when the king paid for his redemption, his majesty should have him; till when he

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