123 ABD-EL-KADER.* THERE are some men whose names are patriot's Sanctum, Freedom has her inseparably interwoven with that of chapel there, but Algeria, known only their country, so much so, that you to Europe by piracy and slaves, renecannot refer to one without entering gades and swift feluccas, was scarcely upon the history of the other. Thus deemed a fit place for the genius of Lycurgus recalls that Sparta to which patriotism to breathe in. For centuries, he gave laws; Machiavelli, that Genoa from the time when its Arab conquerors for which he so successfully plotted; first gave it the name of Al Jeriza, Washington, that great republic for (the Island) it has been identified with which he fought and legislated; and a tyrannous oppression, which was a Abd el Kader that territory for which galling sore to Christendom. That he so long struggled, and from the sur- Spain which could glue its hand to the face of which he has, more than once, hilt with the innocent blood of Monswept the invader. The story of the tezuma and his compatriots in another hero who becomes the "foremost man Continent, quailed before the crescent of all his time" in repelling an aggres- and the green and pointed ensign of the sion, has been repeated often and often, Moors in this. Societies of Christian from that of Aristomenes to that of knights, who of old had carried terror Tell; luckily, while the human heart to the heart of Saladin and planted the beats with a love of country or of home, cross upon the walls of Acre, were glad the tale can never tire by repetition, to buy off prisoners taken by the pirate but the narrator will find his story Turk, and to form companies whose listened to with throbbing breast and business it was to rescue those who glistening eye, and the name of the had fallen into their barbaric clutches. hero will become a household word, and Driven from Spain the Moors certainly his deeds will be repeated from age to were, but from the stronghold of Ål age with still increasing interest, Jeriza they arose and smote the Spaniard sorely. When the oldest cask is opened, When the good man trims his armour, Still is the story told; Even so; no matter whether the discourse be of Horatius Cocles or of Abd-el-Kader, we shall be listened to with interest. The title 66 Defensor Fidei" has scarcely been so nobly or so truly earned as that of "Defensor Patria," and the latter is the more respected. The subject of our biography opens up new ground. Switzerland is the Finding an easy prey in the rich merchants of Spain, they naturally, since love of piracy increased with success, turned their arms against other ships, and the trading Englishman became their prey. Luckily, we then had one at our head who never hesitated to protect those of whom he had styled himself Protector;-and the cannon of Cromwell, pointed by Admiral Blake, taught the Algerines to respect the flag of England. His most Christian Majesty of France acting upon this, in 1683 ordered Algiers to be bombarded by Admiral Duquesne, which led to a treaty between that power and France. Nearly one hundred years afterwards the Spaniards grew bold enough to attempt the same thing, but without success. In 1775, General O'Reilly and a Spanish army landed near Algiers, but were obliged to retreat with loss. The Dutch, after some fighting,_compounded for safety. So did the Danes and Swedes. The Austrian and Russian vessels were protected by special interference of the Porte. The Italians were, however, the most frequent losers, and the prisoners taken from them were sold as slaves or made to toil in the rally interwoven. He was born in the public works. environs of Mascara, in the commenceThis state of affairs remained tillment of the year 1807, and was there1815, when America took an Algerine fore in the first glow of youthful vigour frigate and brig, and abolished all tri- and enterprise, when the government bute paid to the Dey, besides making that of Charles X. undertook in 1820 the potentate pay 60,000 dollars, compen- Algerian Expedition. sation for the ships which had been plundered; and at the Congress held at Vienna in 1816, it was at last determined by the European powers to put an end to Christian slavery. This was effected by Lord Exmouth, who bombarded the city and reduced the Dey to terms upon that and other subjects. For eleven years subsequent to the bombardment the Algerines appear to have been sufficiently humbled; but in 1827 an insult was offered by Hassan or Hussein Pacha, the last Dey, to the French Consul, which led to the capture of Algiers by that power. This took place in 1830. The Dey capitulated to General Bourmont; abdicated and retired to Europe, and on the 4th of July, 1830, the French became possessed of the "city of Algiers, and the forts and harbours depending on it." The " Napoleon of Peace," as he proudly styled himself, Louis Philippe, wanted to secure his throne; and to direct the attention of the fickle people he governed elsewhere, some external excitement was needed. In this he was gratified by the acquisition of Algiers. France had always dreamt of colonization. That by nature she is unfitted to be the mother of many and flourishing colonies was no matter to her. If la perfide Albion boasted of colonies and dependencies in every habitable portion of the globe, it was thought reasonable enough that la belle France should outstrip her. France then, to use the words of her historian, seized upon Algeria with "an admirable instinct." The minds of the revolutionary and dangerous classes were filled by constant rumours of conquest and aggrandizement. A portion of that immense army which is the bane of the country was kept employed, and underneath the cloak of foreign conquest the wily son of Egalité consolidated his power at home. At the commencement of this enterprise they declared, as all people will declare and have declared, even in the most shameful oppressions, that they only intended by the expedition to exercise "a moral influence," by a striking and astounding victory. In answer to a question of the English minister, M. de Polignac avowed that the "only design of the expedition was to destroy piracy; and that end being accomplished, the "evacuation of Africa would be determined by an European congress." We have seen how the promise was kept, the occupation of Rome was undertaken under a somewhat similar pretext. Will it hereafter be declared, that France seized upon that city with "an admirable instinct?" To hold in subjection a country stretching for two hundred and fifty leagues along the coast, from Morocco to Tunis, and of a breadth of from sixty to eighty leagues, bounded by the desert, and peopled by fierce hordes, the descendants of the Numidians, a race of Kabyles, bold, determined, and energetic, was not an easy task. The towns were few and had little sympathy with or authority over, the inhabitants of the plain; they were peopled by a mixture of Jews and Moors, two races equally feeble and degenerate, and therefore although easily reduced were of little use in the hands of the victors. Besides this, it was necessary in case of an European war, not to displease England, and consequently the French, in sending Marshal Clausel to Africa, enjoined him to remain almost in a state of inaction (“d'agir le moins possible.") The inhabitants, seeing the French shut up in Algiers, began to doubt their invincibility. Of the three Deys, one only, that of Oran, submitted to them. The other two entertained far less peaceable intentions. Achmet Bey There was one, however, who proved maintained himself in Constantine, a great obstacle in the way of French and defied the Christians to approach conquest, and this was Abd-el-Kader. him; whilst the Bey of Tittery, who His biography is the history of the suc- was near to their territory, thought it cesses and the reverses of the French in incumbent on him to deal the first Africa, and the two subjects are natu-blow; he preached a religious war, and endeavoured to shut up the French in guished thaleb, (doctor or savant,) but the town they had taken. Under these made himself also remarkable by those circumstances Clausel had only one way corporeal exercises which form so esleft him. He put the government in sential a part of the education of the order, prepared his army, and passed, Arab. He was remarkable for his skill for the first time, the celebrated defile in horsemanship, and in the use of the of Téniah, overthrew the Arabs, occu-yatagan and the lance. To acquire the pied Médéah, the Bey's capital, and title of Hadgi, (saint,) he twice made deposed the Bey. Here he stopped, the pilgrimage to the tomb of the having already gone far beyond the Prophet at Mecca; the first time cerlimits of his instructions. General tainly was in his infancy, but the Berthezène was sent to replace Clausel, second time was when he was already who had so compromised his govern- a young man in 1828. On his return he ment, with orders to behave so that it married, and by his wife, whom he loved would be evident that the French were tenderly, he had two sons. For some uncertain about their occupation of time he lived in obscurity, rendering Algeria; to impress this idea more himself remarkable by the severity of strongly, they left him but 9,000 men his manners, his piety, and his zeal in to occupy their vast conquest. observing all the precepts of the Koran, The first result of Clausel's extended until his aged father caused him to be victory was to deliver up the inhabi-proclaimed Emir by the inhabitants of tants of Algeria to complete anarchy. Mascara. He then began to preach a Some wished to submit to the con- religious war, (djehad,) and both father querors, others to dispute the territory and son, having placed themselves at inch by inch. Some united themselves the head of ten thousand horse, in the under a revered Marabout, named Sidiel-Hadji-Mahiddin, who persuaded them that it would be better to band together for the extinction of a common enemy than to indulge in an internecine war. This advice was listened to, and the tribes who occupied the territory bordering on Mascara, wished to elect the old Marabout their chief. This honour he declined on account of his old age, but whilst himself refusing, he offered in his place the third of his four sons, and declared that he was possessed of all the qualities necessary for the success of their enterprise, knowledge, activity, valour, and piety. He moreover declared that in his journey to Mecca, an old fakir had predicted that he would become the Sultan of the Arabs. This son was Abd-el-Kader, born at the guetna of his father, a short distance west of Mascara. The Guetna of Mahiddin is a kind of college where the Marabouts assemble their young men for instruction in literature, theology, and jurisprudence. Here Abd-el-Kader became, at an early age, versed in the study of the Koran. His explanation of and observations on the difficult passages, were said to exceed those of the most skilful commentators. He had also studied with eagerness the history of his own country, and was besides a perfect master of oratory. But he did not rest with the reputation of a distin month of May, 1832, commenced the war by the assault of Oran. For three days they continued most determined and furious attacks, but were repulsed with loss. In this, his first battle, Abd-el-Kader is said to have shewn an almost extravagant amount of valour. Seeing the Arabs astonished and intimidated by the artillery, the young Emir turned his horse's head directly against the grape and bomb-shells, which he saw ricocher, and smiled as the bullets whistled past his ears. The French general Desmichels appeared at first to wish to break through the system of inaction which had been the rule of his predecessors. He advanced against the Arabs, made a razzia against the hostile tribe of the Gharbas, and resolved to surprise Abd-el-Kader in his camp. Dissuaded from this, he contented himself with extending the French territory to two important posts, to Argen and to Mossaganeur (July 3rd and 29th, 1833). Abd-el-Kader, on his part, determined to centralize the Arab forces, and to extend his power. He marched on Tiemsem, reduced some hostile tribes, placed over them a new Kaid, and returned to Mascara, where he learnt with profound grief the death of his aged father. Proceeding in the tortuous line of policy of putting the natives of Algeria to all sorts of inconvenience, and the embarrassments of a country occupied by a foreign army, the French concluded with Abd-el-Kader a treaty which constituted him sovereign of the province of Oran, with the rights of monopolising the whole of the commerce of the country, in the same way in which Mehemet Ali did in Egypt. The Arabs were forbidden to trade with the Europeans except through the agent of the Emir, who himself fixed the price of their goods, which he resold to the European merchants. The treaty was divided into two parts, the Arabian and the French agreement; the first part only Desmichels communicated to his government, upon which a misunderstanding arose between the Governorgeneral Voirol and Desmichels, which the Emir knew how to turn to his own advantage. But as every ambitious chief has other enemies than those he meets in the open field; the coldness of his partisans, the revolt of some and the jealousy of others at his elevation, so it happened with Abd-el-Kader. Many Kaids declared against him, and on the 12th of April, 1834, Mustapha Ben Ismaël, chief of the Douaires, raised the standard of revolt, and, in spite of a determined resistance, overthrew him, put him to flight, and would have taken or slain him had it not been for the devotion of one of his men, who raised and remounted him. This time Abd-el-Kader was indebted to the French for assistance. Desmichels refused the friendship of Ben Ismaël, one of the most faithful allies of his nation, assisted Abd-el-Kader in repulsing him, and sent to that Emir a supply of powder and muskets. By this aid he recovered his position, and in his ambition of extending his dominion, he conceived the project of overrunning the whole of the provinces of Algiers and of Tittery; he crossed the Chelif, entered into Médéah as a victor, and placed over the tribes he had conquered friends of his own, and returned triumphantly to his own territory. This was too bold a stroke to be pleasing to the French, and General Trezel, who had superseded Desmichels, marched against the Emir to chastise him. Their forces met at Macta, the Arabians being much more numerous than the French, and the battle, which commenced favourably to the latter, terminated in their total defeat, on the 28th of June, 1835. Surprised' in a narrow pass at Macta, the squares which enclosed the wounded and the baggage were broken through, and the slaughter was immense. All the wounded were put to the sword, and their heads, stuck upon the long lances of the Arabs, were pushed, gashed and bleeding, over the bayonets of the infantry into the very faces of their comrades. After having left upwards of 500 heads (for the custom of decapitation taught the French thus to number their dead) in the hands of the enemy, and after having performed prodigies of valour, General Trezel effected his retreat. The news of this reverse changed the policy of the French. They no longer dreamt of remaining even partially inactive. Marshal Clausel was sent expressly to take signal vengeance (une éclatante revanche) upon Abd-el-Kader. He marched without any resistance upon Mascara, the capital of the Emir, which he found abandoned and in ruins. After having destroyed it entirely, he returned to Oran, and, on the 8th January, 1836, recommenced the campaign. He then basely turned his arms against the friendly tribes who had absolutely first applied to the French for assistance, and effected a most cruel razzia on the Conlouglis. Even in France this useless cruelty was condemned, and in England the papers wrote fervently against it. After two of these promenades, to use the French term, during which Abd-el-Kader hovered on his flanks without coming to any decisive engagement, the Marshal returned to Algiers, persuaded, if one may judge from the bulletins which he issued, that he had entirely destroyed the power of the Emir. Soon after, General d'Arlanges, conducting a convoy of provisions from Oran to Tlemsen, was attacked by the Emir, and overthrown with considerable loss, on the 24th April, 1836. This check, added to the failure of an expedition on Constantine, made the French still more energetic. General Bugeaud was ordered to effect the retirement of Abd-el-Kader, either by treaty or by arms. A new expedition was sent against Constantine, which this time was successful, and the town was carried by assault, but with immense loss to the French; and repulsed in pacific overtures, Bugeaud met the Emir, on the 6th of July, 1833, at the Pass of Sikak, where he attacked making their enthusiasm subservient to his administration; and secondly, to give to the population a vigorous. mili him with the greatest vigour and overthrew him; Abd-el-Kader retiring from the combat with a loss of from 1,200 to 1,500 Arabs, killed and wounded. In-tary constitution, so as to prepare them stead of taking advantage of this victory, Bugeaud remained inactive, gave the chief time to recover himself, to reestablish himself in his authority; and, some months afterwards, admitted him on equal terms to a most advantageous treaty, which gave to Abd-el-Kader three-fourths of Algeria, the provinces of Oran, Tittery, and a part of that of Algiers, and granted him a facility of buying ammunition and arms in France. (Vide art. vii. in treaty.) for the task of expelling, by an energetic and unanimous effort, all Christian sway from the soil of Africa. Nor did he rest here. He made a second line of defence, in the rear of the towns of the interior on the borders of the smaller desert. To the south at Medéah, he established a post, and to the south of Mostaganena, at Boghar, he created a military depôt. His influence extended as far as the Desert of Sahara; and finding on every hand that the tribes were prepared for a holy war, he sent word of his intentions to General Vallée; and on the 14th of December, 1839, gave the signal for a deadly struggle. For this the French were unprepared. The colonists of Mitidja were surprised by the Hagouts; their warehouses were pillaged and burnt, and in a short time from the commencement of the campaign, the soldiers of the Emir had penetrated as far as the fortifications of Algiers, and had recovered from their enemies all the territory, save that which was inclosed by strong fortifications. This treaty was severely criticised in France; and, in carrying it out, various obstacles were found. Abd-el-Kader availed himself of several obscure passages to extend his territory, and eluded the propositions of the French to come to a settlement. In December, 1837, he encamped near Hamza, and required and received the submission of all the tribes of the adjacent countries. And upon the Marshal Vallée, alarmed at this movement, establishing a camp at Khamis, the remnant of the tribe of Ouleb Teiton, which the Emir had on a pretext of contempt for his authority, surprised and massacred, came to the The news of this disastrous campaign French to demand vengeance. Such struck the French nation with amazeacts as these were deemed flagrant|ment. The Duke of Orleans, heir to violations of the treaty of Tafna; and the throne, hastened over to take part the Governor-general made such de- in the war. He was accompanied by termined and energetic protestations his brother, the Duc d'Aumale, and disagainst them, that Abd-el-Kader consented at last to name an agent who should discuss the basis of an interpretative convention, of the second article of the treaty of the 30th of May, 1837. embarked at Algiers on the 13th of April, 1840. Operations on a vast scale were at once commenced, but after twenty engagements, wherein great valour was shown on both sides, and amongst which we must not omit the defence of Mazagran by a handful of soldiers, no decisive result was obtained. The two princes distinguished themselves by their coolness and intrepidity, and the French army, generally, impressed their opponents with a very high opinion of their courage. This, without any farther result, was unsatisfactory, and some blame being attached to General Vallée, Marshal Bugeaud was Moulond-ben-Arach, who had gone to Paris loaded with presents for the King, was charged with this important negotiation. On his return to Algiers, he brought with him a convention, which, in some measure, modified three articles in the former treaty; but, in the meantime, Abd-el-Kader had profited by the truce, by strengthening his power, and fortifying his towns where possible. At Mascara, he had placed his brother-sent, in December 1840, to replace him, in-law, Ben-Tamir; Tlemsen was in the hands of his trusty lieutenant Bou Hamedi, and various other strongholds were held by other chiefs of the Mara bouts, equally favourable to the designs of the Emir, which were, first, to inflame the tribes with a religious fervour, with an express mission to destroy the power of Abd-el-Kader, and to reduce the whole territory of Algeria. With such spirit did he follow up these instructions, that in a few months after the commencement of the campaign he had already destroyed Tekendempt, Bo |