386 



FRANCE. 



FRANCIS, JOHN B. 



penrlence. Tl.e leader of the revolt was the 

 great Marabout Si-Seliman-Ben-Hamza. The 

 French believed at first that it would be check- 

 ed at once, and that Si-Seliman would return 

 to his allegiance. He had been invested with 

 one of the highest dignities in Algeria, that of 

 Bach-Agha ; for in the hierarchy of the Arab 

 chiefs, which counts six hundred and fifty-six 

 Caids and thirty-four Aghas, there are but 

 nine Caliphats and eight Bach-Aghas. Two 

 months after being raised to that rank, Si- 

 Seliman, who had retired for some time to the 

 desert, returned toward the north, followed 

 by large numbers, and by easy marches ad- 

 vanced on Geryville. These movements left 

 no doubt as to his intentions. The French 

 sent reinforcements to Geryville ; a column 

 consisting of one hundred infantry, a body of 

 Turcos, and soldiers of the Battalion of Africa, 

 one hundred spahis, and a large force of regu- 

 lar cavalry, set out from Tiaret. Colonel Beau- 

 pretre, commandant of the circle of Tiaret, left 

 with the column for Geryville, with the object 

 of maintaining tranquillity in the country he 

 was to pass through, and punishing the emis- 

 saries of the rebel leaders, who were doing 

 their best to raise the country. On the even- 

 ing of Apm T he encamped about ten leagues 

 from Geryville. At four o'clock in the morn- 

 ing of April 8th, the cry " to arms ! " was 

 heard close to his tent. He found that some 

 of the irregular cavalry had gone over to the 

 insurgents, and that he was furiously attacked 

 on all sides. The chief of the insurgents was 

 shot dead by the colonel, but, after a desperate 

 fight, lasting seven hours, the French troops 

 were overpowered. The colonel was cut in 

 pieces ; of the foot soldiers not one was left 

 alive ; only one of the spahis, about half a 

 squadron, escaped and reached Geryville. The 

 number of insurgents rapidly increased, and 

 soon amounted to from 12,000 to 15,000 men. 

 The French troops, however, reenforced by 

 some 10,000 men, and numbering altogether 

 some 54,000 men, defeated the natives in almost 

 every engagement. On June 5th the Marabout 

 Si-El-Azerey, was killed at the battle of Dar- 

 Ben-Abdallah, where, supported by numerous in- 

 surgent" tribes, he attacked the camp of Gen. 

 Eose. His death was followed by dissension 

 among the insurgents, and some tribes, as the 

 Flottas with their chief, the Marabout Abd-el- 

 Aziz, made their submission. For some time 

 it was thought that the insurrection was nearly 

 over, and on July 23d, a report of the minister 

 of war, followed by an imperial decree, was pub- 

 lished, modifying the administration of Algeria. 

 The report says, the insurrection was not only 

 caused by fanaticism, but still more by an un- 

 founded hope of surprising the vigilance of the 

 authorities, who were believed to have been 

 disarmed because divided in their action. The 

 report therefore proposes to increase the power 

 and responsibility of the generals commanding 

 divisions, making the prefects subordinate to 

 ihem, and entrusting them with the administra- 



tion of the natives established beyond the limits 

 of the communal districts. Soon, however, the 

 insurrection began again to spread, and although 

 the natives were unable to gain any lasting ad- 

 vantages over the French, and most of the tribes 

 were compelled to submit, the insurrection had 

 at the end of the year not yet altogether ceased. 



The Moniteur denies that the French Gov- 

 ernment has ever had the least thought of re- 

 stricting French domination in Cochin China. 

 On the contrary, every act of the Governor, 

 Rear- Admiral de la Grandiere, bears witness to 

 the intention of maintaining authority and ex- 

 tending its influence. The treaty of protecto- 

 rate concluded in 1863 by Rear- Admiral de la 

 Grandiere Avith the king of Cambodia, who ap- 

 plied to France for protection against the King 

 of Siam, when the latter threatened to annex 

 his territory, has been ratified by the French 

 Government. It was reported, at the close of 

 the year 1864, that another sovereign of Farther 

 India, the King of Laos, had applied for a 

 French protectorate. 



FRANCIS, Hon. Jonx BROWX, was born in 

 Philadelphia, during the temporary residence 

 of his parents in that city, May 31, 1791, died 

 at Spring Green, in Warwick, R. I., August 9, 

 1864. His father, who belonged to Philadelphia, 

 died in his infancy, and he was reared mainly 

 under the care of his maternal grandfather, 

 John Brown, of Providence, R. I., one of the 

 u Four Brothers " of that name, whose liberal 

 enterprise laid the foundations of the com- 

 mercial prosperity of that city. He was pre- 

 pared for college in the schools of Providence, 

 entered Brown University in 1804, where he 

 graduated in the class of 1808. He spent a 

 year in the counting-house of his kinsmen, 

 Messrs. Brown and Ives, of Providence, in 

 order to acquire a mercantile education, sub- 

 sequently attended the Law School at Litch- 

 field, Conn., though rather for the purpose of 

 intellectual culture than with any intention of 

 professional practice. In 1821, he went to live 

 at Spring Green, a family estate on the shores 

 of Narragansett Bay, a few miles from Provi- 

 dence, and here he passed his life engaged in agri- 

 cultural pursuits, and in a long series of public 

 services. In the same year he commenced his 

 political careejr as a representative in the State 

 Legislature, from the town of Warwick ; and 

 was annually chosen till 1829, when he resigned 

 his seat. In 1831, he was a member of the 

 Rhode Island Senate; and in the spring of 

 1832, he was elected Governor of that State by 

 a coalition of the Anti-masons and the Demo- 

 crats. Up to this time he had been a Federalist 

 and a National Republican. Henceforward he 

 was known as a Democrat. He was reflected 

 Governor every year till 1838, when the State 

 fell into the hands of the opposite party. In 

 the free-suffrage troubles of 1842, he again 

 appeared in the State Senate as a member of 

 the " Law and Order " party, and in 1844 ho 

 was chosen by the Legislature of Rhode Island 

 to fill the vacancy in the United States Senate 



