Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 1.djvu/605

Rh ALGERIA 567 Chica. They did not meet with much opposition till the 19th, when a general attack was made upon them by a force of from 40,000 to 50,000 men. These, after a fierce conflict, were completely routed. They renewed their attack on the 24th and 25th, but were on both occasions repulsed. The French then advanced upon Algiers, and on the 29th the trenches were opened. On the morning of the 4th of July the bombardment commenced, and before night a treaty was concluded for the entire surrender of Algiers. The next day the French took possession of the town; and 12 ships of war, 1500 brass cannon, and over 2,000,000 sterling came into their hands as conquerors. The Turkish troops were permitted to go wherever they pleased, provided they left Algiers, and most of them were conveyed to Asia Minor. The dey himself, with his private property and a large body of attendants, retired to Naples. When the French undertook the expedition against Algiers a pledge was given to the English government that they did not aim at the permanent possession of the country, but only at obtaining satisfaction for the injuries and insults that they had received, and putting down that system of piracy which had so long outraged Europe. The French government engaged that these objects being accom plished, the final settlement and government of the country should be arranged in concert with the other European powers for the general advantage. Notwithstanding this, the French ministry in 1833 publicly declared that it was the intention of their government to retain possession of Algiers and to colonise it. Subsequently, the English government acquiesced in this, on receiving an engagement that the French would not extend their conquests beyond Algeria either on the side of Tunis or of Marocco. The capture of Algiers was celebrated in France with great demonstrations of joy. General Bourmont was raised to the rank of marshal, and Admiral Duperre&quot; was promoted to the peerage. The revolution of 1830 followed, when Bourmont was deposed, and General Clausel appointed to succeed him. The conquerors, instead of attempting to gain the good-will of the natives, destroyed a number of their mosques, seized upon lands set apart for religious pur poses, and attempted to introduce their own laws and usages in place of those of the country, the consequence of which was that the natives entertained the greatest abhorrence for their oppressors, whom they regarded as the enemies of God and their prophet. General Clausel incensed them still more by seizing upon the possessions of the dey, the beys, and the expelled Turks in direct opposition to the conditions on which the capital had been surrendered. Bona was taken possession of, and an incursion was made into the southern province of Titterie, when the troops of the bey were defeated and Mediah taken. The beys of Titterie and Oran were deposed, and tributary rulers set up in their room. Still the war continued. The French were incessantly harassed by irruptions of hordes of the Arabs, so that no Frenchman was safe, even in the vicinity of the town ; and little reliance could be placed on the fidelity of the beys who governed the provinces. Mediah was evacuated, and Oran abandoned. In February 1831 General Berthezene was appointed commander-in-chief, and undertook several expeditions into the interior to chastise the hostile tribes, but met with little success. In October Bona was surrounded and taken by the Kabyles. There was now no safety but in the town of Algiers; agriculture was consequently neglected, and it was necessary to send to France for supplies of provisions and for fresh troops. In November 1831 General Savary, Due de Rovigo, was sent out with an additional force of 16,000 men. The new governor sought to accomplish his ends by the grossest acts of cruelty and treachery. One of his exploits was the massacre of a whole Arab tribe, including old men, women, and children, during night, on account of a robbery com mitted by some of them. He also treacherously murdered two Arab chiefs whom he had enticed into his power by a written assurance of safety. These proceedings exasperated the natives still further against the French, and those tribes that had hitherto remained quiet took up arms against them. About this time Abd-el-Kader first appears upon the field. His father, a Marabout, had collected a few followers, and attacked and taken possession of the town of Oran. On this they wished to elect him as their chief, but he declined the honour on account of his great age; and recommended his son who, he said, was endowed with all the qualities necessary to success. Abd-el-Kader was born about the beginning of 1807, and had early acquired a great reputa tion among his countrymen for learning and piety, as he was also distinguished among them for skill in horse manship and other manly exercises. He had made two pilgrimages to Mecca in company with his father, once when a child and again in 1828, by which he obtained the title of Hadji. At this time he was living in obscurity, distinguished by the austerity of his manners, his piety, and his zeal in observing the precepts of the Koran. He collected an army of 10,000 horsemen, and, accompanied by his father, marched to attack Oran, which had been taken possession of by the French. They arrived before the town about the middle of May 1832, but after con tinuing their attack for three days with great bravery they were repulsed with considerable loss. This was followed by a series of conflicts, more or less severe, between the parties, but without any permanent or decided advantage to either side. In March 1833 the Due de Rovigo was obliged, on account of his health, to return to France, and General Avizard was appointed interim governor; but the latter dying soon after, General Voirol was nominated his successor. Abd-el-Kader was still extending his influence more and more widely among the Arab tribes; and the French at last considered it to be their interest to offer him terms of peace. A treaty was accordingly concluded with him by General Desmichels, governor of Oran, in February 1834, in which he acknowledged the supremacy of France, and was recognised by them as emir of the province of Mascara. One of the conditions of the treaty was that the emir was to have a monopoly of the trade with the French in corn. This part of the treaty was regarded with great dissatisfaction at home, and the general was removed from his post. In July General Drouet d Erlon was sent out as governor-general of the colony. An intendant or head of the civil department was also appointed, as well as a commissary of justice at the head of the judicature. Tribunals of jiistice were also estab lished, by which both French and natives were allowed to enjoy their respective laws. From the tranquil state of the country at this time the new governor was enabled to devote his attention to its improvement. The French, however, soon became jealous of the power of the emir, and on the pretence that he had been encroaching on their territory, General Trezel, who had succeeded Desmichels in the governorship of Oran, was sent against him with a considerable force. The armies met at the river Makta, and the French were routed with great slaughter on the 28th of June 1835. On the news of this defeat Marshal Clausel was sent to Algiers to succeed Count d Erlon. In order effectually to humble the emir, he set out for his capital, Mascara, accompanied by the Duke of Orleans, at the head of 11,000 men. On reaching the town the French found it deserted, and, having set it on fire, they returned without having effected anything of consequence. In Jamtary 1836 Marshal Clausel undertook an expedition against Tlemcen, which he took and garrisoned. Soon