306 ALGERIA admitted into their ranks. The dey sent occa- sional presents to Constantinople as a token of his nominal allegiance ; but all regular tribute was withdrawn, and the Turks, hampered by their constant struggles with Russia, were too weak to chastise the rebels of a distant prov- ince. In 1775 Spain undertook her last great expedition against Algiers. The fleet consisted of 44 war vessels and 340 transports under Ad- miral Castejon, and the army, which was under the command of Gen. O'Reilly, of 25,000 men. Like all the former expeditions, it was utterly unsuccessful. The weaker Christian powers, like Naples, Denmark, Sweden, and the Hanse towns, submitted to the annual payment of a tribute, which nevertheless did not always pro- tect their vessels. England remained inactive because the insecurity of the Mediterranean injured the commerce of other powers more than her own. During the French revolution and the empire, the presence of large fleets in the Mediterranean put a check to the pira- cies. On the renewal of peace, however, the Algerines recommenced their depredations ; but now the Americans, who in 1795 had been compelled to follow the example of European nations, and to subsidize the dey for peace, re- fused the tribute. In June, 1815, Commo- dore Decatur encountered an Algerine squadron near Cartagena, took a frigate and a brig, and sailed into the bay of Algiers, where he forced the dey to surrender all American prisoners, and to abandon all future claims for tribute. This bold example was followed by the Eng- lish, who, under Lord Exmouth, bombarded the city in 1816, and reduced it to ashes, com- pelling the dey to surrender his prisoners. Pi- racy, however, was not suppressed, and in 1826 the Algerines openly seized Italian vessels in the Mediterranean, and even carried their in- cursions into the North sea. Meanwhile a serious quarrel had broken out with France. ' In 1823 the dwelling of the French consul had been plundered; the Algerine ruler, Hussein Bey, personally insulted the consul and spoke disrespectfully of the French king ; and vari- ous outrages were committed on French vessels. Algiers was blockaded, and negotiations were opened between France, Mehemet Ali, and the Porte, by which Mehemet Ali, with the assist- ance of France, undertook to conquer Algiers, and to pay a regular tribute to the sultan. This was broken off, and the government of Charles X. at last sent an expedition against Algiers in June, 1830, consisting of 38,000 men and 4,000 horses, under command of Gen. Bourmont. Algiers capitulated July 4, on con- dition that private property and the religion of the country should be respected} and that the dey and his Turks should retire. The French took 17 ships of war, 1,500 bronze cannon, and nearly $10,000,000 in specie. They immedi- ately garrisoned Algiers, and established a mili- tary regency. Small squadrons sailed to Tunis and Tripoli, and concluded treaties with these states, which put an end to piracy. Gen. Bour- mont was made a marshal, and within a short time captured Bona, Oran, and Bugia. The French intended to surrender Algiers to the sultan, and instructions to that effect were actually on their way to Constantinople when Charles X. was dethroned, and Louis Philippe decided to retain the conquest. Clausel was sent over as general-in-chief in place of Bour- mont. As the Turkish soldiers, who had thus far ruled Algeria, were driven out of the coun- try, the Arab and Kabyle tribes soon rose against the new rulers. Each town had to be captured in detail at an immense sacrifice of life. The Marabouts preached a holy war against the Christian conquerors, and the in- surgents found an able chief hi the young emir Abd-el-Kader. Clausel was replaced by Ber- thezene, and the latter by Lieut. Gen. Savary, duke of Rovigo, in the course of 1831. In carry- ing on the war against the natives Savary com- mitted the most treacherous acts. The whole Arab tribe El-Uffia, including the old men, wo- men, and children, were massacred in one night on account of a robbery committed by some members of the tribe. In consequence of such cruelties the entire nation again flew to arms, under the lead of Abd-el-Kader, who main- tamed the struggle through the reign of Louis Philippe. (See ABD-EL-KADEB.) In Decem- ber, 1847, he surrendered to Gen. Lamoriciere. The war against Abd-el-Kader thus closed had been signalized on the part of the French by many cruelties, none of which produced so pain- ful a sensation as an act of Col. P61issier, in 1845, in smothering several hundred Arabs in a cav- ern. The next notable insurrection was that of the fanatical Marabout Si-Bou-Zian, who in 1849 raised a rebellion among the mountain tribes, but was finally pursued by the French to the oasis of Zaatsha, where he perished (Nov. 26), with the entire population of his last strong- hold. Gen. St. Arnaud in 1851, and Marshal Randon in 1857, fought with success against the Kabyles. The administration of Algeria under- went a considerable change by the imperial decrees of 1858, which abolished the office of governor general, and appointed Prince Napo- leon chief of a special ministry for Algerian af- fairs. The civil districts were more strictly sep- arated from the military territory, and general councils introduced. But after a trial of only two years, the government was regarded as a fail- ure; the Algerian ministry was abolished, and Marshal P6 lissier reappointed to the office of gov- ernor general, which he had previously filled for a few months in 1851. One of the greatest bene- fits which the French rule has conferred upon both colonists and natives is the successful bor- ing of a number of artesian wells in the desert, the first of which was begun in 1856. In Feb- ruary, 1863, Napoleon III., in a letter to the governor general, expressed the opinion that Algeria properly was not a French colony, but an Arabic kingdom ; that it was wrong to take from the natives any part of their property : that, on the contrary, the tribes and parts of
