A w years after, Charles undertook another expe diton against Barbary, in which he was by no means equally successful. When Ilayradin, by his vigorous and judicious exertions, had so much increased the stien•th of Algiers, the Sultan Solyman, either from grit rude or jealousy, raised him to the dignity of a hashaw of the empire, and appointed Hassan Aga, a Sardinian rene gado, a bold and expe ieliced officer, to succeed him in the vice-loyalty of Algiers. Hassan im mediately began to ravage the coast of Spain with great fury ; extending his depredations iikew ise to the eccle siastical state, and other parts ol Italy. His cruel pi racies roused the resentment of Pope Paul III. and of the emperor Charles V., who concerted an enterprise against this infidel rubber. A bull was published by his holiness, promising plenary absolution of sins, and the crown of martyrdom to all who should perish in battle on the coasts of Barbary, or be made slaves ; and the emperor sailed with a fleet consisting of 120 ships, and 20 galleys, haying on board an army of 30,000 men, with an immense quantity of money, provisions, ammunition, and arms. 'Many of the Spanish and Italian nobility accompanied their monarch in this expedition, eage-r to share in the glory whici. they were confident he wa:srvto acquire ; a hundred knights of Malta, who had always distinguished themselves for their zeal against the ene mies of the cross, embarked in this sacred cause with 1000 chosen followers ; and so high were the expecta tions formed of this enterprise, that even ladies of rank and character, and the wives and daughters of the offi cers and soldiers, braved the perils of the sea, with a view of settling in Barbary after the conquest was com pleted. After a tedious and hazardous voyage from "Alljorca, the fleet appeared before the African coast ; but the roil of the sea and the violence of the winds prevented the troops from disembarking. At length, Charles Seizing a favourable opportunity, landed them ..vithout opposition, not far from Algiers, towards which he advanced without delay.
The Algerines were thrown into the utmost conster nation when they beheld such an immense armament, and saw a mighty army already moving towards their city. A wall with scarce any outworks was all its ex ternal defence. The greater part of their forces were dispersed in the different provinces of the kingdom, to levy the usual contributions from the Arabs and Nloors ; and in the garrison, there were only 800 Turks, and 6000 Moorish soldiers, poorly disciplined, and worse accoutred. Charles, after building a fort, under the cannon of N• Incli his army encamped, and diverting the course of a spring, which supplied the city with water, summoned Hassan to surrender at discretion ; and threatened, in case of his refusal, to put all the garrison to the sword. To this summons Hassan returned a bold and haughty answer ; but with such a slender force, he must soon have been forced to yield to the imperial troops, superior even to those which had defeated Bar bavossa at the head of 60,000 men. The Bowan, or senate of the Algerines, began therefore to consult about the most proper means of obtaining an honourable capitula tion ; but in the midst of their deliberations, a frantic prophet rushed into the assembly, exhorting them to defend themselves without dismay, and foretelling, that before the end of the moon, the Spaniards should be completely destroyed. The prediction seems to have been inspired by heaven ; For it was scarcely uttered, when the clouds began to gather, and the sky assumed a troubled and threatening aspect. A tremendous storm of wind, and rain, and hail, arose from the north ; vio lent earthquakes agitated the ground ; and deep and dismal darkness in' olved both the land and the sea. The soldiers, who hacl brought nothing ashore but their arms, remained clueing the night exposed to all the fury of the tempest, without shelter or covering of any kind. Their camp was overflowed by torrents which poured from the neighbouring hills, and at every step they sunk to the ankles in mud ; while, to prevent their being driven over by the impetuosity of the wind, they were obliged to fix their spears in the ground, and to support them selves by taking hold of them. In this distressing situ
ation Hassan did not allow them to remain unmolested. Sallying out about the break of day with fresh and vigo rous troops, who had been screened from the storm, he fell on a body of Italians stationed nearest the city, who, dispirited and benumbed with cold, fled at his first ap proach. The troops who occupied the post behind them attempted to resist ; but their matches were extinguish ed, their powder wetted, and having scarce strength sufficient to handle their other arms, they were soon overpowered with great slaughter. It was not till the whole imperial army, with Charles himself at their head, advanced to oppose him, that Hassan thought pro per to withdraw, preserving the greatest order in his retreat. • The return of day-light presented to a: still more dreadful and affecting scene. The hurricane still raged with unabated violence ; and the ships; on which the safety and subsistence of the army depended, were driven from their anchors ; some dashing against each other and sinking amidst the waves, and many forced ashore, and beaten in pieces against the rocks. On that fatal day, 15 ships of war and 150 transports were lost ; 8000 men were drowned, and those who escaped the fury of the sea, were massacred as they reached the land by the relentless Arabs. Charles stood on the shore contemplating in silent anguish this awful event, which blasted at once all his hopes of success, and lamenting the fate of those unhappy men to whom he could afford no relief. The storm at length began to subside, and hopes were entertained, that as many ships might still escape as would be sufficient to alibi d subsistence to the army, and transport it back to Europe. lint the approach of night again involved the sea in darkness and horror ; and as the officers on board the surviving ships could not convey any intelligence to their compa nions on shore, they' remained during the night in all the anguish of suspense. Their distress and perplex ity was not much alleviated by the intelligence which Doria sent to them next morning ; that having weather ed out the storm, he found it necessary to remove with his shattered vessels to Metaluz, to which, as the sky appeared still lowering and tempestuous, he advised Charles to march with all speed, as the troops might there embark with greater ease. Metafuz was at least three days' march from the imperial camp; and the sol diers, destitute of provisions, worn out with fatigue, and dispirited by hardships, were in no condition for encountering new toils. But their situation afforded no time for deliberation. They instantly began their march, placing the wounded, the sick and the feeble, in the centre, while such as appeared more vigorous, were stationed in the front and rear. So much were they exhausted by their late sufferings, that many of them could scarcely sustain the weight of their arms ; some sunk under the toil of marching through deep and al most impassable roads ; numbers perished through fa mine ; others were drowned in attempting to cross the brooks sworn by the late excessive rains ; and many were killed by the enemy, who harassed and annoyed them both night and day, during the greater part of their retreat. Nor did their calamities end here ; for scarcely had they reembarked, when another storm arose, which scattered the fleet, and obliged them sepa rately to make towards such ports in Spain or Italy as they could first reach. The emperor himself, after es caping many dangers, was obliged to take refuge in the harbour of Bujeyah, where he was detained several weeks : at length when the weather became less tem pestuous, lie set sail again for Spain, where he arrived in a condition very different from that in which he had returned from his former expedition to Barbary.