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    thank him for the pleasant and informing work now presented to their notice . Algeria is a particularly happv region for a traveller like Colonel Walmsley ; he is able not only to describe , and well describe , the features of the country and the idiosyncrasies of the various races conquering- and conquered , but he is" in a position to tell us Tiow our neighbours hold their somewhat treacherously acquired emp ire in that region , and by what means they extend their conquests . We have been accustomed to regard Algeria as an incubus on Prench progress ,, as a dead wcMit on her finances , as a grave for her army ,-and as a penal settlement for her convicts . We have been

    apt to c onsider Algeria as only kept in subjection by a immense army at an immense cost , to be lost on the least relaxation of that expenditure and that martial strength which effected the subjugation of warlike and pirate hordes , who had defied successfully the powers of Europe for three centuries . But Colonel Walmsley levels this conjectural edifice by a few well-drawn pictures of things as they actually unfolded themselves to his own eyesight , and by well-selected descriptions of the relations which actually subsist between the dark-skinned subjects of the . French Empire and the French settlers . The popular view of Ifreneh colonisation is

    unfavourable to its permanence . Certainly France has h ardly ever succeeded in . rearing a colony to any degree of magnitude , but possibly one reason which inquirers have almost overlooked is , that she has never been left in undisturbed possession of her colonial appendages for a sufficient period to enable her to develo p thoroughly their wealth and strength ; England having , at the outbreak of war , commonly stripped her of them entirely , or rooted her rule out with unsparing resolution . But if we may depend implicitly cm what Colonel Walmsley rev eals to us , the French are likely to occupy Algeria en pernm / ience , and to extend their empire in Africa m ~ r , s % r . » T » T * l ¦! 1 . l- _ _ J A _ v '_ J 1- 1 1 . ^ indefi lY i lij

    nitely . otmug can oc oeuer wuu c system adopted by the French Government and carried out by its colonial officials and settlers to secure and consolidate the position of France in Algeria . She has already completely domiciled herself in the region . She has subdued external enemies , converted them ; if not into friends , fit least into honourable allies , making herself not only feared , but liked . Colonel Walmsley was induced to visit Algeria in consequence" of the French Government having determined on an expedition to effect the final subjugation of Kabylia . He solicited , and with difficulty obtained , permission to join the French army—the result of his Algerian rambles during

    the whole period of the hostilities , until peace was resumed by the submission or extirpation of enemies , is here recorded . Colonel Walmsley is by no means a superficial observer , though his work is fragmentary and discursive rather than coldly correct and rigidly continuous ; he writes as a soldier should write , with spirit and with modesty . His descriptive powers arc first-rate , and his remarks on men and things show a keen and sagacious mind , The book is a welcome contribution to our knowledge of Algeria , and will induce many a rich English traveller to turn his autumnal steps from the wellworn tourist regions of Europe towards African scenes , and incidents , and atmosphere , which

    will be found to present a perfect contrast to European usages and cliinato . Having said so much in praise of the work , we must not be supposed to consider that it is faultless . There is here and there just a soungon , as the French would call it , of book-making . Some of tho chapters arc spuu out needlessly , and otliors exhibit attempts at flue writing—inferior , however , to the natural and vivacious style of the author . There arc also two or three samples of poetry , respectable enough of its kind , but thrown in , we suspcct , as mere make-weight . We could extract largely and amusingly from the work , but our space has its limits ; we must therefore content ourselves with a few excerpts , not , however , as being tho choicest bits , but because they present novelties in their way : —

    ready fallen a sacrifice , it is asserted , to the climat ( of Algeria . ASSAULT OF rCHERIDENV The Kabyle barricades remained black and silent at ever , not a bournous was to be seen , as the 54 th and the Zouaves received the ordera to carry the position at the point of the bayonet . Before them lay a ridge covered with brushwood , affording capital shelter , but a t about sixty or seventy paces from the stockades the brush had been cleared avray , and now the occasional gleam of a bayonet , the report of a musket or Wo fired against the stockade , the loud ringing of the trumpets , as they gave forth in inspiriting tones the pas de charge , and the wild shouting of the men , as they pushed their way forward , was all that told of the progress of the attack . " ¦ - d ^ -tt ^ - ' i * ¦

    Still the same heavy , stern silence hung over the hostile village . Was it indeed deserted , or was it the silence of despair ? Whichever it was -would soon be known , for now the bugle-notes became shriller and more exciting , the shots quicker and more steady , as , emerging from the bushj the attacking column rushed forward to the attack . Sixty paces of green sward were before them , but instantly , and as if by magic , a thousand reports broke the silence of the dark stockades , a wild j-ell rose from their defenders , as the hail of lead fell on the advancing regiments , and a long line of dead marked the advance . The Kabyles leaning their pieces over the joints of the trees , where they were fitted into each other , and through crevices and loopholes , offered little or no mark themselves to the shot , while not a ball of theirs but found its destination .

    But the Zouaves and the 54 th were not to be daunted thus , and leaving behind them the ground dotted with their dead and dying comrades , on they rushed , a wild cheer rising from their ranks , and a volley of balls pattering their reply to the murderous fire they had received . Again the line of fire burst from the dark stockade , and the advancing column withered away . The ground was strewed with fallen forms , and the fire of the stockade

    fell fast and sure . The men gave way , seeking the shelter of the bushes ; their officers dashing to the front , vainly attempted to lead them on . ~ It was useless , even the sturdy Zouaves refused to cross that deadly . slope , for to do so was sure death . They replied from , the bushes to the Kabyle fire , and soon a regular fusillade was established from right to left ; but all this was to the advantage of the Kabyles , for the greater part of the French biills were lost against the stockades , while so accurate was the defenders fire , that not a man could

    . he may make his choice , or seek wilder and more exciting adventure among the lions and panthers of the moredistant mountains . The strange . mode of life , too , strange customs , and strange people , now placed within reach of the most ordinary tourist , cannot fail to interest all who may visit the land . - A frightful picture of Louis Napoleon ' s ruthless despotism "is , drami in the narrative of a French ' exile . King Bomba ' s exploits in this way sink into finsignificanca beside the details of the doings of his royal cousin of JFrance . The exile tells his ovrn story . He ^ like thousands of others , professes to be unacquainted with the cause of his expatriation , unless it is that he refuses to acquiesce in the present political regime . After a mock trial and ! acquittal , which was ultimately tortured into a condemnation , the exile says : —

    POLITICAL EXILES . " As it was in my case , so it was in all others . No ! public form of trial was gone through , no public accusa-: tion was made , but house after house was violated and I searched as though their inmates had been robbers or murderers . The victims ' disappeared , they were snatched away from their homes and houses ; For a time the silence of the tomb enveloped thein , and they were ulti' mately thrown , without resource and without warning , | on a foreign shore to lead a life of misery , poverty , and I exile , simply because their existence was incompatible i with that of the Empire in France . Those who could be corrupted had been gained over already , the remnant were transported . "Algeria was my doom , and as I had never seen the tribunal which 'Sentenced me , so I never saw even a copy , of . my sentence . ....

    " Gleaned from every corner of France , these men were drafted from the hulk as means ' of' forwarding ! them to the various places assigned to them occurred , | and en attendant they were penned like cattle on board ¦ the convict-ship , where they suffered dreadfully from want of room and air . Of this wretched cargo I now formed an item . Most of my companions in wretchedness had bean torn suddenly from their homes , and their families or friends knew nothing of their whereabouts . They were totally destitute of any change of clothes or linen ; and as they had slept , like myself , in the felons ' gaols of the different towns and villages they had passed through , some idea of their state of filth and misery may ; be formed . The cells they had occupied , the resting-1 places of the robber and the murderer , were often [ swarming with vermin , and of this contamination they I were unable to free themselves . "Never shall I forget the misery , filth , and degrading wretchedness of the Duguesclin ' a lower deck , which ' being seldom cleaned exhaled the most disgusting odours . And on this lower deck we were all penned . The day was supportable , for we were allowed on deck to breathe the fresh air twice a day , by parties . It ia true , \ vo were surrounded by armed sentries whose orders were to keep silence among us with the bayonet , and that a corner only of the deck was allotted us , where we were crowded together like sheep in a pen ; but we had light , we had air , and our comrades below were relieved , too , by the absence of so many of their numbers . Night was the period of our great suffering . The deck then exhaled its most fetid odours , and all the dead-lights were shipped , and the portholes closed save two . We used to take it by turns to approach these two small openings ; and no one , save he who has known ¦ what it is to feel the want of fresh air , can imagine the happiness of those whose turn it was to approach tho opening , and , placing their foreheads against the ship ' s side , to inhale a few gasps of the frco air of heaven . All night long this continued , and great indeed was the relief when morning dawned , and the portholes were opened . ....

    " I have already motley crow a or convicts jammed together on the Dugueaclin ' lower deck consisted of men of all ages and conditions . There was the youth barely oincrglng from childhood , and the gray-haired old man almost on tho brink of the grave . Thoro stood tlio onco rich banker , side by eido with the poor workman , tho poet , tho professor , the lawyer ; in short , every cIuhs wna represented . And now , to fill up tho measure of insult offered us , a number of criminal convicts were added to our ranks . Men who had been ' condemned for tho most fearful crimes , the leea and offscourings of the prisons of Franco , were mixed up with us ; and it was only after the most earnest entreaties and remonstrances that wo at length obtained the separation of a rope drawn ncroas tho deck to divide us from the robbor and the numloror . Evon then the barrier was but ideal ; for what was a simple rope between us and thoao moil ? And now the air which h-ail hitherto boon poisoned by impure oxhalations , by foul and fotid smells , resounded with the fouler onth nnd the moro Impure execration . Slang , and tho most horrible language , floated around us ; for the folon-troop seeing our loath- Ing and detestation of their society , which it was impossible for us always to suppress , and recognising no dif- forenco bc'twoou our mutual position , took their revenge in tho only way open to them . " About three thousand political viotims have al-

    show himself but down be went . ... The fare from stockade and bush raged fast and furious , well kept up on the si . de of the French , more deadly on that of the Kabyles , and still the men would not advance over the uncovered space , for it -was certain death . Two thousand Kabyle marksmen lined the loopholes of their entrenched villages ; not above half that number could pass along the narrow and unprotected ridge ; they must be shot down to a man if they attempted it . The frown on MacMahon ' s face became heavier . Did he regret the cessation of the fire ? Perhaps so , for now the balls begin to whiz and sing round the heads of the generals and their staff . A . horse is shot , and the general officer riding it gets a heavy fall .

    General MacJIahon ia wounded , but not severely ; the men of the Beni Raten , who have become confident of an easy victory , and assured of plunder , begin to look at each other knowingly . A check in the Marshal ' s career appears inevitable . He must recal his advance , and again shell the stockades . It is a hard alternative , but it must bo accepted . At this moment a sudden panic seemed to have seined theJJ brave defenders of the stockades . Seeing tho dilemma , the officer commanding the Foreign Legion ou the far loft had led his men through deep cuts and ravines , turned the position , and

    gained tho third face pf the hill , accessible , but defended at every turn and twist by well-concealed arnbushments , trees felled over tho only pathway , and each and all lined with tho marksmen of the Menguillet . Silent as the grave those steady mercenaries fought their ^ way oa step by step ; not a cheer , not a shout marking their progress ; thoir dead fell fast , but obstacle after obstacle was swept away , and eventually , to tho surprise of tho bravo defenders of the stockades , the Bhakos of the Legion were aeon in thoir roar . Silently they had fought their way ; but now , with a savage scream of fury , the Zouaves and 54 th dashed from thoir ( shelter , losing only

    ' [ ; ' [ ' a few men ns they crossed the open , and while tho Kabyles wavered for a moment , tho two regiments united their ranks , nnd tho whole surged like the ocean wavo over atockado and ditch . Past and furioua became tho flight of tho Kabylos , for all was now havoo and confusion . Tho men of tlio Legion , mixed up with tho Zouaves and 54 th , dashed after the fugitives , entering tho -village with diem , and bayoneted right and loft with savage shouts . Down the stoen sides of tho hills , awny over tho ridges to tuo right and loft , tho waving bournous might be aeon la full flight , and now MacRfahon ' s guns open ng on the fugitive , * added to thoir alarm and terror , while iherwfaia and scream of ft ro * ekot thrown after them completed thoir dismay . , , ... Colonel Wnlmsloy scorns to bo enchanted with tho good-humour , tho hnndiness , and tho dauntless

    PERSUASIONS TO VISIT ALGERIA , To tho naturalist and tho antiquary Algeria presents a wide and hitherto almost untouched field , ltoinau remains lio buried in tho hills , which have been epared All visit savo that of tho wandering Bedouin or tho rude Kabyle , who pass them by ns things of bygone days unworthy of notice . To tho sportsman Algoriu would bo an olysium , True , tho larger animals which once abounded up to tho very walls of AlgiorB aro now driven back into the interior . But there they remain , ¦ whlloho who is satisfied with small game need not go far to find it . From tho quail and partridgo of tho Ohellf plains , to the snipe and wild duck of Lake- Halioula—neither moro than a good clay ' s rido from Algiers

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    No . 454 , December 4 , 1858 . ] T K E XE A P E By 1315 ¦ - ' ,, ' . —^^^^ ' i "" " . . _ , . _ . ^—^^—^^^— . ^^ b ^ i^—^ M ^ M ^^ MMWM ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ "¦ . »

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 4, 1858, page 1315, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2271/page/11/