Charles V, Barbarossa brought his squadron to his aid, and upon his death succeeded to his Sovereignty. He was however sensible of his inability to struggle alone with success against the Powers of Christendom, and he accordingly hastened to place himself, as a vassal, at the feet of the Padischah of the Ottomans, who readily accepted his submission in that character, and conferred upon him the government of his newly acquired territory with the title of Bey. The subsequent career of Barbarossa fills a considerable page in the History of the Ottoman Empire. By the orders of the Emperor Soleiman I, he led his fleet against Tunis with a view to dethrone the Sultan Moulei Hasan, and to supplant his dynasty. His success was Tunis. but temporary, and Tunis was restored to the ancient dynasty of Beni-Hafas by the united arms of the Emperor Charles V and the Knights of Malta. Tunis experienced subsequently great vicissitudes. The Spaniards under Don John of Austria regained possession of it for a short time in 1572, but in 1574 it passed definitively into the hands of the Ottomans, and it continues in the present day to be a Dependency of the Porte. Tripoli had meantime been wrested by the Otto- Tripoli. man arms from the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, and it was placed in like manner under the government of a Beylerbey. It was after this period that other Renegades from Christianity, taking advantage of the religious law of the Mussulman, which contemplates a permanent state of war to exist between the true Believer and the Unbeliever, capable of being suspended only by express treaty or by payment of tribute, gave so great a development to piratical enterprise in the ports of the three Barbary Powers, that they came to be considered in Europe as mere nests of pirates, which had usurped the cha Treaties with Al giers. Early Treaties with the Sub lime Porte. racter of political Bodies. So formidable indeed were the ravages of the Algerine Corsairs in the Seventeenth Century, and so inefficient was the Sovereignty of the Ottoman Porte to restrain them, that the Christian Powers of Europe found it expedient to conclude Conventions directly with the Barbary Governments in furtherance of treaties already existing with the Ottoman Porte. Thus Louis XIII of France concluded a treaty at Marseilles with the Pascha of Algiers (24 March 1619), whereby the latter bound himself to observe more faithfully than heretofore the commands of the Porte in regard to its Capitulations with France. In the following year, Great Britain prepared to attack Algiers with a fleet under the command of Admiral Monson, but the projected hostilities were diverted by the payment of an indemnity from the Ottoman Porte. This result had been brought about through the instrumentality of Sir Thomas Roe, who had been despatched to Constantinople to open negociations directly with the Porte". Special treaties were soon after concluded between England and the Regencies of Algiers and Tunis respectively, which received the confirmation of the Padischah. In the middle of the Seventeenth Century King Charles II of England despatched the Earl of Winchelsea, (anno 1660,) as Ambassador to the Governor of Algiers, who had very recently assumed the title of Dey, and concluded a Treaty of Commerce directly with the Dey, the main object of which was to secure British Merchant Vessels from piratical seizure. § 65. It appears from the Treaty concluded by Sir John Finch in 1675, between the Ottoman Porte and 6 Flassan Histoire de la Diplomatie Francaise II. p. 329. Dumont, Traités L. V. pt. II. p. 330. 7 Roe, Negociations with the Ottoman Porte, p. 35. 260. Von England, which recites and confirms the Articles of all the previous Treaties, that in the earliest Treaty with England, the Ottoman Porte had agreed "that the English Ambassadors may at their pleasure establish Consuls, resident in Aleppo, Alexandria, Tripoli of Syria, or Tunis, Algiers, Tripoli of Barbary, in Smyrna, the parts of Cairo, or any other parts of our dominions, and in like manner remove them or change and appoint others in their places, and none of our Ministers shall oppose or refuse to accept them;" and further, "the English Nation's Consul or Resident in any part of our dominions, being established by the Ambassador resident for the English Nation, our Minister shall have no power to imprison or examine them, or seal up their houses, nor to dismiss or displace them from their charge or office; but in case of any difference or suit with the Consul, there shall be made a Certificate to the Imperial Porte, to the end that the Ambassador may protect or answer for them." Although therefore stipulations are found in the Treaties concluded with the Barbary States respecting the protection to be afforded to the Consuls of the European Powers, it must be borne in mind that the Consuls were not accredited to the Barbary Powers, as some writers on International Law assume, but exercised their functions under Treaty-engagements with the Porte itself. Molloy, in speaking of the Barbary Powers in the reign of Charles II, misled perhaps by the fact that the Earl of Winchelsea, the Ambassador of England to the Ottoman Porte, concluded a Treaty with the Dey of Algiers on his passage to Constantinople, partakes in the common error of describing them as nests of pirates which, notwithstanding this, "obtain the right of legation and 8 Hertstet's Treaties, II. p. 349. 9 De jure Maritimo, p. 38. § 4. cally at the mercy of the Porte, although Russia had made certain highly favourable stipulations on their behalf in her treaty with the Porte, and Servia was thereupon once more reduced to the condition of a Turkish Province. But the spirit of Independence amongst the Servians was not extinguished. It broke forth at intervals, was countenanced by Russia, and at last, with the support of that Power, Servia obtained from the Porte the recognition of its admi nistrative Independence, in pursuance of the proviTreaty of sions of the Treaty of Adrianople 16 (14 Sept. 1829) Adria- concluded between Russia and the Ottoman Porte. Sept. 1829. This recognition took place under the form of a nople, 14 Ackerman, 7 Oct. 1826. Organic Hatti Scheriff, (29 Nov. 1829,) in which the Sultan declared, that having regard to the Treaties of Bucharest and Adrianople, as well as to the Convention Treaty of of Ackerman", (7 Oct. 1826,) and likewise to the prayers of the Servians, who had always been faithful subjects of his Empire, he had accorded to them the liberty of Christian Worship, and an Independent Internal administration, with various other privileges in accordance with the provisions of a separate Act annexed to the Treaty of Ackerman. The existing Statute of Constitution of Servia was subsequently settled by an Organic Statute, issued by the Sultan in 1838. This Statute confers the Sovereignty of the Province upon Prince Milosch and his family, the princedom being declared to be hereditary in his family; and after enumerating other matters of detail, confers upon him (A) the nomination of public functionaries, (B) the command of the troops, (C) the powers of the Exequatur, (D) the collection of the taxes, (E) the control of the provincial authorities, (F) the jurisdiction over criminals. At this period, (anno Servia. 16 Martens, N. R. VIII. p. 116. 17 Ibid. VI. p. 1053. 1829,) when Lord Ponsonby on behalf of Great Britain was suggesting certain modifications in the Organic Statute, the Sultan refused to recognise any title in Great Britain to interfere in the affairs of Servia; but admitted the right of Russia under her treaties with the Porte to exercise a voice. The Treaty of Paris 18, (30 March, 1856,) has placed the established relations between Servia and the Ottoman Porte under the collective guaranty of all the Powers which are parties to that treaty. The Suzerainty of the Porte, and its right of garrison as heretofore, is maintained on the one hand; whilst, on the other hand, the Principality of Servia retains its National and administrative Independence, as well as full liberty of worship, legislation, commerce, and navigation; nor can any armed intervention take place in Servia without a previous accord amongst the High Contracting Powers. It would be out of place in the present treatise to follow the fortune of Prince Milosch and his family; it will be sufficient to have traced the International vicissitudes of the Principality, and to have shewn how its present anomalous state of International transition is founded upon Treaty-engagements between the European Powers and the Emperor of the Ottomans, in his character of Suzerain. and Mol § 68. The Principality of Walachia had paid tribute The Printo the Ottoman Porte since the commencement of Walachia cipalities of the Fifteenth Century, although the Sultans were davia. not really masters of Walachia until the death of Wlad, (anno 1461,) the last Independent Prince. From this period down to 1521, Walachia was governed by its own Voievodes, elected by the Boyards and confirmed by the Sultan. Soleiman I, whose 18 Martens, N. R. Général, XV. p. 770. |