The Press.
London, England, 1858-11-27 00:00:00

THE PRESS, NOVEMBER 27, 1858.

1160

Sketches of Algeria during the Kabyle War. By
llugh Mulleneux Wahnsley, Lieut.-Colonel
Imperial Ottoman Army. London : Chapman

and Hall.

IN former days, when remote and savage coun-
tries lay beyond the reach of the ordinary tourist,
he who had spirit to explore them but rarely
failed of interesting the public in his adventures.
His narrative, however deficient in technical
literary skill, would be sure to bear the impress
of more than ordinary power, and his experience,
while likely to be more romantic in itself; would
necessarily be more fresh and startling than such
as is addressed to an audience sated with the
familiar octavos, blue, brown, and red, of the
present generation of pilgrims. Writers of travels
have, therefore, a constantly increasing difficulty
to contend with, and readers as constantly in-
creasing a disposition to find their lucubrations
commonplace. But in proportion to the hard-
ness of climbing to the level of success, is the
praise due to those who accomplish it ; and, after
some hesitation, we are disposed to allow that
the author of the present volume has done so.
His book is unequal, for in parts it is tame, nor
is it free from faults of construction. But his
firm grasp of the subject : his
,just perception of
the most mteresting features which it presents :
his animated and picturesque battle-scenes : and
his pleasing sketches of the mountain scenery
which he traversed : entitle him to a good place
among the candidates for literary honour. He is
not, of course, to be ranked with a Layard, a
Kinglake, or a Stanley. These are the gold me-
dallists of their class. But we think we may
safely place him in the class immediately below
these, as a writer who has taught us much, and
interested us deeply at the same time. The faults
to which we have alluded are not radical faults.
The one is a tendency to digression, which, in a
work having so much the character of a conti-
nuous narrative, is apt to puzzle, and consequently
to irritate, the reader. The other is a careless-
ness of dates, which, in the detail of military
operations, becomes a very serious defect, but
which, when the author has once been made
aware of it, he will probably not repeat.
Certainly, Colonel Walmsley was favoured in
his subject. Algeria is virgin soil, and rich in
associations that might prick the most sluggish
fancy. Two splendid civilizations and three
races of conquerors have here flourished and
decayed, and a new one is now springing from
their ashes. Gazing on her ruins and her moun-
tains, we may people them at will with the Im-
perial Roman, or the more romantic figures of
the Moor and Turk, recalling all our early
visions of caliph and corsair. While, side by side
with these relics of refinement and magnificence,
we may watch the last struggles of barbaric
liberty and the fast vanishing life of the Arabian
nomads.

Now, Colonel Walmsley is not insensible to
the peculiar charms of his subject ; but, while
he writes like a gentleman of taste and feeling,
he still writes mainly as the soldier, and it is from
the portions of his work devoted to warlike ope-
rations that we derive the most amusement and
instruction. Partly, however, from the afore-
said inattention to dates, and partly owing to the
want of a good map, we are unable to give our
readers as clear an impression of the contents of
Colonel Walmsley's volume as we could wish.
We prefer, therefore, to plunge in mediae res,
and, without stopping to inquire why, how, or
when the gallant colonel arrived in Algeria, to
join him en route with the French columns on
their march towards the Kabyle mountains.

These mountains, as it would seem from our
present narrator, form a narrow tongue of high-
lands running from west to east through the
centre of French Algeria, and are inhabited by
the Kabyle tribes, who, as late as the summer of
last year, had continued to maintain their inde-
pendence. They were a source of perpetual an-
noyance to the French, by periodically exciting
the inhabitants of the plains to the north and
south of their mountain fastnesses to conspire
against their conquerors. And at length, by the
month of May, 18.57, it was determined to reduce
by force all those clans who, after due notice, had
refused to give in their submission. It was to
the expedition despatched on this service that
Colonel Walmsley obtained leave to append
himself.

Prefixed to his account of the campaign is a
brief but sufficient sketch of the race, the man-
ners, and the Government of the Kabyle people.
On the first point, our author's opinion is that
" we may safely suppose them to be the last rem-
" nant of the Berber or aboriginal race, who,
" conquered by successive invaders, took refuge
"in these almost inaccessible mountains, and
" there formed a kind of simple republic, living
" in the centre of: but never mixing with, the
" neighbouring tribes." The Berbers were the
original inhabitants of the whole coast of North
Africa, and still form the staple population of
Morocco; so that this account of the Kabylians
is prinui facie probable, and in that case they
would stand in much the same relation to the
rest of the Algerian people as Welshmen to Eng-
lish, or the inhabitants of the Basque provinces
to the Spaniards. In manners and government
they do not materially differ from all other
mountain tribes, in whatever part of the world
they are to be met with. The nature of the
country they inhabit may be best summed up
in the lines of Virgil :
Est curvo anfractu relies, accommoda fraudi
Armorumque dolis : quam densis frondibus atram
Urget utrimque latus ; tenuis quo semita ducit,
Angustseque ferunt fauc.!s aditusque maligni.
Hans super in 'pecan summoque in vertice montis
Hanities ignota jacet, tutique receptus
Seu dextra hevaque velis occurrere pugrue ;
Sire instare jugis, et grandia volvere snit.
Their tongue of hill-country is furrowed into
two or three distinct ridges, connected by deep
and pathless ravines, and the engagements
between the invading army and the natives
will be best comprehended by imagining a mix-
ture of the battle of Bunker's-hill and the attack
upon the mountain-pass in " Rob Roy."
Movements of this kind, it is needless to say,
are among the most picturesque of military
operations, and Colonel Walmsley seems to have
been fully capable of appreciating and describing
their beauty. We shall content ourselves with
one rather long extract, describing the assault of
the mountain village of Icheriden, which for
clearness and warmth combined is not unworthy
our most admired military historians :

The village of Icheriden lay on a hill, which hill was
connected with the high land of Aboudid and Souk El
Arba by a long spinal ridge of ground, having its own little
hills and dells, which were, however, on a small scale. A
long and comparatively level strip ran in front of the
village, dipping in places, and possessing some capabilities
for covering the troops. To the right and left lay the high
and rugged mountains of the tribes, and the French army
were passing along the ridge, pushing themselves like a
wedge into the hostile country. While this was going on
in the immediate front, the remaining two divisions com-
manded by the Generals Renault and Yussuff simulta-
neously broke ground, and marched against the Beni Yenni
fastness to the right, thus giving them quite enough to do
on their own account, without thinking of affording help to
their friends in the stockades of Icheriden. My path lay
with the column advancing along the mountain ridge from
Aboudid ; and it was a strange impressive sight to see that
column of between six and seven thousand men marching
quietly and composedly along the beautiful mountain ridge,
the birds singing around them, the groups of Kab)les
crowning every available hillock whence the fight could be
seen in security, the hawks and eagles slowly wheeling in
large circles over their heads, and the bright rays of the
morning sun gleaming on the brighter bayonets.

Not a shot had been yet fired, and now, after the rear
had closed up upon the leading regiments, all was silence,
so deep that the pickaxes of the pioneers and engineers
who bad been dropped in rear of the column, and who were
already busy at work making a road for the transport of the
men's tents and provisions, could be distinctly heard. The
guns were pushed hastily to the front, and in a few
moments the song of the birds was hushed, and the air
became darkened with smoke, as the scream of the red
rockets, the loud thud of the long guns, and the explosion
of the shells, broke the silence of the mountains.

After a quarter of an hour's firing the guns ceased, so as
to enable the thick cloud caused by the explosions to
disperse, and the houses of Icheriden showed outward
and unmistakeable signs of the accurate aim of the
artillery. Still there was no sign of reply on the part of
the enemy, and again the guns opened fire, but more slowly,
one by one, on the devoted village, bringing down every
now and then a wall or side of a house, amidst a cloud of
dust and a volley of jokes from the troops. All this was
very well, but not a Kabyle was to be seen, and the men
became uneasy and restless. They had been all looking
forward to a short but sharp fight, and then the Zouaves'
Elysium—a plundered town ; but here, apparently, there
were only inert walls to batter down, and neither fighting
nor plunder to be had. Their uneasiness soon communi-
cated itself to then chiefs, grouped round the fine figure of
the Marshal. The calm, quiet face of the chief of the
staff looked uneasy ; General I3ourbaki entreated permie.
sion to lead big men at once to the attack. The Marshal
wavered, WI General MacMahon persisted in his course
of shell and shot. The men had great confidence in
MacMahon.

At length Marshal Bandon, contrary to the
opinion of MacMahon, orders the position to be
carried :
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 bosh,
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 yell rose from their defenders, as the
hail of lead fell on the advancing regiments, and a long line
of dead marked the advance. The liabyles 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 .54th 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 then
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
Zonate' 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 rigbt
to left; but all this was to the advantage of the Kabyles,
for the greater part of the French balls were lost against
the stockades; while so accurate was the defenders' fire,
that not a man could show himself, but down he went.

The fire from stockade and bush raged fast and furious,
well kept up on the side 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
intrenched 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. Lid he regret the
cessation of the fire ? perhaps so, for now the balls began
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 MacMahon is 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. Ile must recall his
advance, and again shell the stockades. It is a hard alter-
native, but it must be accepted. At this moment a sudden
panic seemed to have seized the brave defenders of the
stockades. Seeing the dilemma, the officer commanding
the Foreign Legion on the far left had led his men through
deep cuts and ravines, turned the position, and gained the
third face of the hill, accessible, but defended at every tarn
and twist by well•concealed ambushments, trees felled over
the only pathway, and each and all lined with the marks-
men of the Menguillet. Silent as the grave these steady
mercenaries fought their way on step by step ; not a cheer,
not a shout marking their progress, their dead fell fast;
but obstacle after obstacle was swept away, and eventually,
to the surprise of the brave defenders of the stockades, the
chakos of the Legion were seen in their rear. Silently they
had fought their way; but now with a wild and savage
scream of fury, the Zouaves and 54th dashed from their
shelter, losing only a few men as they crossed the open, sud
while the Kabyles wavered for a moment, the two regiments
united their ranks, and the whole surged like the ocean
wave over stockade and ditch.

We need only add that the campaign was per-
fectly successful, and that all the Algerian tribes,
so early known as a " genus intractabile bello,"
are now obedient to the tricolour.
Not less vivid and poetic is our author's de-
scription of the battlefield some months later,
when the troops, who had pushed further op,
returned over the same ground. The wise
policy of the French Governor, who had spared
the woods and orchards of these brave and in-
dustrious villagers, had been rewarded by an
early renewal of tranquillity and a general re-
sumption of labour. The traces of war had
accordingly been well-nigh effaced. The concert
of the lark and the blackbird had succeeded to
the measured roll of musketry, and the whirr 9f
the plump little quail to the whistle of the Mune
bullet. The Colonel, we should say, has evidently
an eye for the fera natura, and in the midst of
an exciting march pauses to "mark" a hare with
the zeal of a true Englishman. The above
arc fair specimens of his descriptive powers;
but we should note also his encounter with a
Kabyle assassin, and the reception of a lion from
behind a village barricade. Of personal risks,
indeed, the Colonel seems to have had his full
share. One night, as lie was sitting in his ten!,
a poaching shot from a Kabyle cut his candle in
two. On another occasion he had a narrow
escape while sketching. And his life geners.lly
partook of that exciting uncertainty to which
none but a soldier or a landlord in the west of
Ireland can ever become thoroughly acclimatized.