The Sun.
London, England, 1845-07-14 00:00:00

HORRIBLE TRAGEDY

HARA, IN ALGIERS.

The following account of one of the most horrid deeds
ever committed is copied from the Akbar of the sth
inst., a French journal, published at Algiers:—
. _ _ _

" There has just occurred in the Dahara one of those terrible
events which deeply of those who witness them, even
when convinced of their frightful necessity, and when they are
justified in declaring that everything possible was done to
prevent the catastrophe. It is known that the corps com-
manded by Colonels Felissier, St. Arnaud and de l'Admirault,
have been carrying on combined operations in the west. Col.
Pelissier was busy in pursuing the Ouled Riahs, who have
never yet submitted, as they live in immense caverns where it
would be madness for the troops to enter. On the 18. h of
June, finding themselves closely nut-tied, the Ouled Riahs flew
to their usual place of refuge. After having surrounded the
caverns, some faggots were lighted and thrown by the French
troops before the entrance. After this demonstration, which
was made to convince the Arabs that the French had the
power, if they pleased, of suffocating them in their hiding-
place, the Colonel threw in letters offering to them life and
liberty if they would surrender their arms and their gorses.
At first they refused, but subsequently they replied that
they would consent if the French troops would withdraw.
Tiiis condition was considered inadmissible, and mo burning
faggots were thrown. A great tumult now arose, and it was
known afterwards that it arose from a discussion as to whether
there should bet surrender or not. The party oppo,,d to a
surrender carried their point, and a few of the minority made
their escape. Colonel Pelissier, wishing to spare the live+ of
those who remained in the cavern, sent some Arabs to them to
exhort them to surrender. They refused, and some women,
who did not partake of the savage fanaticism of the mnjority,
attempted to fly, but their husbands and relations fired upon
them, to prevent their escape from the rnartyrdens which they
had themselves resolved to suffer. Colonel Passier then sus-
pended the throwing of the burning fagg. ts, and sent a French
officer to hold a parley with the Ouled ltiihs, but his messenger
was received with a discharge of fire-arms, and cioild not per-
f ,rm his mission. This state of things continued till the tight
of the 19th, when, losing all path nce, and no longer having a
hope of otherwise subduing these fanatics, who fo: med a perpetual
nucleus of revolt in the country, the fire was renewed and ren-
dered intense. During this time the cries of the unhsppy
wretches, who were being suffocated, were dreadful, and then
nothing was heard but the crackling of the faggots. This
silence spoke volumes. The troops entered and found 500 dead
bodies. Absut 150, who still brewhed, were brought into the
fresh air, but a portion of them died afterwards.
The affair was thus animadverted upon in
Charnbs r of Peers on the 11th :

Prince de la Moskowa sai 1 that the Akbar of Algiers con..
tained a recital of an affair which was really of su+•h a revolting
character as to be scarcely credible ; it was without precedent
in the annals of their military history. Colonel Pelis:ier had
rendered himself guilty of an act which nothing could excuse,
which it was repugnant to them to record, and that with regard
to unfortuna►e Arabs whom they had conquered. Ile cou]il toot
contain his indienation when reading the report i❑ questi..n,
and he protested, as an officer of the army
A Voice—You are here as a Peer of France.

Prince de la Moskowa—He was aware of that, but he was
also a member of the army, and in this affair its honour and
dignity were concerned. That of the Gov,rnment was also
implicated,-for it partook of the responsibility.—( Murmurs. )
This was no question of razzia or reprisals, but a frightful act,
on a defenceless and vanquished enemy. He would, therefore,
ask what the conduct of the Government would be if the re-
port should turn out to be correct. As such an act. lisd no
need of commentary, he should simply read to the Chamber
the narration of the event as given by the /Mbar. The Noble
Peer read the account already given in the Messenger, arid
concluded with these words :—" I have nothing to add to such
a recital ; the facts speak of themselves, and demand no advo-
cacy from me."—( Sensation. )
The President of the Council—The reports that have ar-
rived at the office of the Minister of War are so contradictory,
that I have considered it my duty to demand fresh information
before giving any opinion. We knew nothing of the matter
but from what has been published by the public jourtials. and
we acknowledge that we are most anxious to receive prompt
intelligence on the subject. The Governor of Algeria has beers
written to and as soon as we shall have been better informed,
I shall hasten to give the Chamber all the details it may require.
As to the act itself, the Government disapproves of it most
strongly.—( Hear, hear. )
Count De Montalembert declared that such an act, from the
horror which it inspir, d, merited something beside• mere dis-
appreb,ition.—( Hear, hear.) What effect would it not produce
in EnglarAl and other countries?—( Hear, hear. )
The President of the Council—Since the word disapproba'• ion
appears insufficient, I have no hesitation in declaring that I
deplore the act that has been alluded to.—( Hear. )

The subjoined are extracts from the Paris paper, de-
nouncing the cruelty W: Colonel Peliss:er
FRANCAIS.—See what has just happened
in Algeria. Colonel Pelisiier, commanding an expeditinriary
column in the Dahara, and pursuing the tribe c, the Ouled
Rich, found no other means of reducing them than to burn or
stifle five hundret Arabs, men, women, and children, who had
taken refuge in a cavern. This atrocity, committed in cold
blood, and without necessity, a ill cause every' man to thrill with
indignation; and, for the honour of Franco, it is our most
imperative duty to brard it with reprobation, in the name of
the army, in the name of the nation, in the mime of the
Government itself, which cannot without shame approve of an
a t praised in one of Marshal Ilugeaud's journals ! An act
worthy of the Spanish adventurer, of the ,ixteenth century,
conquering the Ncw World; worthy of the buccaneers of
the worst description ; but unworthy of the nobl: and
holy France of the nineteenth century, who coati ats
heroically on the field of ba tle, hut does not yna,sacre
her conquered enemies; who wages war with the sword,
and not with faggots ; who, in fine, is a soldier, and
not a fire-raiser! France, we answer for it, will stigmatise
with unanimous reprobation a monstrous act like this; such as
one may read of in the annals of savage tribes, and of Alan.
drin's bands; such, that in read ne the account in a bulletin
of the army which prepares, under the national colours, to carry
civilisation into Africa, we remain mournfully astnnished and
afflicted, and are obliged to ask if France civilises or barbartses
in Algeria? We have said that this atrocity was committed in
cold blood, and without necessity. Yes, in cold blood, for the
roasting, which is the proper name for this feat of arms, lasted
from the morning of June 18 to one o'clock of the night of this
19th, and the operation was performed lei•urely, with inter•
missions calculated to watch the effect of the punishment n the
victims. Yes, without necessity, for if Colonel Passier had
waited four-and-twenty hours longer, those unfortunates, with.
out food and without water, would have surrendered at dis-
cretion;but fire seemed more expeditious.

PR ESSE.—It is fortunate that cruelties, which nothing can
justify, have been thus speedily protested against from the tri-
bune. This scat necessary for our honour, and for the future
as regards the ( ccupation of Algeria. It cannot be supposed
that such proceedings are calculated to bring about the pacifica-
tion of that country. It is, on thy con rary, thus that war is
rendered eternal and ablniinable. Let us not preach about
peace, concord, and submission, after scenes an horrible as those
which have passed in the caverns of the fithara."

NATION AL.—lt is impossible for the people of France to
read with sang-froid the account of t' e atrocious hecatomb of
human beings of which the A/ bar has recited to us the fright-
ful details. We are convinced that in spite of the panting and
feverish impatience of its last hours, if the Chamber of De.
puties were to be re-assembled it would loudly protest against a
mode of warfare which must make all eivill,ed Europe hold us
in horror and contempt. There have been found Peers who, too,
express the same feelings, and the Prince de la Aloskowa has
questioned the Minister of War on the subject. The Matshal,
seeing the impression produced by the simple reading of the
narration, at once acknowledged that he had riot received any
but contradictory reports, and said that the Government dis-
approved of the deed, and finding that the word disapproved
was too feeble, added—deplores it 1 Yes, but the Minister can
do better than deplore; he ought as much as in his power to
prevent such deeds, he ought to show by a just severity that the
Government of France, in whosever hands it may be placed, can.
not become an accomplice in acts of gross barbafty.
COMMERCE.—We still hope that the statement in the
Akbar is false. We hope this for the honour of the French
army, and for the reputation of an officer of merit. We are
certainly not among those who expect that the war against the
Arabs should he carried on without killing them, anu that our
corps should be victualled in the field without taking from the
enemy his harvest arid other provisions. or that the conquest of
Algeria should be obtained by a display of philanthrlps and
tenderness. Although a razzia may be called an act of vio-
lence, it is unquestionable that the Arabs themselves have
driven us to it by using it against us. Let it be called an
abuse of power ; but it is practised on both sides with equal
chances, and the Arabs are made to comprehend this when
they themselves suffer from their own example. But if we
follow in this war exceptional acts, provoked by an enemy who
is himself an exception, this cannot be carried so far as to
authorise cold and deliberate cruelly in a case where patiencss
arid the ordinary stratagems of war would be sufficient. It
would be useless to say that such an event as this is without.
precedent, and can never again occur. We believe it, and
our guarantee is the public cry, which brands and condemns it.
The Debuts merely gives a notice of what °rem red in the
Chamber, repeating the !menage of Nla.! shal and -tat.
ing that it was received with unattitru u- applause by the assem-
bly. The Constitutionnel has a very short nstice of the sfe,ie„
It sass that the word de,appr urerait prom-sicced by Marshal
oult on the part of a Ministry which hal disavowed an Admi-
ral for having performed his duty produced ad painful an im.
pression on the Chamber, that the Marshal felt it necessary to
add that he would not, if the fart should be confirmed, content
himself with disapproving, but would also deplore it.

STATUE TO GEORGE STEP II ENSON.— At the late
meeting of the York and Notti. M.dland Company, Mr.
Huisou introduced a ject which ha, (+gag. d the at-
tention of various railway companies for some tlinc pact,
namely the erection of a statue of Mr. G. Stephensuu.
Mr. Hudson (himself deserving of no mean public
testimonial), stated that when the Newcastle and Ber-
wick and North British Railways were completed, Mr.
Stephenson wou!d have carried an uninterrupted line of
communication from London to Eddihurgh, and he pro•
posed that as Mr. Stephenson was a Northumbrian, a
statue to his honour stk:uld b< erected on the bridge
about to be built across the Tyne, at Newcastle and
Gateshead, which was intendA: to be one of the mast
magnificent railway works yet construetcd.—Berwial
Advertiser.

A YOUNG LADY DROWNED AT WoßvinsG.--On
Friday afternoon a fatal and melancholy accident occurred to a
young lady named Eaton, who was residing with her friends at
.No.
13, Steyne, Worthing. About three o'clock two of the Misses
Eaton engaged a pleasure-boat for a sail on the water, of a man
named Taylor, who went out to sea with them, taking a boy to
assist him. At the time the boat pushed off there was
it wit,
breeze, and the sca was rather rough About three quar:ers et a
mile from shore, a sudden squall capsized the boa,, and t i,e whole
of the party were immersed in the water, but the whole ot them
succeeded in clinging to the bolt, which shortly afterwards righted,
but none of them were able to regain their seats. The accident
was observed by numbers from the shore, and fortunately at the
time the accident happened Mr. Reynolds, who was hut with his
boat, was not more than a quarter of a mile off. He immediately
bore down t• the parties in peril, and arrived in time to rescue one
of the ladies, the boatman, and a boy, but, melancholy to relate, the
other young lady was unable to maintain her hold, and perished i ss
the waves. The surviving lady was about twenty-one years of
age, and she was taken, in an exhausted state, to the baths. The
Misses Eaton were about to leave Worthing on the following day
for London, the carriage and horses having been sent on. Is a
sigular fact that a small lap dog, which the young ladies had taken
on board with them, sueceeded in getting on the boat on its right.
ing, and was taken efFsafe. No blame is attar ied to the be:AR-ran.
The body has not yet been found.

DEATH OF THE LIEUTENANT GOVERNoR 6F THE
'six OF MAN —Major General Ready, Lieutenant Governor of
the Isle of Man, died on Thursday last. He had long been troubled
with an incurable complaint, and was at death's door, when, it is
said, his dissolution was accelerated by a mistake in the AdMilliS.
tration of his medicine—one prepatation, in a moment of Laste,
having been given instead of another. The deceas:l was apis nt. d
to the office in which he died in 1833 or 1634, by the A,Tintisila..
tion of the day. He had seen a good deal of service. He was in
Canada with the late Duke of Richmond, with whom e wa, „
great favourite. The Gallant General married a tlaugh.,-.1 of Sir
John Tobin, an eminent Liverpool merchant and si tp vanes, by
whom he had two or three children. A coroner's jury having in.
quired into the cause of Major General Ready's death, returned a
verdict of Accidental Death.