The Sun.
London, England, 1854-04-28 00:00:00

ABD-EL-KAPER.

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The secondary alliances of the Potentates engaged in
the present war are among most curious or amusing
features. A week or two ago arrived the diverting news
of Mr. John Mi cliers proposals to aid the Czar by
revolutionising Canada and Ireland. Now our deeper
feelings are touched by reports of a very different com-
pact :w the other side It is said awl believed that the
Sultan has offered a command tit Abd el K tier, asd that
the hero -will no doubt accept it. It' the Sultan has done
this, it is one of the wise-•t step: taken by hies yet ; and
if the Emir accepts the function offered, it will bean omen
of the highest value to the right cause. Whichever way
it is locked at, the event is lull of interest and of promise.
The Algerian enterpri e was, as we all ought to remem-
ber, a Bourbon leg icy to France. Neither the Orleans
nor the B inaparte -family entered upon the scheme
which has cost th it country so desr ini mood and tree-
sore. It was because Charles X. did not know what,
els t do with his disaffseted soldiery that he got up
his scheme of African conquest and colonisation : his ;
troops entered Algiers on the sth of July, 1830 ; and
before the month had expired the Bourbors were de-
posed. During the political changes at home the colony
went on in regular course —making the towns as French
as possible, end exermeine the soldiery in forays against
the native tribes —the ohjeet tieing to slay all the men,
and brieg in the women, children, and haggsge. In ,
their consternation the Arab tribes sent their chiefs to a
rendezvous, to consult on the choice of a leader. and in
this council the ordinary Arab disinterestedness showed
itself, No chief sought the honour for himself ; and
they decided to apply to an old man in Mascara, of very
ancient birth and high qualifications. He declared him-
self to be declining in strength and too old ; but he pro-
posed a son of his own, as singularly qualified for such
a command. It was not the eldest son. The old chief
let slip the opportunity of " making an eldest son" in
desert fashion. He declared the eldest and second not
to be of adequate capacity ; but recommended the third.
This was Abd-el-Kader. He has rather strangely been
spoken of for these ten years as old ; whereas it seems
doubtful whether he is yet 50 ; and he cannot be much
more. His -mother, not very old either, was with
him during his captivity in France. His spirit was
worn, and his health weakened by his long and
irksome imprisonment ; but we are much mistaken
if, once again on his war-horse and in military
command, his blue eye does not flash as brightly as ever,
and his sinewy arm do as good service in Asia or Europe
as ever it did in Africa. And what service it was, for
the dozen years that his name was a terror to the Moors
at times, and to the French always, from the coast to
Mount Atlas, and from Tunis to Mogador ! Six com-
mandants of the colony retired in succession baffled from
the conflict with the Emir, Each one of them was for
ever sending home word that the Emir wee doomed—
encompaesed—certain of capture. Sometimes he was
up among the snows in a mountain, and the base was
so girdled that escape was impossible. Sometimes he
was hemmed in a ravine. Sometimes he was under-
going starvation in a cave. Sometimes he was sur-
rounded on a wide plain, where his white fl ig was
plaited, as if to invite the French to come and
take it. But, somehow, he and his white flag always
did get away. Now he led the foe after him up the
mountain slopes till they were lost in snowdrifts, and
could never get back, because their limbs were frost-
bitten ; and row he drew them forth among the desert
sands, till the sun-stroke and thirst killed them by
scores, and only a handful returned to tell the tale. As
for him, the snows of Atlas had been from his youth up
his playground and his bath, so that mere cold took no
hold of him ; and as to the heat, he was the Lion of the
Desert (such was his title), and where the lion could live
so could he. Many times he broke throegh his hunters
by night ; and often he fairly rode them down in broad
noonday. There was one leap from rock to rock, which
made his pursuers believe they had the devil to deal
with. A price, and a high price, 4,0001., was set upon
his head ; and great was the joy when, in 1845, he was
reported dead, and in an inexpensive way, by his horse
falling on him and crushing him. However this might
be, there he was again presently, with his white flag in
his hand, and 2,000 horsemen at his heels. A treaty
mid been made between the French and the Moors, by
which the Emperor of Morocco engaged to keep the
Emir quiet ; a promise of remarkable rashness, which
could by no means be kept. \\Then that ally deserted
him, the hero seemed greater than ever. On one oc-
casion when he was hard pressed, and sent his cavalry
in one direction and his family and baggage in another,
and the enfeebled French chose to follow the latter,
he and a few hundred followers made a singular defence.
The baggage was taken, and the troop seemed to retreat ;
but they presently faced about, in perfect order, with
the white flag in the centre of their line. The Emir's
horse fell dead, but the flag never stooped. His fol.
lowers surrounded him, remounted on their best horse,
again retreated, and again faced about. This was re-
peated three times ; and three titnei more were the pur-
suers baffled, after making sure of 'their prey. At that
very time, however, they were hi-ing more men than
their indomitable foe had •with and more treasure
than he had in the world, in a march among the snows ;
and it became a sort of superstition, that if any advan-
tage was gained over Abl-el-Kiider, some deadly mis-
,thief was happening in some other quarter ; and, if any
victory was obtained over other tribes, Abd-el-Kader
was sure to come in and spoil a;l the pleasure.
When he gave up, it was a genuine giving up. He
was never taken. When his allies despaired, and
t:is followers dwindled, he male for the great south

road, from the region of Beni Hassen—th:s being
The only way open to him. Finding the road occu-
picd by the French cavalry, he offered surrender, on
terms which were at once agreed to, but not fulfilled for
ive years. The blame of the delay rests fire. with the
Orleans family and ministry, who had two years before
the revolution wherein to redeem the solemn promise of
the Due D'Aumale himself, that the Emir and his faMily
should be sent by way of Egypt to Syria, where he en-
gaged to remain for the rest of his life. Nobody forgets
how the late Lord Londonderry exerted himself to
obtain the liberation of that remarkable Arab com•
piny—the fifty soldiers, and househeld of seventy, who
had been removed secretly and shipped by night, lest
the whole north of Africa should rise in agony at the
sight of their hero in captivity. Nor will the decisive
Interview of Lauis Napoleon with the Emir be forgotten
—nor that it was the hero of the coup detat who gave
Abd-el-Kader his liberty.
It hail been arranged with the Sultan that the Arab
party should go to Broussa and live there ; and there are
they living now. But since the time has come for fighting
for the freedom of the country of his refuge and Islam at
once, there is no doubt we shall see some gallant action.
The Arab chief is the very man that is wante I ; and his
method i,f warfare is the great desideratum for the
Turks. The Sultan is the Head of his faith : the French
Emperor is his benefactor. Can there be a doubt that
his cavalry would be a good force to send out against
the Cossacks I or that his fanaticism, being more
thoroughly indigenous, normal, and disinterested than
that of the rtussian leaders, will be more than a match
for theirs ? Give him the beet horse that Arabia can
furnish. Fearlessly give him a sufficient following, and
the world will wain gee what he can do. It in Asia,
Ararat may be his Atlas, and the table land of Georgia
his Morocco ; and the Russians will strew the plains in
long lines, as the French did ten years ago. If in
Europe, the Balkan e ill be a mere hill to hint, and the
D..brtidja in summer like an easy bit of the desert. Let
aim equal his former self, and the Russians will have
no rest, right or •:ay. We may expect to hear of his
seizing the stores of the invaders, firing their ma,
gazi..es, knocking in their flanks, worrying their rear,
arid overmatching theta in the very wad ire in which
the allies have ( therwise few means of competing
with them. If Lird Cardigan can reach the field
rn time, he and his 11th tri iysee, while gea,ing into their
tight clothes, how the thing is done, and take a hint as
to the benefit of easy garineet•. The heavy cavalry may
soon he staring at the Arab method of warfare. We
should like to be sure that the Arabs would not stare
with vet wider eyes at our heavy cavalry, with all their
clumsiness and deliberation. The heavy must learn of
the nimble, as Marlborough, corning laced and peruked
from Rarralies, might learn of Napoleon dropping his
eyeglass at Austerlitz. with the observation, " that army
is mine !" Let us have Abd el-Kader on the Danube,
a.id the spirit of the Caucasus is in the very heart of
Turkey. We shall have a Scharnyl for the west as well
as the east of the Black Sea. Let us have Abd-el-
Kader in the field and the Czar is welcome to all the
Irish traitors living. There is a strong hoed between
the Russian Autocrat and the Irisii rebels—that of lofty
contempt for their parole. There is a broad ground of
respect and friendship between Abd-el-Kader and the
allies--that the cause is one of indigenous rights and
liberties against foreign aggression—a cause in which he
has shown himself the most heroic leader of his nation,
and the true compeer of the patriot heroes of ail time.