Note 166 — Chapter IV
Reading edition
It is certain that the Barbary corsairs had come to the “chops” of the Channel and captured English merchantmen with impunity, though this rare occurrence was used by Charles and his advisers merely as a pretext for their questionable demands (Macpherson, ii. pp. 284 and 302). The earliest treaty between England and Algiers for the mutual protection of shipping is dated April 10, 1682 (Hertslet, ‘Treaties,’ etc., vol. ii. p. 58).