The Dey of Algiers was believed to have accumulated a treasure of
fifteen millions sterling, and Buonaparte had actually duped him into
a treaty, by which the French were to be permitted to erect a fort on
the very spot where the ancient Hippo stood, the choice between which
and the Hellespont, as the site of New Rome, is said to have
perplexed the judgment of Constantine. To this he added an
additional point of connection with Russia, by means of Odessa, and
on the supposition of a war in the Baltic, a still more interesting
relation to Turkey, and the Mores, and the Greek islands. It had
been repeatedly signified to the British Government, that from the
Morea and the countries adjacent, a considerable supply of ship
timber and naval stores might be obtained, such as would at least
greatly lessen the pressure of a Russian war. The agents of France
were in full activity in the Morea and the Greek islands, the
possession of which, by that Government, would augment the naval
resources of the French to a degree of which few are aware who have
not made the present state of commerce of the Greeks an object of
particular attention.
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