He then ordered his officers to send out
their long boats, well manned, to seize nine of the piratical ships
lying in the road, himself continuing to fire upon the castle. This
was so bravely executed, that, with the loss of only twenty-five men
killed, and forty-eight wounded, all the ships were fired in the sight
of Tunis. Thence sailing to Tripoli, he concluded a peace with that
nation; then returning to Tunis, he found nothing but submission. And
such, indeed, was his reputation, that he met with no further
opposition, but collected a kind of tribute from the princes of those
countries, his business being to demand reparation for all the
injuries offered to the English during the civil wars. He exacted from
the duke of Tuscany 60,000_l_. and, as it is said, sent home
sixteen ships laden with the effects which he had received from
several states.
The respect with which he obliged all foreigners to treat his
countrymen, appears from a story related by bishop Burnet. When he lay
before Malaga, in a time of peace with Spain, some of his sailors went
ashore, and meeting a procession of the host, not only refused to pay
any respect to it, but laughed at those that did. The people, being
put, by one of the priests, upon resenting this indignity, fell upon
them and beat them severely.
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