And say besides, that in Aleppo once,
Where a malignant and a turban'd Turk
Beat a Venetian and traduced the state,
I took by the throat the circumcised dog
And smote him, thus.
--Othello.



THE BURNING OF THE "PHILADELPHIA"

It is difficult to conceive that there ever was a time when the
United States paid a money tribute to anybody. It is even more
difficult to imagine the United States paying blackmail to a set
of small piratical tribes on the coast of Africa. Yet this is
precisely what we once did with the Barbary powers, as they were
called the States of Morocco, Tunis, Tripoli, and Algiers, lying
along the northern coast of Africa. The only excuse to be made
for such action was that we merely followed the example of
Christendom. The civilized people of the world were then in the
habit of paying sums of money to these miserable pirates, in
order to secure immunity for their merchant vessels in the
Mediterranean. For this purpose Congress appropriated money, and
treaties were made by the President and ratified by the Senate.
On one occasion, at least, Congress actually revoked the
authorization of some new ships for the navy, and appropriated
more money than was required to build the men-of-war in order to
buy off the Barbary powers. The fund for this disgraceful purpose
was known as the "Mediterranean fund," and was intrusted to the
Secretary of State to be disbursed by him in his discretion.