ALGERIE, L'. 



ALGERIE, L'. 



210 



marabout, who in the year 1832, hi the midst of the general confusion 

 produced by the fall of the Turkish power, had attained the title of 

 Emir and Bey of Mascara, and had gathered under his banner the 

 Arab populations of the west, advanced with 9000 horse to within 

 sight of Oran, and attacked the French outposts, but after some 

 sharp fighting was obliged to retire with the loss of 800 men. In 

 June the French occupied the maritime station of Arzew, east of 

 Oran, and soon after, the more important town of Mustigannim on 

 the opposite or eastern side of the Bay of Arzew. There was much 

 fighting between the French and the Arabs in the province of Oran 

 during the rest of the year. On the eastern coast an expedition sent 

 from Toulon, in September of the same year, landed a body of troops 

 at Bujeiah, and after several days' hard fighting against the Kabyles, 

 who disputed every foot of ground, house after house, and garden 

 after garden, the French obtained possession of the town, which 

 formed an intermediate station on the coast between Algiers and Bona. 



By an ordonnance of the month of August, 1834, General Count 

 d'Erlon was appointed ' governor-general of the French possessions 

 hi North Africa,' under the direction and control of the minister-at-war. 

 An intendant or head of the civil department was also appointed, as 

 well as a commissary of justice at the head of the judicature. The 

 military events of this year were of little importance. There was 

 gome desultory fighting with the Kabyles in the neighbourhood of 

 Bujeiah, and with the troops of Ahmed Bey of Constantine, in the 

 direction of Bona. The sheik of La-Calle, a maritime station east of 

 Bona, on the frontiers of Tunis, made his submission to the French. 

 In the west, Abd-el-Kader, Bey of Mascara, whose authority was now 

 acknowledged by all the Arab tribes from the river Shellif to the 

 frontier* of Marocco, entered into an agreement with the French 

 governor of Oran, by which he acknowledged the supremacy of 

 France, and was acknowledged by the French as the emir of the 

 province of Mascara, which included the whole western division of 

 the state of Algier? with the exception of Oran and its immediate 

 territory, and the other points on the coast which were occupied 

 by the French. The Shellif was to be his boundary on the east. A 

 sort of commercial treaty was also concluded between the emir and 

 the French. This convention was censured at Paris, as giving a 

 political importance to the Arab chief, of which he would take 

 advantage to consolidate his power, until a proper opportunity 

 occurred to turn his arms against the French : and so it happened. 



At the beginning of 1835 Abd-el-Kader crossed the Shellif, and 

 excited the Hadjoutes and other tribes in the immediate neighbour- 

 hood of Algiers to rise against the French. He himself collected a 

 force of 8000 horse and 4000 foot, of whom 1200 had been trained 

 as regular infantry in the neighbourhood of Oran. General Truzel, 

 the French governor of Oran, marched against him, and met him on 

 the banks of the river Sig. The Arabs fought well, but gave way 

 at last, and retreated a few miles. General Tre'zel, having lost 240 

 men, thought it prudent next day to retire to Arzew on the 

 sea-coast ; but he was attacked by the Arabs at the pass of Makta, 

 where he lost his baggage, a howitzer, several caissons, and 500 men 

 either killed or wounded. This disaster was the most serious which 

 the French had yet encountered in Africa. Abd-el-Kader showed 

 considerable military skill in these encounters. 



Marshal Clause!, being appointed by the King to succeed Count 

 d'Krlon, resolved on his arrival at Algiers to crush if possible the 

 rising power of Abd-el-Kader. He began by appointing a native Bey 

 of Oran, thus exciting a rival to the emir in his own neighbourhood. 

 He then prepared an expedition against Mascara, a town of about 

 10,000 inhabitants, and the capital of Abd-el-Kader, 18 leagues S.E. 

 of Oran. The Duke of Orleans sailed from France to Oran to 

 accompany the expedition, which consisted of about 10,000 men. 

 Abd-el-Kader tried to oppose the French on the banks of the Sig, and 

 afterwards at the pass of the river Habrah, but his men were 

 overcome by French tactics and discipline. He then withdrew into 

 the interior, leaving Mascara to its fate. The French found Mascara 

 deserted by its inhabitants, and plundered by the wild Arabs. Being 

 unable to retain possession of it, Clausel ordered it to be set on fire 

 on the 9th of December, 1835, after which he marched back to the 

 sea-coast by way of Mustigannim, whence he returned to Algiers. 



In the following January, 1836, Marshal Clausel undertook another 

 inland expedition against the town of Tremecen or Tlemsen, near 

 the frontiers of Marocco, and which was now the head-quarters of 

 Abd-el-Kader. The French took Tlemsen and placed a garrison in 

 it. Marshal Clausel soon after returned to France, and Abd-el-Kader 

 resumed operations against the French, interrupting the communi- 

 cations between Tlemsen and the coast. The French government 

 gent another expedition direct to the mouth of the Tafna River under 

 General Bugeaud, who marched into the interior, and encountered 

 Abd-el-Kader on the Sikkak Hiver. The Arab cavalry attacked the 

 French as they crossed the ravine, and obtained a momentary 

 advantage, but they were at last repulsed, when Abd-el-Kader 

 advanced in good order with his reserve of regular infantry. This 

 body of men fired with connid. , ;,, | m t being charged 



with the bayonet by the French, they were routed and driven in 

 thfir flight down the precipice into the ravinr blow, where most of 

 tli>'iM w !! killed. The native auxiliaries of the French were busy 

 cutting off the heads of the fallen ; the French however succeeded in 



oioa. Div. VOL. L 



saving the lives of 130 men, and this was the first instance of 

 prisoners being taken in Africa. This was the first approach to a 

 more humane system of warfare, and it led afterwards to an exchange 

 of prisoners between Abd-el-Kader and the French. The defeat of 

 Abd-el-Kader was complete. General Bugeaud entered Tlemsen, 

 provisioned the garrison, and thence retraced his way back to Oran, 

 whence he embarked for France, where he was promoted to the rank 

 of lieutenant-general. 



Meantime an expedition against Ahmed Bey of Constantine was 

 resolved upon at Paris, and Marshal Clausel returned to Algiers to 

 make his preparations. Troops were sent both from Algiers and 

 from Toulon to Boua, where the Duke of Nemours, Louis-Philippe's 

 second son, arrived also to accompany the army. On the 13th of 

 November the expedition, about 7000 strong, left Bona, and after two 

 days arrived at Guelma, an old Roman station on the Seyboos River, 

 where a depot was established for the sick. The troops then crossed 

 the defile of Ras-el-Akba, and attained the high land of Constantine, 

 when they were assailed by a storm of hail and snow, followed by a 

 sharp frost, which reminded some of the veterans of the retreat from 

 Moscow. Many men died, and others had their feet frostbitten. On 

 the 21st of November the army encamped before the walls of 

 Constantino. Clausel attempted to storm the town, but was repulsed 

 with great loss, and obliged to retire to Bona. 



In the spring of 1837 General Bugeaud was sent again to Oran 

 on a special mission to treat with Abd-el-Kader in order to prevent 

 him from joining Ahmed Bey of Constantine, against whom a second 

 expedition on a larger scale was being prepared. Fortunately for the 

 French, Abd-el-Kader, an Arab and the representative of Arab 

 nationality, had little sympathy with the Turkish Bey of Constantine, 

 who was besides much inferior to him in character and abilities. 

 Bugeaud, having collected about 10,000 men at Oran, moved forward 

 with a strong escort to the banks of the Tafna, where he had a 

 remarkable interview with Abd-el-Kader, which Bugeaud managed 

 with considerable spirit and address, and at last a treaty was agreed 

 upon and stamped with the seal of the Emir, dated 30th of May, 1837. 

 Abd-el-Kader acknowledged the sovereignty of France, retaining the 

 administration with the title of Emir of the two provinces of Oran 

 and Titteri, with the exception of the towns of Oran, Mustigannim, 

 Arzew, and one or two more points on the coast. The French thus 

 obtained their object of being enabled to turn all their strength 

 towards the eastern province of Constantine, where 20,000 men were 

 assembled at Bona and Guelma towards the beginning of October. 

 General Danre'mont took the direction of the expedition, and the 

 Duke of Nfmours came from France to assume the command in 

 chief. The army met with little opposition in its advance. They 

 formed their batteries on the high grounds which command the town, 

 and effected a breach in the wall. On the 12th of October, the 

 governor-general Danre'mont, whilst surveying the operations, was 

 killed by a cannon-shot, by the side of the Duke of Ndmours. 

 General Val<?e assumed the direction of the besieging army, and the 

 town was stormed, but the French encountered a stubborn resistance 

 in the narrow streets ; the natives sprung a mine, which killed a 

 number of French soldiers, and a high wall which fell down buried 

 many more under its rums. At last all opposition was overcome, the 

 surviving part of the garrison escaped or threw themselves down the 

 walls of the town, and the Kasbah, or citadel, surrendered soon after. 

 A native kaid, or civil magistrate, was appointed, and a French governor 

 and garrison being left at Constantine, the army returned to Bona. The 

 conquest of Constantine, followed by the submission of many tribes of 

 the interior, was an important event. It established the French power 

 in the centre of a vast inland region, the ancient Numidia, extending 

 to the borders of the regency of Tunis on one side, and as far as the 

 Sahara, or Great Desert, on the other. 



In the following year, 1838, the French sent detachments from 

 Constantine in several directions into the interior, to Milah, Djemilah, 

 and Seteef, the ancient Sitifis. They also occupied the maritime 

 station of Stora, the ancient Rusicada, the nearest landing-point to 

 communicate with Constantino, and near it they built a town which 

 they called Philippeville. 



Meantime Abd-el-Kader was busy in subduing some remote tribes 

 in the south of his province, which would not acknowledge his 

 authority. After the ratification of the treaty, he sent an envoy to 

 Paris, with presents to Louis-Philippe. He then proceeded to Am 

 Madhi, about 200 miles inland, on the borders of the Desert, the 

 marabout of which had refused obedience to him. He besieged the 

 place for several mouths, and at last took it by capitulation, in 

 January, 1839, and he sent to General Valde a journal of his 

 expedition in French, which was written by M. Ldon Roches, a 

 young Frenchman, who remained two years with the Emir in the 

 capacity of his secretary. Abd-el-Kader also formed a cordon of 

 stations in the interior, xipon which to fall in case of future reverses : 

 at Boghar, about 40 miles S.E. of Medeyah; at Thaza on Mount 

 Matmata, on the south bank of the Shellif ; at Sfiida, S. of Mascara ; 

 Tagdemt, S.E. of Mascara ; and Tefzra, S. of Tlemsen. 



In the spring of 1839 the French took possession of Jiljili, an 

 intermediate station on the coast between Bujeiah and Stora, in the 

 country of the Kabyles. Another expedition from Constantine 

 occupied permanently Djemilah, and Seteef, which last became tha 



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