Here the envoys found a more difficult task before them. The Bey had
heard of the ships and cargoes left at Algiers, and asked at once, Where
were all the good things promised to him by Famin? The Consuls presented
President Adam's letter of polite excuses, addressed to the Prince of
Tunis, "the well-guarded city, the abode of felicity." The Bey read it,
and repeated his question,--"Why has the Prince of America not sent the
hundred and seven thousand dollars?" The Consuls endeavored to explain
the dependence of their Bey on his Grand Council, the Senate, which
august body objected to certain stipulations in Famin's treaty. If his
Highness of Tunis would consent to strike out or modify these articles,
the Senate would ratify the treaty, and the President would send the
money as soon as possible. But the Bey was not to be talked over; he
refused to be led away from the main question,--"Where are the money,
the regalia, the naval stores?" He could take but one view of the case:
he had been trifled with; the Prince of America was not in earnest.

Monsieur Famin, who found himself turned out of office by the
Commissioners, lost no opportunity of insinuating that American promises
were insincere, and any expectations built upon them likely to
prove delusive.

After some weeks spent in stormy negotiations, this modification of the
articles was agreed upon. The duty might be three or three hundred per
cent., if the Consuls wished it, but it should be reciprocal. The Bey
refused to give up the powder: fifteen barrels of powder, he said, might
get him a prize worth a hundred thousand dollars; but salutes were not
to be fired, unless demanded by the Consul on the part of the United
States. The Bey also persisted in his intention of pressing American
vessels into his service; but he waived this claim in the case of