The Sun.
London, England, 1844-07-19 00:00:00

FRANCE AND MOROCCO.

We extract the following official dispatches from
he Messager of Wednesday :

BIARSHAL BUGEAUD, GOVERNOR •GENERAL OF AFRICA, TO

THE MINLSTER OF WAR

" Bivouac of Oaed Isly, near the mouth of
the Oued Mouilah, July 3, 1844.
"Monsieur le Marechal,—l cannot inform you better of the
combat of the 3d July, than by sending you a copy of the
letter that I have written to his Royal Highness the Prince
Joinville. It will tell you all that I could have stated in a
direct report.

" MARSILiL BUGEAUD TO HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS THE PRINCE

DE JOINVILLE.

"Bivouac on the Oued Isly, near the mouth of
the Oued Mouilah, July 3, 1844.
" Monseigneur,—ln my letter of the Ist of July, I stated
that I was advancing on the Upper Mouliah, in order to
favour the return of a large fraction of the Augades, the chief
of whom had come into my camp the day before, in order to
negotiate about his submission and his return. The point
of the river where I pitched my camp, bears the name of
Oued Isly.
"The Moorish camp, which was two leagues thence, came
on to me, and established itself at two cannon 'ranges, in a
way which seemed provisional. In the course of the day,
some eclaireurs of the enemy came and fired on our out-posts.
Their fire was not slackened ; a few horsemen of our Augades
having approached the camp, I sent some of our Arabs to
converse with them, and ascertain whether the movement
agreed to was being effected. They proved arrogant and
boastful, and said that the Moorish Chief having been
apprised of the intercourse they had had with us, he had
made the tribe go back to the mountains.
" They added that, whether we retired or marched on, a
combat would take place next day; that the Moors had re-
ceived a reinforcement of 1,200 men of cavalry under the
command of Scheriffe Mamoun, and of 1,000 men of infantry
commanded by ilarnida, the old kaid of Ouchda; and that if
we were conquerors they would submit. I had not the in-
tention of marching forward.
"Early this morning I retired in good order of combat to
the cavalry ; the eclaireurs of the enemy soon commenced
the fire with my rear-guard ; those horse tirailleurs were
successively reinforced and formed in a short time a large arc
of a circle, which embraced a part of my light and left
echelons ; the bulk of the enemy's troops advanced slowly ;
they did not seem determined to fight, but were desirous, as
would appear, to give us so very serious an accompaniment
which would have been celebrated as a victory.
" When I stopped, the enemy also stopped. This sort of
work continued for a league and a half. Not wishing to
leave the Moors a moral advantage which theY would have
turned to great account with their co-religionnaires, I decided
on assuming the offensive, and soon after we drove before us
all those undisciplined horsemen.
"That of the enemy has been so dispersed by our offensive
movement, that their superior numbers were no longer to be
apprehended. Nevertheless, I supported. our Chasseurs and
Spahes with the principal part of the infantry, without
its haversacks, leaving the rest to guard the baggage
and the sacks. Our cavalry advanced beyond Ouchdah,
which was on our left. It only found horsemen Eying before
us in every direction. Several were killed, and we captured
a few horses, but we met no infantry.
"Perhaps there was some mistake when we thought we
saw them, or perhaps they had taken the left, to reach the
gardens of Ouchda, and the dust had prevented us from per-
ceiving them. The enemy having entirely disappeared in
every part of the borizon, I marched my troops back to the
camp of the town, where I was encamped this morning at
eleven o'clock.
"This'fight has had very little material results, because
the whole of the enemywould not stand, and we had only to
face their cavalry; but it certainly has given us a very con-
siderable moral advantage. We have once more proved
to the Moors that we do not fear a war with them, and that
they are utterly incapable of gaining a serious battle over us.
" I had • several chiefs from the province of Oran in my
camp at the time, who bad come to visit me on their own
accord. They will now return to the interior, and tell with
.1
what a degree of sans film we treat the Moors, and this