european relations with Morocco were not uncontroversial abroad—in 1705, a propaganda war of sorts appeared in the english newspapers as supporters of the french and supporters of the austrian claimant to the spanish throne in the War of the spanish Succession both attempted to smear one another ’ s repute for forming alliances with Morocco and the Ottoman Empire—but the go towards positive relations with the Maghreb was an irresistible tide (, 15–17 March, 26–28 April, 8–10 May 1705 ;, 2 April 1705 ). References to British–Maghrebi trade dramatically increased to 25 per 100 articles in 1704–1714, as british merchants increased trade to and from the Maghreb, and newspapers began to aggressively advertise the alien goods they brought home with them : ’ On Friday…will be exposed to sale, at the Marine Coffee–house in Birchin–lane…the Cargo of thelately arrived from Barbary ; consisting of New, sweetly and bitter Almonds, Aniseeds, Gum Sandrack, Gum Arabick, Bees Wax, & c. and several early Druggs ’ (, 11–14 September 1708 ; witness besides, 8–10 July, 10–13 July 1714 ;, 16–19 August, 4–6 December 1707 ; 5 December, 8 December 1707, 26 July 1708, 1 February, 2 February, 4 March, 6 March, 14 March, 10 July, 17 July 1710, 11 January, 28 April, 2 September 1712, 1 December 1713, 13 March, 5 June, 8 June, 3 July, 6 July, 8 July, 10 July, 13 July 1714 ). In contrast, the coverage of maritime fight remained high for non-British european combatants, even as references to passive deal besides reached their highest assiduity in 1704–1714 ( table 5 ). When Ambassadors sporadically arrived from all four Maghrebi countries, they were both lavishly treated and extravagantly reported, more frequently than any early time period except 1681–1682 ( postpone 6 ) and, most distinctively to this time period, employed as an temptation to attend theatrical performance performances : ’ For the Entertainment of Don Venturo Zary, the Emperour of Morocco ’ mho Minister and Elhauge Guzman, the Royal Messenger, ( from the said Emperour Muley Ismael, to her Majesty ) with their Attendants in their several Habits. Being the beginning time of their appearance in publick…At the Queen ’ randomness Theatre in the Hay–Market, this confront Thursday, being the 4th of May, will be Reviv ’ d a Play, called, King Henry the Fourth, with the Humours of Sir John Falstaff ’ (, 4 May 1710 ; see besides, 2 May, 13 May, 15 May, 20 May, 21 May, 16 August, 6 November 1706, 3 July 1707, 30 May, 31 May 1709, 3 May 1710, 20 December 1711 ;, 29 April–2 May 1710 ). peace with pirates, at least from the position of the newspapers, had finally been achieved, and Maghrebis were safe enough to join at the field. During the War of the spanish Succession ( 1701–1714 ), and particularly after the british appropriate of Gibraltar ( 1704 ) and Minorca ( 1708 ), military, naval and economic cooperation with the Maghreb increased significantly, even as Maghrebi naval power declined ( Panzac 2005, p. 42 ). England and Morocco rekindled their diplomatic relations at the turn of the seventeenth century, and by 1705, Gibraltar was completely dependent for food and many raw materials on moroccan imports, and England and France fought over the right to purchase granulate from the Ottoman Regencies ( Brown 2008 Matar 2008, pp. 290–93 ). Theprinted in 1705 a letter from Madrid, which reported : ‘ Tis discoursed here that the English have concluded a new Alliance with the Emperor of Morocco, who is to furnish them with Horses, & c. and the Alcaide Aly [ the provincial governor near Tangier ] was ordered to supply the Garrison of Gibraltar with Provisions. They add, that the Prince of Darmstat [ a german ally of Britain ] sent an engineer to Compliment the Alcaide, and view the Works of the Moors against Ceuta, which he did, and ordered some Batteries to be chang jiang ’ d. The shift key towards peace can besides be observed on a statistical charge, as references to British–Maghrebi nautical combat dropped from 31 per 100 articles in 1661–1680, to 23 in 1681–1682, to precisely 4 in 1683–1703 and 1704–1714, and references to both diplomacy and passive trade increased importantly ( table 6 ). possibly counter-intuitively, given the refuse in Maghrebi maritime baron proportional to Britain, descriptions of Maghrebi ships as bastard pirates or rovers returned as the most common classification in this period, overtaking legitimate or naval terms ( table 3 and Table 4 ). This relative shift can be largely explained by the meaning decrease in british conflict with the regencies, reducing the report of Maghrebi ships from states the English recognised ( just 9.05 % of all references to British–Maghrebi maritime combat appear in this period, Table 6 ), and the revival of Moroccan corsairing out of Salé in this time period. These latter corsairs were normally known as ‘ rovers ’ in this period and were considered bastard but not a meaning threat ( ‘ rover ’ pass ‘ pirate ’ in this period to comprise a meaning majority of illegitimate terms in 1683–1703 and 1704–1714, see table 3 and Table 4 ). overall, in this menstruation, Britain increasingly became a friend to the Maghreb, and a office in the Mediterranean—both in reality and in the papers. censoring over newspapers was reimposed at the accession of James II in 1685, causing a hasty drop in stories compared to the previous period as theonce again became the entirely legal news program periodic in England. 19 This state of affairs continued through the 1688–89 Revolution until Parliament again refused to renew the Licensing Act in 1695 and three major foreign-focused papers appeared ( thetheand the ), significantly boosting overall coverage of the Maghreb ( Glaisyer 2017, pp. 256–57 ). such stories aspublished before 1695 argue that passes continued to hold their place. In 1689, thepublished the follow royal announcement : ‘ These are to give Notice, That the Mediterranean Passes required by the Articles of Peace with Argier, Tunis and Tripoli, are nowadays setled by His Majesty ’ s Order in Council, and will be granted consequently ; to all Merchant Ships trade into those Parts ’ (, 28–31 October 1689 ). From its origin, argues ( Stein 2015, p. 624 ), ‘ union african corsairs and governments approached the pass system in accordance with the established practices of the corso and their sympathize of their treaties with Britain ’, allowing british ships to pass by freely. Trade with the Maghreb is reported as if run-of-the-mill, aboard reports of ships arriving from America and Europe : ‘ final Saturday came into Cows Road two Dutch Ships, one from Salley in Barbary, load with Hides, Copperas and Almonds, the early from Cadiz, bound home plate with Oil ’ (, 15–17 June 1697 ; see besides, 1–3 October, 22–24 December 1702 ;, 22–24 December 1702, 24–26 June 1703 ;, 25 January 1703 ). Though the Moroccan Sultan refused to ratify his Ambassadors ’ treaty negotiated in 1682, successfully reconquered Tangier in 1684, and allowed the corsairs at Salé to again fitfully attack English transport, Moroccan naval potency ( and Maghrebi corsair intensity as a whole ) was on the decline ( Matar 2014, pp. 128, 132–41 Chaney 2015 ). The 28th. past arrived here the english Admiral from Algiers, having made his peace with those Rovers ; and besides the old treaty, he has got several favorable Articles. Amongst the rest, one that the English shall sail 15 months complimentary, without being obliged to show their Pass–ports, and all Foreign Merchandizes and persons in the said Ships shall pass unmolested ; and that the Turks of Algiers shall be obliged to strike to all the Kings Ships. The Admiral has presented to the King of Algiers 50 Turkish Slaves, and the Captain of the Tiger, being a rebel. As a solution of this increased coverage, statesmanship for the first time outpaced maritime combat to become the most significant subject in coverage of Maghrebi–European relations, with 56 references per 100 articles, compared to 49 per 100 for nautical battle and just 4 per 100 for passive trade ( Table 5 ). A full 21.74 % of all references to British diplomacy with the Maghreb appear in these two years alone ( table 6 Figure 4 ). The english news was abuzz with the opportunities presented by peace with Maghrebi nations, with curiosity and wonder at the dashing ambassador who represented them, and with pride for England ’ s increasing might and dignity reflected in his words. The be week, ben Hadou had audience with the King, and declared, according to the, ‘ that…he heartily desir ’ five hundred a firm peace with all English, and a free Trade ; and particularly, that it might be made for 20 Years, and that the Inhabitants of Tangier might freely Trade 20 miles up in the Country ; which His Majesty approve of, His Excellency return ’ five hundred to his Lodgings ’ (, 19 January 1682 ). The ‘ Noble and Generous ’ ambassador was observed attending bear-baits, horse-baits, military demonstrations, field and musical performances, viewing museums and mathematical instruments, dining with and receiving fabulous gifts from English nobles, and evening visiting the grave of Charles I, ‘ at the sight of which he express ’ d his abhorrence of the unheard-of Barbarity of those Rebels who Murdered their Royal Sovereign all the time he staid there, which was above half an hour ’ (, 5–9 January, 1–5 June 1682 ;, 12 January, 7 February, 6 April, 8 April 1682 ;, 10–13 January, 20–24 January, 3–7 March 1682 ;, 18–22 March 1682 ;, 26–30 January, 6–10 April 1682 ). 18 He was, apparently, flying to elaborately sing the praises of english company : declaring to several Persons of quality, who have since been to wait on him, That he did not imagine England could have afforded such pleasures, much less the Greatness and Generosity he found at Newmarket and Cambridge ; and having spoken much in the Honour of His Majesty, and Favours received from him, he was pleased far to add, That he thought his Royal Highness the completest prince in the Universe ; saying that nothing more remained for him to do, but to buy a measure of English Goods, and so return to his own Country, there to Blazon adenine much as in him lyeth, the Greatness of the English Court throughout the World. A moment watershed occurred both for periodic news program publications and for Anglo–Moroccan relations in the early on 1680s. In the midst of escalating conflict between Charles II and Parliament over the succession of the Catholic Duke of York, Parliament refused in 1679 to renew the 1662 Licensing Act which had maintained censoring over newspapers, and dozens of new publications stepped into the open ( Handover 1965, pp. 21–23 Glaisyer 2017, pp. 256–57 ). As a resultant role, the embassy of Mohammed ben Hadou from the Sultan of Morocco, Ismail ibn Sharif, which even normally would have attracted meaning attention ( given that the Sultan had relatively recently established the first gear hegemonic master of Morocco since 1603 and posed a growing menace to English Tangier ) received unprecedented publicity. Dozens upon dozens of newsworthiness articles ( adenine well as the portraits, poems and diaries documented by ( Matar 2005, pp. 160–61 17 described the minutiæ of Hadou ’ sulfur departure from Morocco, his arrival and public appearances in London, his travels to Newmarket, Oxford and the Royal Society, his negotiations with the King, and his retort and reception at dwelling, producing two years of by far the densest coverage relating to the Maghreb in seventeenth-century newsworthiness ( table 2 ). This news program coverage, in harmony with Matthew Birchwood and Matthew Dimmock ’ s psychoanalysis of Godfrey Kneller ’ s portrayal of ben Hadou, displaced ‘ religious and cultural differences ’ with ‘ representations of the ambassador ’ randomness nobility and “ politeness ”, a strategy distinctly designed to underscore the parity between the two parties ’ ( Birchwood and Dimmock 2005, pp. 3–5 ). ’ It is discoursed ’, reported the fresh ( 11–14 January 1682 ) : That the Morocco Ambassador is therefore well please with his reception, That this dawn he waited upon his Majesty, being conducted in his Majesty ’ s Coach to Whitehall ; where he presented his stateliness with six most curious barbary Horses. After which, he invited his Majesty into St. James ’ s Park, to divert himself, with seeing himself and his Attendants shoot, after the manner of their Country, which was performed with such force and exactness, in hitting a small grade at a bang-up distance, That it was a matter of Admiration to his Majesty and all the Spectators, and exceeded the Report of their expertness. Despite all this dispute, the balance of newspaper coverage emphasises that this was not the chaotic and unmanageable Maghreb feared in the earlier parts of the century : as a general rule, disputes were carefully resolved according to the rules, and when negotiations broke down, war was formally declared in accord with the treaties ( Kaiser and Calafat 2014, pp. 82–84 ). Maghrebi–European maritime fight remained the most meaning subject ( 83 references per 100 articles ), but both statesmanship ( 29 per 100 ) and peaceful trade ( 12 per 100 ) were increasing in bulge ( postpone 5 Figure 3 ). Newspapers were besides starting to report more specifically on British–Maghrebi relations, which previously had been borderline within the overall coverage of European–Maghrebi relations : from accounting for 20.93 % of overall references in 1622–1660, to 43.84 % in 1660–1680 ( table 5 ). During this period, there is besides a dramatic descent in uses of bastard terms to describe Maghrebi ships at sea, from 41.51 % of articles in 1662–1660 to 8.81 % in 1661–1680, in favor of a significant increase in license ( 0.94 % to 22.67 % ) and naval ( 3.77 % to 18.71 % ) terms ( Table 4 ). This careen suggests an increased recognition of Maghrebi states ’ legitimacy to license privateering and champion navies, which aligns with increases in British–Maghrebi naval conflict and diplomatic negotiation in the period. Algiers in particular was an extremely dangerous enemy : even after making peace with England, it even maintained ‘ an imposing fleet comparable to that of european navies ’, and had the expertness to use it ( Panzac 2005, p. 41 ). When war broke out in 1678, after numerous treaty violations by individual English captains, the Algerians prosecuted it with devastating effect. In 1680, an anonymous english house physician in Algiers reported in a letter to Since my final, these following Ships were brought up here, 7 english Ships with Sugar and Tobacco, coming from the Barbados, and two going there ; ten Laden with Fish from New-found-Land, two with Iron and Wooll, one with Hemp, Flax and Fish, one with Iron, Liquors, and early Wares, going for Guiney : The number of men on board these Ships were two hundred and ninety. doubt over negotiations afoot in Algiers that year tempted an algerian corsair to capture an english ship, who ‘ made at the first some difficulty of letting her pas, but, in conclusion, dismist her, saying, They would not that any breach should be on their depart ’ (, 4–7 October 1669 ). As mentioned above, this period saw meaning conflict with Algiers and Tripoli, angstrom well as smaller-scale conflicts with the corsairs of Moroccan Salé. News writers took the opportunity of victorious battle to print long and dramatic accounts of English naval wallow, which stand in stark contrast to the brief, bare reports of the previous periods. 15 A brief exercise of this swerve appeared in thein 1668 : The Seas are of late well secured from the Sally Men of War by the diligence of Captain Richard Rooth, who with the Garland and Francis Frigats cruising upon their Coasts, on the 25th of September last forced a Pink with 8 Guns and about 80 men, with her Prize, another Pink of 70 or 80 Tons, belonging to Dublin, over the Barre of Sally, within the Command of the Castle ; which fired many Guns for their rescue : but the Pinks striking respective times on the sands, both of them sunk upon their entrance. that off the North Cape they met with an Algier valet of War of 36 Guns, who sent their boat aboard them, and made a stern search, but that the headmaster of this ship and the Merchant going aboard the Turks man of War were civily Treated, and offered a add of any necessaries they could furnish them with, excusing the sternness of the search upon respective abuses put upon them by such of their Enemies as had pretended their ships and goods to have been English. England ’ s new treaties were printed in the newspapers and republished in special issues : successful peace negotiations with the dangerous naval powers of the Ottoman Regencies were obviously both joyful news program and critical information for all involved in maritime deal and war. Theintroduced a 1676 treaty with Tripoli in the follow way : ‘ We have by two Posts successively received the ratification of Sir John Narbrough ’ s having on the 5th of March past, concluded a peace with the Governor of Tripoli, so much to the Honour of his Majesty, and to the advantage of the solid nation in its Trade and Navigation ; together with the Copy of the Articles, which in meaning are … ’ (, 13–17 April 1676 ; see besides, 23–30 June 1662 ). Though in this and other initial reports of treaties, the newspapers faithfully recorded treaty articles which acknowledged Maghrebi duty for the beginning of battle, 12 reports of peacetime diplomatic visits measuredly emphasised constancy and positivist discussion at the hands of Maghrebi governments. In 1668, Sir William Jennings visited Algiers with the English fleet and ‘ was very civilly Treated by the Governor and Magistrates of that position, all of them expressing their hearty resolution to preserve the peace once made with his Majesty of Great Britain ’ (, 4–8 June 1668 ) ; and in 1669, Sir Thomas Allin and the fleet visited Tunis, and ‘ were civilly Treated by the Dey, who has declared his resolution of maintaining the peace with England according to erstwhile Articles, the people there desiring nothing more than to continue their Traffique and Commerce with the English ’ (, 22–25 November 1669 ; see besides for Tripoli, 13–17 January 1670 ). 13 This repeated report of England ’ mho separate diplomatic relations with each of the Ottoman Regencies brings forward by more than forty years the switch that Matar locates in the War of the spanish Succession, where british ‘ dealings with the Muslim potentates and courts were not painted with a religious brush ’ but ‘ Christian-Muslim relations had become British-Algerian, British-Tunisian, or British-Moroccan relations ’ in the expression of Britain ’ s insatiate imperial goals ( Matar 2008, pp. 292–93, 299–300 ; watch besides Cutter 2018, pp. 79–80 ). Though Tangier inspired a certain sum of imperial hope see ( Beijit 2015, pp. 1–57 ), England in the 1660s could barely be said to have the lapp imperial power or imperial vision in the Mediterranean as it did after colonising Gibraltar and Minorca in the early eighteenth hundred, so in this respect, Matar ’ s connection between british imperialism and a public font of positive engagement with the Maghrebi states must be re-evaluated. From the late 1660s, the London Gazette repeatedly reported with fascination how english ships met with Maghrebi corsairs in the Mediterranean, but were not mistreated. In 1672, four English ships returned from the Mediterranean and reported ’ that they met with an Argiers man of War, who offered them not the least ferocity, but on the contrary, used them with much Civility ; from which Treatment of the Turks ; we conclude, that Sir Edward Spragge hath surely concluded a peace with them ’ ( London Gazette, 15–18 January 1672 ). In 1668 entirely, a London transport coming from the venetian island of Zante ( modern Zanthykos, Greece ) ’ in her manner homewards met with several ships belonging to Algier, Tunis, and Tripoli, who dismist her without any the least disturbance ’ ; a second gear lost its convoy from Spain, and ‘ was afterwards met by five Turks Men of War, who haling her, and enquiring onely what she was, immediately dismist her with much civility ’ ; and a venetian ship ‘ having aboard them an english young man, who passed with the Turks for Master of the ship … in the black escaped [ capture ], upon the pretense of being english ’ ( London Gazette, 3–6 February 1668 ; 14–17 December 1668 ; see besides numerous other incidents in London Gazette, 6–9 April 1668 ; 20–24 August 1668 ; 31 August–3 September 1668 ; 14–17 September 1668 ; 8–11 March 1669 ; 3–7 June 1669 ; 12–16 August 1669 ; 23–26 August 1669 ; 9–13 September 1669 ). For both periodic news program and British–Maghrebi relations, the years surrounding the Restoration of Charles II in 1660 were a watershed. The belated Commonwealth and Restoration governments undertook to provide an official flow of newsworthiness while suppressing unofficial media, and from 1655 onwards launched a sequence of official government newspapers. Based on diplomatic correspondence and published from the position of the Secretary of State, these papers culminated in the bi-weeklythenin 1665, which continues to be published today ( see Glaisyer 2017 Cowan 2004, p. 35 ). In the lapp period, building on naval and diplomatic reforms made under the Commonwealth, England ’ s naval and economic exponent in the Mediterranean grew, and, recognising Maghrebi autonomy under the Ottoman Empire, peace was negotiated immediately with the Ottoman Regencies of Tunis and Tripoli in 1662 and Algiers in 1662 and 1664 ( Akihito and Atsushi 2018, pp. 26–29 Matar 2005, pp. 9–11 ). 11 simultaneously, Charles II received, through his marriage to Catherine of Braganza, the Portuguese-controlled outpost at Tangier, and he and his politics quickly moved to establish it as a vital naval, military and economic base on the Moroccan side of the Strait of Gibraltar. By the mid-1660s, England had apparent peace with all four major territories of the Maghreb, and the future of craft seemed undimmed ( Akihito and Atsushi 2018, pp. 26–27 Beijit 2015, pp. 1–57 ). Thereported in 1666 that the Governor of Tangier had ‘ surely concluded a Peace ’ with Khidr Ghaylan, the local warlord, and ‘ the Garison is bountifully supplied with all sorts of Provisions from the Moors, who day by day flock there in great numbers, and vow to preserve the Peace inviolably ’ (, 26–30 April 1666 ). In the same issue, a ship arrived in Falmouth ‘ with Fruit and Wine from Tangier, who speaks a lot of the advantages of the seat, for land and receiving Goods ’ and reported that the Algerian, Tunisian and Tripolitan corsairs ‘ are very civil and serviceable to us in the Streights, and have taken several french Vessels, carrying them into Tangier, where they have liberty to sell them ; and that they chaced in one with Sugars from Brasil, which proved a good respect ’ (, 26–30 April 1666 ). The conclusion of treaties besides meant massive exchanges of prisoners. In 1663, the government-runreported the redemption of captives following a treaty with Algiers in elated tones : ‘ We once told you of the pious settlement of the most Reverend the Archbishops, Bishops, Deans, and Chapters of the Church of England, to redeem all such Captives as were Slaves in Algiers, Tituan, & c. who had been Subjects to his Majestie the King of Great Brittain. And now we can give you a perfect report how that happy and christian exercise is effected [ with ] our wellbeloved friends the AgaYa Bashaws and the lie of the honorable Council of State and War in the City and Kingdom of Algiers ’ (, 12–19 January 1663 ). Because of the overall dearth of corporeal, only identical basic conclusions can be drawn about this period. It seems likely that, before the Restoration, periodic news provided only one little voice among many describing the Maghreb for british readers, but such coverage as was available was broadly reproducible with the significant threat Maghrebi corsairs posed to British transport, and the limited peaceful exchanges that took station between them. Under Charles I ’ randomness personal rule ( c.1629–1640 ) and the Commonwealth ( 1649–1660 ), rigid censoring was applied to periodic newsworthiness. This possibly goes to explain why, despite successful attacks on Salé in 1637 and Porto Farina ( Ghar al-Milh ) in 1655, merely one mention, from 1641, appears in the principal to british attacks on Maghrebi targets : ‘ an base suit was made by the House of Commons … to the King, that he would be pleased to send two of his Ships which were upon the western parts, to remove some Turkish Pirates which had taken some English, and sent them to Argiere, and lye in wait to take more. Unto which, solution was soon returned, they should be sent away immediately ’ (, 3 November 1640–1649 September 1641 ). It was in this period that terms branding Maghrebi ships as illegitimate were most prevailing, appearing in 41.51 % of articles ( table 4 ). As noted above, periodical publications focusing on foreign news actually came into their own after 1660 ; however, there are some examples from an earlier period ( Raymond 2011b, pp. 377–97 ). In the brief, factual, limited periodical coverage relating to the Maghreb from this period ( 106 articles, Table 1 ), there is a feel of tire resignation to the Maghrebi threat : ‘ about 70 Saile of Turkish Pyrats are recently come out of Algier and Tunis in Barbery, whereof about forty are come towards the coasts of England and France, and ply up and down those Seas for loot ’ (, 10–17 July 1643 ). Newspaper coverage of Maghrebi–European relations in this period was heavily geared towards maritime fight, with 90 references per 100 articles, compared to 21 per 100 for statesmanship and 11 per 100 for peaceful trade ( Table 4 ). several diplomatic expeditions did successfully organise the redemption of british slaves from the Maghreb, some of which are reported in the newspapers. For case, in 1647 : There came recently from Algiere ( a sea township in the Mediterranian, upon the african side, where is resident a turkish Bassaw, as Governour, who hath all Turks in Command under him ; the Pirates of this Town, for so they are called, because the Grand Seignior [ i, the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire ] doth not own their drive of Ships from early States ) a ship called the Charles, Commanded by Captain Will. Weildy, who brought 175 Captives redeemed out of slavery ( being the second Ship that hath acted in this good work ) the Captives were redeemed by monies advanced upon an ordinance, which imposeth 5 per penny. upon certain Merchandise ; these redeemed ones attended recently the Parliament, giving them thanks for so great a favor afforded.
Read more: A Man Quotes Maritime Law To Avoid Ticket
By seizing on English or Welsh, Irish or scots merchants and travelers, the Moors and the Turks produced an picture of a dangerous “ Mahumetan ” populace in the minds of the british reading, traveling, trade and sailing public. As a result, and rather of viewing themselves as rulers of the waves, Britons were forced to compromise with Muslims, and to negotiate and bargain, plead and appeal—even to submit to the emphatic might of the corsairs .
4. Discussion and Conclusions
In sum, the newsworthiness published about Maghrebi nautical fight, diplomacy and deal was surprisingly detail and enlightening about the divers, reciprocal and negotiate relations between Maghrebi states, Europe and Britain. These stories presented to their audiences Maghrebi corsairs who were able to inflict good wrong on their enemies, but who were increasingly inclined over this time period to form static, golden and mutually beneficial peaces with their friends, and particularly with Britain. These were not plainly the beastly, unmanageable Barbary pirates of stage, fib, and song, but alternatively real, complex, developing, dangerous however reasonable nations in their own mighty. This conclusion prompts two significant questions : first, why and how did this data find its way into newspapers, quite than plainly remaining in the diplomatic and naval archives ? At one level, there is a simpleton answer : newspapers were based on the latest letters and print accounts from afield, and as such were more likely to record actual events. They besides produced relatively unretentive accounts relative to captivity narratives, books and pamphlets, normally leaving little space for polemic reflection ( Handover 1965, p. 26 ). 20 however, foreign letters always went through a process of choice and editing before being printed ; so the wonder remains of how and why these particular stories, presenting this particular spin on Maghrebi war, statesmanship and barter, were deemed allow for public consumption ( Sutherland 1986, pp. 123–45 ). however, over 46 % of my news corpus comes from government sources ( largely the London Gazette, with a little percentage from its late-Commonwealth/early-Restoration antecedents, see table 7 ). Published from the office of the Secretaries of State, these papers functioned to inform, perturb and influence british readers, who looked to the government publications as a common point of reference point on current events, for confirmation of oral reports, to identify the politics ’ s official occupation on particular issues, and as a journal of record for later reference ( Glaisyer 2017, p. 263 Handover 1965, pp. 35–36 ). By a comparison to foreign powers of the time, it is possibly surprise that the british government should have publicised its increasingly positive relations with the Maghrebi states ; even less that it should emphasise their favorableness. Phillip McCluskey has argued that Louis XIV of France sought in the 1660s to placate anti-Islamic populace public opinion, and perturb attention from his policy of treaty negotiation and peace formation with the Maghrebi states, by obstreperously building up his dark blue and invading algerian Jijel in 1664. This, according to McCluskey, allowed ‘ Louis XIV to pose as a champion of Christianity while pursuing intrinsically commercial and political objectives ’. It was not until the belated seventeenth hundred brought the adoption of turquerie, and with it ‘ a wider demystification of the Muslim world in general ’, that the government could be more crystalline about its goals ( McCluskey 2009, pp. 4–9 ). Likewise, Virginia Lunsford has documented a strongly adversarial tone in seventeenth-century Dutch newsworthiness media about Maghrebi corsairs, both pursue and shaping populace opinion. She concludes that corsairs ’ were feared, loathed, and morally condemned by the citizens of the United Provinces is indisputably true—vanquishing them was a laudatory and tied patriotic accomplishment ’ ( Lunsford 2005, pp. 74–76, 79–85 ). If seventeenth-century british popular attitudes were american samoa hostile as we have been told, then the government newspapers would surely have obscured the truth. Yet, by my judgment, the opposite is true. Faithful scout in 1652, which is worth quoting in full:
The Parliament took into consideration, the deplorable and condemnable discipline of many hundreds of poor Christians, which have long lain under the persecution of turkish Tyranny ; and after some Debate thereupon came to this glorious Result, viz. That the Speaker be forthwith dispatch to Argier in Turkey ( not the Speaker of the Hous, mistake me not ; but the good ship called the Speaker ) with the summarize of thirty thousand pounds, to redeem inadequate english Captives from expatriate and cruell slavery : Which ship lies immediately at Tilbury–Hope, under the Conduct and Command of Captain Thorowgood, who hath 27 Chests of Silver aboard her, and is ready to weigh Anchor, and hoyst sayl, for the performance of this dashing Enterprise. A golden Gale attend his motion ; and a christian Vote, and Blessing, be present, in all his Debates and Consultations ; for, undoubtedly, ’ tis a Sacrifice pleasing both to God and Man, and obviously denotes unto the people of England, that our Magistrates had quite buy home exiles, then make more. (
Faithful Scout
, 23–30 January 1652 )
One possible explanation for this is suggested in Nabil Matar ’ s examination of the role Maghrebi enslavement played in the English Civil War. In 1645, faced with mounting prisoner numbers, and significant democratic petitions and protests led by the wives and mothers of captives, ‘ Parliament sought to show that the money it had been collecting for years in customs would serve the intended purpose of ransoming Barbary captives ’ by sending a deputation to Algiers, and then printing an across-the-board one-off report of the proceedings and ( crucially ) the names and details of all 242 redeemed captives. parliament followed this with two letters sent from captives in Algiers that explicitly praised their activities. According to Matar, ‘ Where the King had failed, nowadays Parliament could show, both nationally and internationally, that it was succeeding ’ ( Matar 2001a, pp. 251–53 ). The laudatory likely of government media is borne out by a report published in the ( non-government ) in 1652, which is worth quoting in fully : gazette and its government-owned predecessors provide clear evidence of a continued political program of emphasising positive engagement with the Maghrebi states ( Though Matar has argued elsewhere that the ‘ explosive and politically destabilising ’ write out of Maghrebi piracy and enslavement had precisely a decade or two late in the reign of Charles II been ‘ relegated to insignificance ’ in government policy towards populace hold forth, the news stories printed in theand its government-owned predecessors provide clear evidence of a continue political course of study of emphasising positive engagement with the Maghrebi states ( Matar 2005, p. 152 ). 21 In a system of responsible government shaped by the Wars of the Three Kingdoms and late by the Revolution of 1688–1689, possibly it is less storm that british governments should have used media coverage of the Maghreb to emphasise their diplomatic and naval exuberate, quench public anxiety, and encourage trade, rather than to reinforce or stoke existing enmities against the Maghreb. 22 London (then oxford university) gazette ‘very pretty, full of newes and no folly in it’, but at no point in his diary does he mention the news he heard in public about the Maghreb came from papers, rather than other sources ( Entring Book, a rich record of English political society from 1677–1691, several pieces of news about the Maghreb, without indicating his sources (aside from the ambiguous use of ‘letters’). He wrote in March 1678, ‘The Algerines have taken about 14 of our Merchant ships in the Medeteranean’; in October 1682, ‘The Pirates of Saley are credibly reported to have taken 6 or 7 of our Shipps of late’; and in June 1687, ‘Many Letters came to the [Royal] Exchange on Monday last, as there had done one to the Court the last weeke that told us the Algeires had taken six Dutch Ships upon their Coasts, very neare their Ports, the like passage has hardly sounded in our ears and the discourse and alarme upon the Change makes it full as great as it is’ ( London Gazette, which reported from Paris in October 1689, ‘It is confirmed that the French have made, or rather bought, a Peace of the Algierines, and that upon dishonourable Terms too, which are therefore not made publick here’, and in December, ‘By a Vessel come lately from Argiers we have the Confirmation of the French having made a Peace with that Government; but how honourable the Terms of it are for the Crown of France, will appear by an Abstract of the Articles, which follows’ ( London Gazette, 21–24 October, 16–19 December 1689). The unclarity of the sources of news heard in the Royal Exchange and coffeehouses by men like Pepys and Morrice makes it difficult to draw conclusions about reception, beyond what Helen Berry calls the ‘implied readers’ suggested by the content and structure of the papers ( A second important doubt is, who read these accounts, and what impression did they have ? It is much noted that evidence for readership of early modern periodicals is sparse, given their bargain rate, ephemerality and rapid turnover ( Berry 2000, p. 21 ). 23 News about Maghrebi nautical combat, statesmanship and trade wind surely reached the public in Britain, peculiarly at the Royal Exchange in London ( according to ( Ghobrial 2013, p. 42 ), ‘ when it came to obtaining data about the Mediterranean world, few places could compare in the seventeenth hundred to the Royal Exchange ’ ), but the extent to which this news program was sourced from periodical news program publications is unclear. Brian Cowan has documented how a number of coffeehouse-keepers in London were arrested for spreading leaked information about a design british attack against Algiers, and were warned not to distribute it further or take in newspapers for their patrons to read, for concern the news would finally reach the Algerians ( Cowan 2004, pp. 41–42 ). Samuel Pepys famously called the ( then ‘ very pretty, full of newes and no folly in it ’, but at no point in his diary does he mention the news he heard in public about the Maghreb came from papers, rather than other sources ( Handover 1965, p. 12 ). He wrote in January 1662, ‘ I am trouble to hear that the Turks do take more and more of our ships in the Straights ’ ; in November 1662, ‘ Newes that Sir J [ ohn ] Lawson hath made up a peace immediately with Tunis and Tripoli, american samoa well as Argiers, by which he will come home plate very highly honor ’ ; and in November 1664, ‘ so to London by coach and to the Coffee-house, where certain news of our peace made by Captain Allen with Argier, which is good news program ’ ( Pepys 1660–1669 ). 24 Each of these, as noted above, was reported in the politics newspapers, but was meaning enough that the information likely circulated through multiple channels, so it is unmanageable to connect them directly. similarly, Puritan curate Roger Morrice recorded in his, a rich read of English political company from 1677–1691, respective pieces of news about the Maghreb, without indicating his sources ( aside from the equivocal use of ‘ letters ’ ). He wrote in March 1678, ‘ The Algerines have taken about 14 of our Merchant ships in the Medeteranean ’ ; in October 1682, ‘ The Pirates of Saley are credibly reported to have taken 6 or 7 of our Shipps of former ’ ; and in June 1687, ‘ many Letters came to the [ Royal ] Exchange on Monday survive, as there had done one to the Court the death weeke that told us the Algeires had taken six dutch Ships upon their Coasts, very neare their Ports, the like passing has barely sounded in our ears and the discourse and alarme upon the Change makes it fully vitamin a big as it is ’ ( Morrice 2009, pp. 2:55, 2:327, 4:86 ). In 1689, Morrice became refer with reports about french negotiations with Algiers : ‘ The King of France is reported to have taken Gibletower ( Gaibralter ) a great passage from the Medeterenian, but I think its not true [. ] He has besides hired all the usefull Vessells the Algerines can furnish him with ’ ; then ‘ The Algerines have made a Peace with France, who is to give them Shelter in any of the Ports belong to his Dominions, to furnish them with Commanders, and Engineers to manage their War against Spain, and besides to furnish them with Shipps and recruits upon all occasions ’ ; and ‘ The french King offereth not only very ethical and advantageous conditions to the Algerians for a peace with them, but seemes to Condescend very humble ’ ( Morrice 2009, pp. 5:89, 325, 327 ). These same negotiations appear in thewhich reported from Paris in October 1689, ‘ It is confirmed that the french have made, or rather bought, a peace of the Algierines, and that upon dishonorable Terms besides, which are therefore not made publick here ’, and in December, ‘ By a Vessel come recently from Argiers we have the Confirmation of the french having made a peace with that Government ; but how ethical the Terms of it are for the Crown of France, will appear by an Abstract of the Articles, which follows ’ (, 21–24 October, 16–19 December 1689 ). The unclarity of the sources of news hear in the Royal Exchange and coffeehouses by men like Pepys and Morrice makes it unmanageable to draw conclusions about reception, beyond what Helen Berry calls the ‘ implied readers ’ suggested by the message and structure of the papers ( Berry 2000, p. 21 ). however, it is reasonable to argue both from the message and the kind of substantial recorded by Pepys and Morrice that Maghrebi maritime combat and delicacy were of meaning matter to to power-brokers in London society. similarly short can be conclusively said about how this coverage affected Anglophone views of the Maghreb and its people. Adam Fox has argued that, peculiarly after the Restoration, ’ it is authorize that many of people ’ s attitudes and opinions were conditioned or provoked by what they knew from printed sources ’ ( Fox 2002, pp. 396, 400 ) ; and, more specifically, Mark Hanna has shown that the ‘ abundance of information on sea maraud in the metropole ’ s public prints ’ around the turn of the eighteenth hundred, frequently one or more stories a week, meant that ‘ attacks in the amerind Ocean were not so unimaginably distant ’, and that ’ a London readership could create a vestigial mental map of interconnect events from the indian Ocean to the West Indies to New England and back to Newgate prison in London ’ a well as developing clean understandings of the legality and illegality of unlike forms of piracy and privateering ( Hanna 2015, p. 198 ). The application of these general statements to Maghrebi material requires further research, but the similar density of articles ( a coherent average of over 50 articles per class, or one per week in 1661–1680, 1683–1703, and 1704–1714, Table 1 ) suggests that cognition of Maghrebi affairs was equally, if not more, significant than that of Hanna ’ south pirates. were published after the Restoration, such as Thomas Smith’s William Okeley’s Eben-ezer ; or, A Small Monument of Great Mercy (1675), Francis Brooks’ savage cruelty (1693), and Joseph Pitts’ A True and Faithful Account of the Religion and Manners of the Mohammetans (1704) are significantly longer, more informative, and more reflective than the often briefer, news-style narratives of earlier periods ( London Post
, 10–13 November 1699) appeared in the newspapers, perhaps captivity writers felt compelled to alter their styles. This could have been because the market for short accounts was being drawn away; it could also have been a reaction against newspapers’ presentation of increasingly positive interactions with the Maghreb. Nabil Matar, for example, has argued that Okeley’s captivity narrative, which describes events taking place in 1639–1644, was composed and published in 1675 precisely because captivity had become a less important issue in both politics and the society at large, prompting the author to recall his story and thereby remind his readers of the true threat Maghrebi maritime combat and captivity posed ( periodic news program coverage may have had certain cultural impacts on other sources about the Maghreb. Matar has repeatedly noted that as the seventeenth hundred break on, English-language literary and dramatic representations of Muslims, including enslavement narratives, declined dramatically, to the extent that during the period 1702–1713, when Muslims of the Maghreb were ‘ partially responsible for Britain ’ s wax to domination ’, ‘ there was no significant imagine of the Islamic Mediterranean in English thought ’ ( Matar 2013, pp. 21–22 Matar 2005, p. 161 ). 25 Yet english newspaper readers in this period could find at least one article every workweek describing affairs of the Maghreb ( Table 1 ). possibly, following a general shift in English popular culture towards ‘ factual ’ accounts of life abroad, news filled the space left by declining representations in captivity narratives and theater ; or, conversely, influenced british polish away from fantastic and terrify depictions of the Maghreb ( Maclean 2019, p. 76 Leask 2019, p. 93 ). such English-language captivity narratives aspublished after the Restoration, such as Thomas Smith ’ s William Okeley ’ randomness ( 1675 ), Francis Brooks ’ ( 1693 ), and Joseph Pitts ’ ( 1704 ) are significantly longer, more enlightening, and more reflective than the frequently brief, news-style narratives of earlier periods ( Matar 2001b, pp. 35, 39 Auchterlonie 2012, p. 4 ). Given that accounts of naval battles, captive redemptions, and even, on at least one occasion, a letter of news purporting to come directly ‘ from a Slave in Salley ’ (, 10–13 November 1699 ) appeared in the newspapers, possibly captivity writers felt compelled to alter their styles. This could have been because the market for short accounts was being drawn away ; it could besides have been a reaction against newspapers ’ presentation of increasingly positive interactions with the Maghreb. Nabil Matar, for example, has argued that Okeley ’ s enslavement narrative, which describes events taking set in 1639–1644, was composed and published in 1675 precisely because enslavement had become a less significant return in both politics and the society at large, prompting the generator to recall his report and thereby remind his readers of the genuine threat Maghrebi nautical battle and captivity posed ( Matar 2005, p. 152 ). While it is unlikely that enslavement narratives would have captured precisely the same market as periodical news program, the correlation of these trends is telling. These cultural effects must besides be considered in easy of all the other sources available to british audiences to learn about the Maghreb. The impersonal, and at times even plus, coverage found in these periodical news sources must be integrated within a cultural milieu in which the weight of public impression was still fishy, or outright veto, towards the “ Turks ” and “ Moors ” of “ Barbary ” despite the periodic grace generated by such events as the 1681–82 embassy. Why this should have happened remains ill-defined. Did the merchants and officials who composed and disproportionately consumed these publications operate according to importantly different terms of mention than the wide populace ? Were populace audiences more determine by longer or more popular works than ephemeral periodicals, despite the wide compass and relatively dense and reproducible menstruate of information they offered ? For the purposes of this article, at the very least it can be shown that Restoration readers, particularly those in London, had available to them a big consider more information about Maghrebi war, statesmanship and trade with Britain and Europe than has previously been recognised in scholarship, and that it is probably this information was wide read and influenced to some extent democratic perceptions and literary presentations of the Maghreb in late seventeenth-century Britain. In addition to the future research required into the cultural impingement of news coverage on british views and representations of the Maghreb, fruitful employment could be done into the mechanisms by which news of the Maghreb reached Britain, and in especial the limited function of british residents in the Maghreb in observing, recording and transmitting that news to a british public .
