1845-1847.
Flushed with his recent triumph, and anxious to realise the hopes it had
awakened in every quarter to which the news of it had reached, Abdel
Kader, in the month of October 1845, carried his standards to the plains
of Mascara. Here he was again hailed with as much enthusiasm as at the
outset of his career. All the tribes which had submitted to the French
rallied round him. The garrison of Mascara came out against him, but was
driven back with loss. The French entrenched camps of Saida and Taza
were strictly blockaded.
But other portions of the country required his presence. It was his
policy not so much to adopt a system of combined attack against the
French, which, from his want of regular infantry and artillery, was next
to impossible, as to foment the spirit of insurrection in all parts of
the Regency, to keep the French perpetually on the alert by his meteor-
like appearance in districts apparently subdued, to revive hostilities
ostensibly extinguished, and then, by the rapidity of his movements, to
baffle all the measures directed against him.
He now advanced to Tekedemt with 6,000 cavalry, and prepared to descend
into the valley of the Cheliff. The Beni Shaib, a large and important
tribe, one hundred and fifty miles away to the south, were reported to
him as about to go over to the French. The contemplated movement into
the valley of the Cheliff was instantly suspended. The wavering tribe
suddenly found itself attacked by Abdel Kader at the head of 5,000
cavalry. Their chiefs were seized, their flocks carried off, their
coffers emptied.
The movements of the French had, in the meantime, compelled him to alter
his plans. No sooner was it known that Abdel Kader was in the Tell, than
all their efforts were concentrated in that direction. The columns of
Lamoricière, Bedeau, Yoosuf, and Marcey, were all set in motion. Orders
were given, that whichever column found itself in presence of Abdel
Kader, was to fire a signal gun, on which the other columns were
immediately to converge and lend their aid.
Lamoricière was the first to come up with him, near Tiaret, December 1,
1845. He was protecting the emigration of several tribes, who, under his
direction, were withdrawing into the desert. The signal gun was fired.
Bedeau, Yoosuf, and Bugeaud, rapidly emerged on the scene. But Abdel
Kader, always admirably served by spies, frustrated this combination,
and within forty-eight hours had removed the seat of his operations to
the Ouarensis.
Bugeaud, Lamoricière, Yoosuf, and St. Arnaud, followed in breathless
haste, and were again on the Sultan’s traces; but their ubiquitous foe
everywhere gave them the slip, and for weeks led them a fruitless dance
through the valleys of the Cheliff.
On one occasion he nearly succeeded in annihilating the third-named
general. On encountering Yoosuf in person on 23rd December, near Temela,
he pretended to fly. Yoosuf, falling into the snare, followed him up
with 2,000 cavalry. After thus drawing the French on for some time,
Abdel Kader suddenly faced about and charged them with 500 irregulars.
The rain fell in torrents. The firearms of the French would not go off.
Their horses were dead beat. They got lost in the intricacies of the
ground, and were on the point of surrendering, when the unexpected
advance of a column of infantry averted their fate.
That very night Abdel Kader slipped between the columns of Bugeaud and
Lamoricière, made a sweeping razzia on the Beni Esdama, between Tekedemt
and Mascara, carried off all their cattle, with abundance of corn and
barley, and retired unmolested into the Sahara. Several tribes here
brought him the usual tribute.
He now conceived the daring project of visiting the Djurjura, rallying
the Kabyles, and making a dash into the Metija. Ben Salem, duly
informed, prepared to second this movement.
Abdel Kader left the Sahara in February, 1846, followed by part of the
Beni Hassan, passed, unobserved, through the Wady Isser to the east of
Medea, and, making a razzia by the way on the Beni Hadoura, who served
the French, reached the Djurjura, where the Kabyles stood ready to await
his bidding. With a force of 5,000 warriors, accumulated as if by magic,
he now swept down into the plains, ravaged and destroyed the French
colonies, and advanced to within four hours of Algiers itself. The
French generals were all the while searching about for him in the high
ground of the Tell.
On the 7th February, he was encamped at the foot of the Djurjura. While
engaged in midnight prayer, he heard the French order to charge. In
another moment, the French were upon him. He sprang on his horse and
called on his men to rally. The Chasseurs closed around him. He fought
with them single-handed. Two horses were shot under him. He fought on
foot. He became undistinguishable in the confusion of the skirmish, and
aided by the darkness of the night effected his escape.
On the 28th Abdel Kader held a grand council of war at Burj bou Keni.
Deputies from all the Kabyle tribes were present. The question of war
was warmly mooted. For a time the majority were in favour of a
continuation of hostilities. At this moment news was brought in that
Bugeaud was advancing against them with superior forces. The moderate
party immediately gained the ascendancy. Attack and defence were
declared to be alike hazardous. Prudence was preferable to a fruitless
enthusiasm. In that would be the best guarantee for the preservation of
their liberties.
Abdel Kader left the Djurjura. In a few hours he was in the vicinity of
Bayhan. There, on the 7th of March, he surprised, routed, and plundered
the French Douairs, with his body guard of 2,000 cavalry. The booty was
immense. All the mules and camels of the tribes scarcely sufficed to
remove it. The long train and its escort entered the passes of the
Djebel Amour, seeking by rapid stages the districts of the Beni Nail, in
the Sahara.
On the 13th, while bringing up the rear guard with seventy men, Abdel
Kader was again attacked by General Yoosuf, who, finding out the
direction he had taken, had followed him up by forced marches. An open
space of ground gave the French unusual advantages. Abdel Kader was
conspicuous on a white charger. Alternately firing and charging, he kept
the enemy at bay. His men fought with desperation. Forty were killed. At
length, after two hours’ hard fighting, and after performing prodigies
of valour, Abdel Kader was lost to view in a defile.
The French were amazed at his gallantry. When, at a later period, he was
in Paris, the object of universal curiosity and admiration, the French
general who commanded on this memorable day recalled to Abdel Kader the
impression made on all who witnessed his chivalrous demeanour at a
moment when to all appearances he was irrecoverably lost, “If one of our
officers had displayed such extraordinary heroism,” said General Yoosuf,
“the Emperor would have sent him the decoration of the Legion of
Honour.”
Abdel Kader had hoped to recruit his forces amongst the tribes of the
Sahara. But the French had forestalled him. Everywhere their columns and
detachments made themselves felt. The Beni Nail, the Beni Shaib, the
Beni Hassan, from whose resources he had long been accustomed to supply
his wants, and with whom he had often found shelter in the hour of need,
all submitted successively to the persevering foe. Wherever Abdel Kader
presented himself he found lassitude and despondency. Indeed his
presence began to be looked upon as an omen of misfortune, and a prelude
to ruin.
He visited the Oulad-Sidi-Chirk, a large and powerful tribe at the
southern extremity of the Sahara. Their chiefs and marabouts thronged
about him. They condoled with him. They assured him of their warmest
sympathies. They offered him a temporary hospitality. But they adjured
him not to entail upon them the horrors of war, and so to expose the
venerated tombs of their saints to the profanation of the infidel. Abdel
Kader received the intimation with composure and resignation.
Accompanied by his faithful escort, he now returned to his Deira, on the
Melouia, in Morocco.
He arrived there July 18th, 1846. A terrible episode had just occurred.
The French prisoners taken in the affairs of Sidi Ibrahim and Ain
Temouchen, in September, 1845, had been sent to the Deira. They had been
presented to the Sultan’s mother, had met with a most assuring
reception, and had been well treated. Nothing was withheld that could
mitigate the painfulness of their situation. Abdel Kader had more than
once written to Bugeaud, offering an exchange of prisoners, but his
offer had been treated with contempt. Such was the position of the
prisoners when he had left the Deira, on his late expedition.
The Deira, to which was always attached a small body of regulars, was
under the charge of Ben Hamedi. On the 10th of April, 1846, Mustapha-
ibn-Thamy, the Sultan’s brother-in-law, arrived from the Sahara and took
the command. He had left Abdel Kader three days after his brilliant
action with General Yoosuf, in the Djebel Amour, and brought with him
several wounded and invalids. He found the Deira greatly reduced in
numbers, by desertion, by suffering, by privation. Provisions had become
scarce. The Moorish tribes in the vicinity would only furnish supplies
for ready money; and of money there was little or none. Two hundred and
eighty prisoners had become an embarrassment.
In this crisis a report reached Mustapha-ibn-Thamy that the Moorish
troops, who were not far distant, were about to advance and rescue the
prisoners. He had no force sufficient to resist such an enterprise if it
was attempted. The idea of such a stain upon his honour preyed upon his
mind. If he made his small band of regulars fight to keep them, Moslem
blood would be shed, and probably fruitlessly shed, for the sake of
infidels. If he tamely surrendered them, how could he look Abdel Kader
in the face? He determined to make away with them. On the night of the
24th of April they were massacred. Ten officers alone were spared.
The first step taken by Abdel Kader on his arrival at the Deira, July
18th, was to endeavour to get the survivors exchanged. His efforts, as
usual in such matters, failed. They were, however, finally ransomed for
30,000 francs. Abdel Kader felt it due to his own reputation, utterly
guiltless as he was of this deed of blood, to address the following
letter to the King of the French:—
“Praise be to God, the merciful and compassionate. Glory to our lord and
master Mohammed.
“On the part of the Prince of the Faithful, Sid-il Hadj Abdel Kader-ibn
Mehi-ed-deen, may God vouchsafe unto him his favour both in this and
another world; to the Sultan of the Christians, the commander-in-chief
of the French armies, King Louis Philippe, may God constantly promote
the increase of his power, and the execution of his projects in all that
relates to the happiness of his people, and especially enable him to
exalt those who follow the good path, and to confound all who do
otherwise.
“I would call to your recollection that we have ever been ready to
accept conditions of peace. We have even accepted conditions which you
thought proper to impose upon us. We rejoiced to be on a good
understanding with you. Our alliance was cemented by good faith. Our
treaties had your personal approbation. By an exchange of presents we
likewise confirmed our mutual feelings of friendship.
“Such was our position up to the moment when certain influential persons
in Algeria gave a too willing ear to perfidious insinuations tending to
interrupt the harmony which existed between us, and represented us as
being culpable and blameworthy, whereas it was we, on the contrary, who
had every reason to complain of their injustice committed towards us.
“I have written to you many times, both officially and confidentially,
and invariably my intentions were misconstrued to such an extent that
the evil consequences spread themselves unchecked all over Algeria.
“During our late expedition in the East, and in the numerous battles we
fought, God permitted many prisoners to fall into our hands. We rejoiced
at the circumstance, because it gave us power to offer an exchange. Last
year we were unable to treat for the deliverance of the Mussulman
prisoners in your hands, because we were not prepared to offer you a
proposition which would have suited you. In previous years, however, we
have sent back to Marshal Bugeaud more than a hundred prisoners without
exchange.
“Lately, when we had a certain number of your subjects in our power, we
wrote more than once to those who represent you to propose an exchange
of prisoners. We received no answer. All the bearers of our letters were
imprisoned. That was a treachery foreign to French usage. Besides, a
message between hostile sides is always considered neutral.
“Shortly afterwards it was rumoured amongst the Arabs that the French
prisoners were to be rescued by force. It was known that French agents
had offered large sums of money to any who would conduct the prisoners
to the French outposts. It was, moreover, openly declared that the
Emperor of Morocco had undertaken to rescue the prisoners in spite of
us. Your own agents thus became the chief cause of the deplorable event
which has occurred, by their persistence in refusing to treat of an
exchange of prisoners.
“We have never made any difference between the prisoners and our own men
as regards their food and lodging. As soon as we saw there were amongst
them men of rank and honour, who scorned to seek for means of escape, we
gave them a marked preference over the others. We found them grateful.
We proposed to set them at liberty. Their chief (Cognord) knows all the
arrangements which were being made for their liberation. He knows that
we never received any reply to our letters, and that this contemptuous
silence was the cause of the cessation of the good understanding between
you and us.”
Abdel Kader concluded with an urgent appeal for the release of some
Mussulman prisoners, and a warm exculpation of himself from all
knowledge or connivance at any measures whatever which were contrary to
justice and religion. This letter, like all the preceding, remained
unanswered.
During Abdel Kader’s late absence from the Deira, several Arab tribes
had been gradually crossing the frontier, and fixing themselves on
Moorish territory. The Moorish Sultan had given them lands to occupy.
The jealousy of the French was awakened. They feared that the emigrants
might eventually become the nucleus of an invading force. The late
massacre added to their impatience. They called upon Sultan Abderahman
to show at once by his deeds the sincerity of his professions. They
demanded the immediate expulsion of Abdel Kader from his empire.
Abdel Kader, meanwhile, only anxious for freedom from molestation, had
already commenced sowing the grounds near the Melouia for the
subsistence of his Deira. Bou Maza wrote to him inviting him to join him
in renewing the struggle. He rejected the instigation. With whatever the
future might be pregnant, for the present he sought only repose and
tranquillity. But these blessings he was not allowed to obtain. Mouley
Abderahman sent him a letter to the effect that he must immediately
withdraw, with his Deira, from Moorish territory.
Abdel Kader assembled his followers, and read them the letter. They
unanimously declared it would be ignominious to yield to the demand of a
recreant who had betrayed his faith and signed a humiliating treaty with
the infidel. “We have pledged ourselves by oath,” they said, “to fight
with you to the death. We are ready to follow you wherever you choose.
But into Algeria we will not follow you. Abdel Kader conveyed these
sentiments to Abderahman, promising at the same time not to attack the
French. In his Deira he would resignedly await the decrees of God.
The Moorish tribes were now secretly instructed to molest the Deira.
They refused to sell it provisions. Its foraging parties were attacked
and robbed. Abdel Kader wrote a strong appeal to Abderahman against such
conduct. He got neither answer nor redress. He endured this treatment
patiently for six months. Again he addressed the Moorish Sultan, and
warned him that if such annoyances were continued he should vindicate
his own rights.
In self-defence he now re-assumed a hostile attitude. His body-guard of
1,200 cavalry and 800 infantry patrolled the country on all sides. The
Moorish aggressors were chased to their very tents; they were brought to
the Deira and chastised. By a few such acts of vigour his position was
improved; provisions flowed in. More than one Moorish tribe offered to
join the Deira. Wherever Abdel Kader showed his person he was welcomed
with professions of submission and allegiance; his material strength
increased hourly. The large and influential tribe of the Beni Hamian
sent in their adhesion.
One night, while the Deira was still at Ain Zohra, an assassin glided,
unperceived by the guards, into the tent of Abdel Kader. The Sultan was
reading. Hearing a footstep, he raised his head, and saw standing before
him a tall, powerful negro, with a dagger in his hand. Suddenly the man
dashed the weapon to the ground, and threw himself at his feet. “I was
going to strike you,” he exclaimed, “but the sight of you disarmed me. I
thought I saw the halo of the Prophet around your head.”
Abdel Kader, rising slowly from his seat, and without betraying the
least emotion, placed his hand on the negro’s head and said, “You came
into my tent as an assassin. God, who moved you to repent of your wicked
intention, has ordained that you should leave it an innocent man. Go,
then, and remember that the servant of God has pardoned you.”
In the month of July, 1847, the Deira was encamped in Wady Aslaf, on the
territory of the Kabyles of the Rif. While in this position it was
suddenly menaced by a large Moorish force led by Mouley Hashem, the
Sultan’s nephew, and the Kaid El Hamra. The Prince began by sending out
a strong reconnaissance, which was immediately repulsed by the Deira’s
outposts. Abdel Kader sent to the Prince to demand an explanation as to
the cause of this hostile proceeding in the midst of peace. He received
a haughty and disdainful answer. That very night he fell upon the
Moorish camp by surprise, and completely routed and dispersed it. The
Kaid El Hamra was slain, and Mouley Hashem barely escaped with his life.
A great quantity of baggage was taken, and specie to the amount of
£2,000 English money. Abdel Kader and his chiefs viewed with mingled
feelings of scorn and triumph the splendid cloaks and burnouses which
the Moorish Prince had packed up in cases, for the purpose of
distributing them amongst the Sheiks of the Rif tribes, and inducing
them by such gifts to join him. On his return to the Deira Abdel Kader
found that the Beni Kullayieh, availing themselves of his absence, had
made an irruption into his camp and carried off all the camels. Without
a moment’s repose he pursued the marauders, slew upwards of a hundred of
them, and captured all their Sheiks.
The rumour of Abdel Kader’s renewed activity, and of the momentary gleam
of success which shone upon his efforts, was quickly bruited throughout
the Moorish empire. It created a sensation amongst its fanatic
population which thrilled to the very capital. The emigrant Algerian
tribes, which had been located by order of the Moorish Sultan within
three days of Fez, longed to regain their adored chief. The Beni Amer
entered into correspondence with him, and begged him to assist them in
effecting a junction.
Sultan Abderahman got notice of the design. In his terror he fancied
Abdel Kader thundering at his palace and hurling him from his throne.
Not a moment was to be lost; a force of 15,000 men was at once
despatched against Beni Amer. The tribe, taken unawares, was cut to
pieces, while the women and children were carried away into slavery.
Such persevering and even barbarous acts of hostility filled Abdel Kader
with despair and indignation. But what could his handful of men effect
against the combined armies of France and Morocco, amounting to 100,000
men? He determined to make a last appeal to his old friend, patron, and
admirer. He sent his Khalifa, Bou Hamedi, on a mission to Fez. In the
most solemn manner he invoked the glorious recollections of the past. He
claimed the sacred rites of hospitality in the name of every tie of
friendship and religion.
But the days of country, of fraternity, of holy sympathy, were
irrevocably past. Mouley Abderahman saw himself daily environed with
fresh difficulties. The French Government hourly demanded the literal
execution of its treaty. Bou Hamedi was thrown into prison, where he
shortly afterwards died. Abdel Kader at length received the following
imperial mandate:—“Abdel Kader must either surrender himself in person
to Sultan Abderahman, or return to the Algerian desert. In case of
refusal or delay, the imperial armies will march against him.” The last
link was thus broken between him and his only hope. He stood at bay,
alone.
Calm and undismayed, he now saw the toils closing around him. In the
Deira all was grief and despondency. His own brothers had left him. Ben
Salem—the faithful, long-tried, and devoted Ben Salem—was a voluntary
prisoner in the French camp. His whole available force barely amounted
to 2,000 men, but among these there were 1,200 horsemen, the flower of
the Algerian cavalry. Most of these men, also, had been the Sultan’s
inseparable companions, partakers in all his hardships and dangers
throughout the whole of his heroic career.
During the short period of rest which Abdel Kader now enjoyed, he daily
summoned them around him. He was incessant in vocal prayer and
exhortation. The bronzed old warriors hung with rapture on his accents.
Fired with martial enthusiasm, they prepared for the final act.
At other times Abdel Kader retired to his tent, and kept long and lonely
vigils. One night he stood up for seven successive hours while he
repeated off by heart the whole of the Koran, from beginning to end. In
such religious exercises he renewed his soul’s strength. Ever worthy of
his destiny, he now towered above it.