ot from the Mole, instantly
answered from the flagship, opened the battle. "Then commenced a
fire," wrote the admiral, "as animated and well-supported as I believe
was ever witnessed, from a quarter before three till nine, without
intermission, and which did not cease altogether till half-past eleven
[P.M.]. The ships immediately following me were admirably and coolly
taking up their stations, with a precision even beyond my most
sanguine hope; and never did the British flag receive, on any
occasion, more zealous and honourable support.

"The battle was fairly at issue between a handful of Britons, in the
noble cause of Christianity, and a horde of fanatics, assembled round
their city, and enclosed within its fortifications, to obey the
dictates of their Despot. The cause of God and humanity prevailed; and
so devoted was every creature in the fleet, that even British women
served at the same guns with their husbands, and, during a contest of
many hours, never shrank from danger, but animated all around them."

Some of the men-of-war, especially the _Impregnable_, Rear-Admiral
Milne, were hard beset; but about ten o'clock at night the main
batteries were silenced, and in a state of ruin, and "all the ships in
the port, with the exception of the outer frigate [which had been
boarded], were in flames, which extended rapidly over the whole
arsenal, storehouses, and gun-boats, exhibiting a spectacle of awful
grandeur and interest no pen can describe."[92] At one o'clock
everything in the Marine seemed on fire: two ships wrapped in flames
drifted out of the port. Heavy thunder, lightning, and rain, increased
the lurid effect of the scene.

Next morning, says Mr. Shaler, "the combined fleets are at anchor in
the bay, apparently little damaged; every part of the town appeared to
have suffered. The Marine batteries are in ruins, and may be occupied
without any effort. Lord Exmouth holds the fate of Algiers in his
hands."

Instead, however, of demolishing the last vestige of the
fortifications, and exacting pledges for future good behaviour, the
admiral concluded a treaty by which prisoners of war in future should
be exchanged and not enslaved; and the whole of the slaves in Algiers,
to the number of 1,642 (chiefly Italian, only eighteen English), were
at once set at liberty, and the Dey was made to refund the money,
amounting to nearly four hundred dollars, which he had that year
extorted from the Italian States. Finally, h