in an expedition against the city of Algiers in 1541; the French, in 1682 and 1683, and again in 1689, bombarded the place with partial success; on the other hand the Spaniards, in 1755 and 1784, were signally defeated in attempts against it.

The expeditions under Louis XIV., in 1682 and 1683, call for some notice, as French historians state that they were the first occasions on which bomb vessels were used in siege operations. According to these accounts, Renaud, a young and rising man, proposed to the council of state that Algiers should be bombarded by a fleet: a proposition, which though at first it was ridiculed for its extravagance, was afterwards carried into effect, and with signal success. Five vessels, smaller than ordinary ships, but much stronger built, without decks, but with a frame-work at the bottom of the hold, upon which the mortars were placed, were prepared for the service. Duquesne commanded the expedition, having little confidence in its issue; so that when the fire from the floating battery was opened, he was no less astonished at its destructive power than the Algerines. The town was partially consumed in the first attack, August, 1682; and in June, 1683, the work of destruction was carried still further, until the Dey was forced to submit, releasing all the Christian slaves. A circumstance is further related, in reference to this occasion, which does not speak much for the generosity of the victors:- "When Captain d'Amfreville, who commanded one of the vessels, went on shore to liberate all the Christian slaves in the name of the King of France, there were among them several Englishmen, who after they had got on board pretended that it was out of consideration for the King of England that they had been liberated. Thereupon the French Captain is reported to have called back the Algerines, and after putting the English on shore, to have said, These people pretend that they have only been liberated in the name of their own king; my sovereign does not take the liberty of offering them his protection; I therefore replace them in your hands; it will be for you to show how much you owe to the King of England.' narrator adds, "The pride of the English, the weakness of the government of Charles II., and the respect entertained by all nations for Louis XIV., are all illustrated in this trait." *

The

During the war of the French Revolution, the piratical Algerines rose in their tone of insolence and exaction to

* Nouveau Dictionnaire Historique des Sièges et Batailles Mémorables. -Paris, 1806.

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an intolerable height; deluding themselves with the belief that the great events which then occupied the powers of Europe would leave the latter no opportunity to administer merited chastisement for their ill-doings. What immediately led to the expedition of 1816, was an act of unparalleled atrocity and effrontery. During the month of May, the coral fishing at Bona is resorted to by Neapolitan and Corsican fishermen, for the purpose of carrying on their occupation. On the 23rd of May, the day of the Ascension, when these industrious people were going to their devotions at one o'clock in the morning, they were fallen upon by a body of infantry and cavalry, and butchered in the most barbarous manner; the Christians in the town, and in the country, as well as those belonging to the boats, being ruthlessly slaughtered. Moreover, the British flag taken from the consular office was torn in pieces and trampled under foot. Although it is not pretended that these acts were authorised, they were certainly connived at by the Dey; and by way of reprisal, it was resolved to take signal vengeance, in the name of insulted Europe, for a long series of crimes; and the navy of England had the honour of the achievement.

The town of Algiers is built on the declivity of a hill fronting to the eastward. It is of a triangular form, having for its base the sea-front, which is about a mile in length, and rises directly from the water. It is strongly fortified on the land side, and the sea defences are most formidable, as well from the great thickness of the walls, as the number of heavy guns.

The harbour is artificial. A broad straight pier, three hundred yards in length, and upon which the storehouses were built, projects from a point about a quarter of a mile from the north extremity of the town. A mole is carried from the end of this pier, which bends in a south-westerly direction towards the town, forming nearly a quarter of a circle. Opposite the mole-head is a small insulated pier, which leaves the entrance to the harbour about a hundred and twenty yards wide. The rock upon which the mole is built extends about two hundred yards to the N.E. beyond the angle at which the pier joins it. The shores recede considerably from the base of the pier, forming a small bay on either side of it.

All the works around the harbour were covered with the strongest fortifications. Immediately beyond the pier-head stood the Lighthouse battery, a large circular fort, mounting between sixty and seventy guns, in three tiers. At the extremity of the point of rock beyond the lighthouse was a very heavy battery, of two tiers, mounting thirty guns and seven

mortars in the upper. The mole itself was filled with cannon, like the side of a line-of-battle ship, mostly disposed in a double tier, with ports below, and embrasures above; but the eastern batteries, next the lighthouse, had an inner fortification, with a third tier of guns, making sixty-six in these batteries alone. All these batteries had together above two hundred and twenty guns-eighteen, twenty-four, and thirty-two pounders; besides two, at least sixty-eight pounders, and upwards of twenty feet long. On the sea-wall of the town were nine batteries; two at the southern extremity; then the Fish-market battery in three tiers, bearing three hundred yards west of the molehead; three between the Fish-market and the gate leading to the mole; one over this gate; and two on the wall beyond it. Along the shore, within twelve hundred yards south of the town, were three batteries, and a very heavy fort. Another large fort, and six batteries, commanded the bay to the N.W. Many guns in other parts of the fortifications of the town, and in forts and batteries on the hills around it, were in situations which enabled them to fire upon ships. Altogether the approaches by sea were defended by scarcely less than five hundred guns.

The Admiralty were greatly surprised when Lord Exmouth proposed to attack these works with five sail of the line. Many naval officers who were consulted by the Board considered them unassailable. Nelson, in a conversation with Captain Brisbane, had named twenty-five line-of-battle ships as the force which would be required to attack them. The opinion was not founded upon his own observation, and he was evidently misled by the errors in the received plans; for that number of ships could not have been placed before the town; but it marks his sense of the great danger in attacking powerful batteries with ships, and of the tremendous strength of Algiers. Lord Exmouth was offered any force he required, but he adhered to his first demand; for he had satisfied himself that five ships could destroy the fortifications on the Mole as effectually as a greater number, and with far more safety to themselves. After he had fully explained his plans, and marked the position which every ship was to occupy, the Admiralty allowed him to act upon his own judgment; though they found it not easy to believe that the force was equal to the service; nor were persons wanting to remark that he had at length involved himself in a difficulty, from which he would not escape with credit. His own confidence never wavered. "All will go well," he wrote, "as far at least as it depends on me." As he was going