at Marseilles, and was elected deputy to the Convention by 775 votes out of 776 voting. From the first he posed as an opponent of the Mountain, accused Robespierre of aiming at the dictatorship (25th of September 1792), attacked Marat, and proposed to break up the commune of Paris. Then he got the act of accusation against Louis XVI. adopted, and in the trial voted for his death “without appeal and without delay.” During the final struggle between the Girondists and the Mountain, he refused to resign as deputy and rejected the offer made by the sections of Paris to give hostages for the arrested representatives. He succeeded in escaping, first to Caen, where he organized the civil war, then to Saint-Emilion near Bordeaux, where he wrote his Mémoires, which were published in 1822 by his son, and re-edited in 1866. Discovered, he attempted to shoot himself, but was only wounded, and was taken to Bordeaux, where he was guillotined when his identity was established.
See Ch. Vatel, Charlotte Corday et les Girondins (Paris, 1873); A. Aulard, Les Orateurs de la Législative et de la Convention (Paris, 2nd ed., 1906).
BARBARY, the general designation of that part of northern Africa bounded E. by Egypt, W. by the Atlantic, S. by the Sahara and N. by the Mediterranean, comprising the states of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Tripoli. The name is derived from the Berbers, the chief inhabitants of the region.
BARBARY APE, a tailless monkey inhabiting Algeria, Morocco, and the rock of Gibraltar (where it may have been introduced), and referable to the otherwise Asiatic group of macaques, in which it alone represents the subgenus Inuus. This monkey, Macacus inuus, is light yellowish-brown above and yellowish-white below, with the naked part of the face flesh-coloured. It is entirely terrestrial in habits, at least on Gibraltar, and goes about in droves.
BARBARY PIRATES. The coast population of northern Africa has in past ages been addicted to piratical attacks on the shores of Europe opposite. Throughout the decline of the Roman empire, the barbarian invasions, the Mahommedan conquest and the middle ages, mere piracy always existed by the side of the great strife of peoples and religions. In the course of the 14th century, when the native Berber dynasties were in decadence, piracy became particularly flagrant. The town of Bougie was then the most notorious haunt of these “skimmers of the sea.” But the savage robber powers which, to the disgrace of Europe, infested the commerce and the coasts, not only of the Mediterranean but even for a time of the ocean; who were not finally suppressed till the 19th century was well advanced; and who are properly known as the Barbary pirates, arose in the 16th century, attained their greatest height in the 17th, declined gradually throughout the 18th and were extinguished about 1830. Isolated cases of piracy have occurred on the Rif coast of Morocco even in our time, but the pirate communities which lived by plunder and could live by no other resource, vanished with the French conquest of Algiers in 1830. They are intimately connected with the general history of northern Africa from about 1492 to their end. The story of the establishment of Turkish rule in northern Africa and of the revolutions of Morocco must be sought under the heads of Turkey, Tripoli, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco.
In dealing with the pirates, it will be sufficient to note a few leading dates. The conquest of Granada in 1492 by the Catholic sovereigns of Spain drove many Moors into exile. They revenged themselves by piratical attacks on the Spanish coast. They had the help of Moslem adventurers from the Levant, of whom the most successful were Arouj and his brother Khair-ed-Din, natives of Mitylene, both of whom were known to the Christians by the nickname of Barbarossa (q.v.) or “Redbeard.” Spain in self-defence began to conquer the coast towns of Oran, Algiers and Tunis. Arouj having fallen in battle with the Spaniards in 1518, his brother Khair-ed-Din appealed to Selim, the sultan of Turkey, who sent him troops. He drove the Spaniards in 1529 from the rocky island in front of Algiers, where they had a fort, and was the founder of the Turkish power. From about 1518 till the death of Uluch Ali in 1587, Algiers was the main seat of government of the beylerbeys of northern Africa, who ruled over Tripoli, Tunisia and Algeria. From 1587 till 1659, they were ruled by Turkish pashas, sent from Constantinople to govern for three years; but in the latter year a military revolt in Algiers reduced the pashas to nonentities. From 1659 onwards, these African cities, though nominally forming parts of the Turkish empire, were in fact anarchical military republics which chose their own rulers and lived by plunder.
It may be pointed out that during the first period (1518–1587) the beylerbeys were admirals of the sultan, commanding great fleets and conducting serious operations of war for political ends. They were slave-hunters and their methods were ferocious, but their Christian enemies were neither more humane nor more chivalrous. After 1587, plunder became the sole object of their successors—plunder of the native tribes on land and of all who went upon the sea. The maritime side of this long-lived brigandage was conducted by the captains, or reises, who formed a class or even a corporation. Cruisers were fitted out by capitalists and commanded by the reises. Ten per cent of the value of the prizes was paid to the treasury of the pasha or his successors, who bore the titles of Agha or Dey or Bey. Bougie was the chief shipbuilding port and the timber was mainly drawn from the country behind it. Until the 17th century the pirates used galleys, but a Flemish renegade of the name of Simon Danser taught them the advantage of using sailing ships. In this century, indeed, the main strength of the pirates was supplied by renegades from all parts of Christendom. An English gentleman of the distinguished Buckinghamshire family of Verney was for a time among them at Algiers. This port was so much the most formidable that the name of Algerine came to be used as synonymous with Barbary pirate, but the same trade was carried on, though with less energy, from Tripoli and Tunis—as also from towns in the empire of Morocco, of which the most notorious was Salli. The introduction of sailing ships gave increased scope to the activity of the pirates. While the galleys, being unfit for the high seas, were confined to the Mediterranean and the coast, the sailing vessels ranged into the Atlantic as far as the Canaries or even to Iceland. In 1631 a Flemish renegade, known as Murad Reis, sacked Baltimore in Ireland, and carried away a number of captives who were seen in the slave-market of Algiers by the French historian Pierre Dan.
The first half of the 17th century may be described as the flowering time of the Barbary pirates. More than 20,000 captives were said to be imprisoned in Algiers alone. The rich were allowed to redeem themselves, but the poor were condemned to slavery. Their masters would not in many cases allow them to secure freedom by professing Mahommedanism. A long list might be given of people of good social position, not only Italians or Spaniards, but German or English travellers in the south, who were captives for a time. The chief sufferers were the inhabitants of the coasts of Sicily, Naples and Spain. But all traders belonging to nations which did not pay blackmail in order to secure immunity were liable to be taken at sea. The payment of blackmail, disguised as presents or ransoms, did not always secure safety with these faithless barbarians. The most powerful states in Europe condescended to make payments to them and to tolerate their insults. Religious orders—the Redemptionists and Lazarites—were engaged in working for the redemption of captives and large legacies were left for that purpose in many countries. The continued existence of this African piracy was indeed a disgrace to Europe, for it was due to the jealousies of the powers themselves. France encouraged them during her rivalry with Spain; and when she had no further need of them they were supported against her by Great Britain and Holland. In the 18th century British public men were not ashamed to say that Barbary piracy was a useful check on the competition of the weaker Mediterranean nations in the carrying trade. When Lord Exmouth sailed to coerce Algiers in 1816, he expressed doubts in a private letter whether the suppression of piracy would be acceptable to the trading community. Every power was, indeed, desirous to secure immunity for itself and more or less ready to compel Tripoli, Tunis, Algiers, Salli and
