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102 that any resort to force for the protection of the lives and property of citizens is foolish in policy, if not wicked in morals.

Before being disillusioned by the apparition of Napoleon and the assumption of responsibility, which is a great dispeller of illusions, Thomas Jefferson might fairly be catalogued among the latter class. His chief abomination was a navy, and the foundation of his faith that ultimate good-will was to be found in all men who were fairly treated. Those who believe the same to-day will be sorry to learn how this worked in Algiers.

The entertaining dispatch above quoted came along toward the end of the chapter, and is given more as an example of a diplomatic curiosity than as part of the story. But in this connection it is worth observing that this cheerful document was in exact fact an ultimatum from this jovial despot to the effect that he would immediately waylay and capture all American merchantmen venturing beyond Gibraltar and enslave the crews in lieu of a big