maintain with northern Africa were at that time difficult and
uncertain. Ships trading in the Mediterranean were seized
by the corsairs, who pillaged the coasts of Europe, carried
off their captives to Algiers, and destroyed the fishing and
commercial settlements founded by the Marseillais on the shores of
Africa. The Christian governments either uttered useless
and impotent complaints at Constantinople, or endeavoured
to negotiate directly with Algiers, as in the case of the
negotiations of Sanson Napollon during the ministry of
Richelieu. More rarely their patience became exhausted,
and ships were sent to bombard this nest of pirates. Two
naval demonstrations were made by France during the reign of
Louis XIV., one by Abraham Duquesne in 1682, and the other
by Marshal Jean d'Estrees in 1688, but these repressive
measures were too intermittent to produce a durable effect.
In 1815 at the congress of Vienna, and in 1818 at the
congress of Aix-la-Chapelle, the powers endeavoured to
concert measures to put an end to the Barbary piracy.
Nevertheless the naval demonstrations made by Lord Exmouth
in 1816, and by a combined English and French squadron in
1819, remained equally fruitless. But the result which
the European powers in concert had been unable to achieve,
was brought about by the accidental circumstances which led
France to undertake alone an expedition against Algiers.
French intervention.
Some difficulties had arisen between France and the dey of
Algiers with reference to the debts contracted to Bacri and
Busnach, two Algerine Jews who had supplied corn to the
French government under the Directory. This question of
interest would not have been sufficient in itself to bring
about a rupture, but the situation became acute when the dey,
Hussein, struck the French consul, Deval, on the face with his
fly-flap (April 30, 1827). Thereupon the port of Algiers was
blockaded. The minister of war, the duc de Clermont-Tonnerre,
would have gone further, but the president of the council,
the comte de Villele, opposed the sending of an expedition,
while in the Martignac ministry M. de la Ferronays, minister of
foreign affairs, was bent upon negotiating. It needed a second
insult--the firing on ``La Provence,'' a vessel carrying a flag
of truce, in the harbour of Algiers (August 3, 1829)--to spur
the French government to further action than an ineffectual
blockade. An expedition against Algiers was then decided upon,
and Marshal de Bourmont, the minister of war, himself took the
command. On the 14th of June 1830 the French troops landed at
Sidi-Ferruch. On the 19th of June they beat the enemy at
Staoueli. On the 4th of July the fort de l'Empereur was blown
up. On the 5th of July Algiers capitulated. Some days later
the dey was deported, as well as the greater part of the
janissaries. Those who were not married were conveyed
immediately to Asia Minor; the rest had permission to
remain, but in fact they left the country soon afterwards.
Meanwhile the revolution of July 1830 had broken out in
France. The new government found itself very much embarrassed
by the situation bequeathed by the Restoration. The more
serious section in parliament were frankly opposed to the
idea of conquering or of colonizing Algeria; on the other
hand, popular sentiment was hostile to evacuation. The
French government--fearing to displease the other powers
by following up its conquest, and hampered in particular
by its engagements towards England, yet conscious that
the only means of putting an end to the piracy was to
remain--decided provisionally in favour of that intermediate
system, called restricted occupation, which consisted
in occupying merely the principal seaports and awaiting
events. The Algerians extricated the government from its
difficulty by attacking the French troops, who were obliged
to defend themselves. The natives gained some successes,
and it became necessary to avenge the honour of the flag. In
this gradual manner were the French led to conquer Algeria.
General Bertrand Clausel, who succeeded Marshal de Bourmont,
was one of the few men who at that period dreamed of conquering
and colonizing Algeria. His enthusiastic confidence knew no
obstacles. If the dey had left, the three beys remained.
With the feeble resources at his disposal Clausel undertook an
expedition against Bu-Meyrag, the bey of Titeri, took from him
Blida and Medea, dismissed him, replaced him by a successor
devoted to France, and returned to Algiers after having left
a garrison in Medea. Then, not having the means of directly
extending the rule of France to the east or west, Clausel
devised a system of protectorates. He negotiated directly with
the bey of Tunis with a view to installing as beys at Oran and
Constantine Tunisian princes who recognized the authority of
France. But the events which were taking place in Europe made
it imperative to send home a part of the army of Africa, and
Medea had to be evacuated. At the same time the negotiations
set on foot with the bey of Tunis were censured by the
government, and General Clausel was recalled (February 1831).
The period of uncertainty was prolonged under his successors,
General Pierre Berthezene (February to December 1831); A.
J. M. R. Savary, duc de Rovigo (December 1831 to March 1833),
General Avizard (March to April 1833), and General Voirol
(April 1833 to September 1834). The French, not yet certain
whether or not they would retain Algeria, remained on the
defensive. At the time they occupied only the three towns
of Algiers, Bona and Oran, with their suburbs, where their
situation was moreover singularly precarious. The Arabs
would pillage the suburbs and run away. Sometimes they cut
off supplies by ceasing to bring provisions to the market,
but the French were not to be turned aside by such tactics.
At Algiers the energies of the French were devoted to
protecting themselves against the incursions of the
Hajutas. This was sufficient to absorb the attention of the
general-in-chief, who left the guardianship of the east and
west to the initiative of the generals established at Bona and
Oran. At Bona, where General Monk d'Uzer was in command
till 1836, things went fairly well. At once firm and
conciliatory, he had been able to attach to the French cause
the natives whom the cruelty of Ahmed, bey of Constantine, had
alienated. The occupation of Bougie by General Camille Alphonse
Trezel in October 1833 gave the French a footing at another
point of this eastern province. But at Oran, where General
Desmichels had succeeded General P. F. X. Boyer in the spring
of 1833, their situation was much less favourable. There
the French had found a redoubtable adversary in the young
Abd-el-Kader, who had been proclaimed amir at Mascara in 1832.
Abd-el-Kader.
A man of rare intelligence, a fearless horseman and an eloquent
orator, Abd-el-Kader had acquired a great reputation by his
piety. He reunited under his sway the tribes that had
hitherto been divided, and infused a unique spirit into their
resistance. For fifteen years he held the French in check,
treating on terms of equality with their government. Moreover,
the treaty which General Desmichels had the weakness to sign
with him on the 24th of February 1834 greatly improved his
position. In pursuance of this treaty, French officers were
to represent their country at the court of the amir; while
the amir on his part was represented in the three French coast
towns, Oran, Arzeu and Mostaganem, by vakils who immediately
began to act as masters of the natives. Such was the situation
at the period when, the French having at last resolved to keep
Algeria, the ordinance of the 22nd of July 1834 laid down the
bases of the political and administrative organization of the
``French possessions in the north of Africa,'' at the head
of which was placed a governor-general. But this date (July
22, 1834), very important from a judicial point of view, is
much less so from a historical point of view. The position
of the first governor-general, Jean Baptiste Drouet d'Erlon
(1765- 1844), remained fully as precarious as that of his
predecessor. During this time the power of Abd-el-Kader
increased. Master of the province of Oran, he crossed the
Shelif at the appeal of the natives, the people flocking
to witness his progress as that of an emperor. He entered
Miliana and Medea, where he installed beys of his own choice.
All the western part of Algeria belonged to him. General
Trezel, who had succeeded General Desmichels at Oran, resolved
to march against the amir, but was defeated on the banks of
the Macta (June 1835). This defeat shook public opinion.
Drouet d'Erlon was recalled and replaced by Marshal Clausel.
In short, five years after the capitulation of Algiers, the
French dominion extended as yet over only six coast towns.
Clausel, who returned with the same colonial ambitions as in
1830, resolved to conquer the interior of the country. He
marched against the amir, defeated him and entered Mascara.
Then he proceeded to deliver the inhabitants of Tlemcen,
who had been attacked by Abd-el-Kader, and there he left a
garrison. Turning towards the east, Clausel organized
at Bona the first expedition against Constantine. This
failed, and the only result of it was the occupation of
Guelma. Clausel was recalled and replaced by General C. M.
D. Damremont (February 1837). The task of maintaining the
position of France was then divided between Thomas Robert
Bugeaud (1784-1849), acting independently in the west, and
Damremont, who directed all his efforts towards the east.
By the signature of the celebrated treaty of the Tafna (June
1, 1837), Bugeaud made peace with Abd-el-Kader. In return for
a vague recognition of the sovereignty of France in Africa,
this treaty gave up to the amir the whole of western Algeria.
France reserved to herself only Oran and its environs, Mazagran,
Algiers and the Metija; she gave up Tlemcen and the Titeri
beylik. This was a triumph for Abd-el-Kader, who rerarded
the peace as but a truce which would allow him time to gain
strength to resume the war under more favourable conditions.
Damremont, on his part, directed a second expedition on
Constantine. The town was taken, but Damremont was killed
(October 1837). Marshal Sylvain Charles Valee (1773-1846),
who replaced him, founded Philippeville to serve as a seaport
for the region of Constantine, occupied Jijelli, and at the
head of the expeditionary column returned from Constantine
to Algiers by the interior, passing through Setif and les
Portes de fer. Abd-el-Kader maintained that the French had
thus violated the treaty of the Tafna, and began the war
again. For two years his power had been increasing. A whole
hierarchy of khalifas, aghas and caids obeyed him. He had
a regular army of 8000 infantry and 2000 cavalry, without
counting 50,000 goums (bodies of Arab horsemen) brought by the
khalifas. He was well furnished with war material, possessing
magazines and arsenals in the heart of the Tell. He had
attacked and subjugated all who were not willing to recognize his
authority. Under his influence old rivalries were effaced; at
his voice all the tribes joined in the holy war. On the 18th
of November 1839 he sent his declaration of war to Marshal
Valee, but the impatient Hajutas had already devastated the
Metija. Marshal Valee marched against Abd-el-Kader, and at
first gained some successes: the French occupied Cherchel,
Medea and Miliana. But at the end of 1840 valee was recalled
and replaced by Bugeaud, who adopted totally different
