HASSAN III PACHA

On 5 September 1795 the United States of America concluded a Treaty of Peace and Friendship with the Regency of Algiers. The agreement was made between George Washington and Hassan Pasha, Dey of Algiers, together with his Divan and subjects.

The original document, written in Ottoman Turkish, bears Hassan Pacha’s tughra and seal. It remains one of the clearest surviving records of the Regency’s international standing in the late eighteenth century.

Background

Since the 1780s American merchant vessels had been captured by Algerian corsairs. Crews were held in Algiers and ransom demanded. The young United States, lacking a strong navy and still establishing its place among the nations, eventually chose negotiation over prolonged conflict.

European states had long managed their relations with Algiers through a combination of treaties, annual payments, and diplomatic gifts. The United States ultimately adopted a similar approach.

The Negotiations

Hassan Pacha was already known to American agents from his earlier service as Khaznadji. Contemporary correspondence suggested that he was more inclined toward accommodation than his predecessor had been.

Joseph Donaldson, acting under the authority of David Humphreys, conducted the final negotiations in Algiers. On 5 September 1795 (21 Safar 1210) the terms were agreed. An immediate payment covered the cost of peace and the ransom of captives. An annual tribute in naval stores, valued at 12,000 Algerian sequins, was also stipulated.

The treaty contained twenty-two articles regulating navigation, trade, the treatment of ships and crews, and mutual respect between the two sides.

The Document Itself

The Turkish text opens by stating that negotiations had taken place between the ruler of the American people and the garrison of Algiers in the presence of His Excellency Hassan Pasha and the members of the Divan.

Article 1 names the parties with precision: George Washington, President of the United States, and Hassan Pasha, the Dey, together with the Agha of his army, his minister, all the members of the Divan, and his victorious soldiers.

The United States did not negotiate with Istanbul. It negotiated with Hassan Pasha and the government of Algiers.

That distinction is of lasting historical significance. It records the practical sovereignty exercised by the Regency.

Significance

The 1795 treaty is one of the most important diplomatic documents of Hassan’s reign. It shows a Mediterranean power capable of dealing with a distant republic on equal formal terms. It also illustrates Hassan’s preference for orderly negotiation over indefinite hostility.

For the United States the agreement secured the release of captives and a period of relative safety for American shipping. For Algiers it confirmed the continuation of a long-established system of Mediterranean diplomacy.

A Clear Illustration

The treaty of 1795 belongs to the history of both countries. Yet its greatest value for the study of Hassan Pacha lies in what it reveals about the political character of his Algiers.

A government that could sign a formal treaty with the President of the United States, affix its own tughra, and enforce the terms through its own institutions was a government that conducted its foreign relations in its own name.

In that sense the American treaty remains one of the strongest contemporary witnesses to the autonomy of the Regency under Hassan III Pacha.