Cooper's Clarksburg register. [volume] (Clarksburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1851-1861, 1855-07-18
GENERAL PELLISSIER.
The New ,Commander-in-Chie of thu
French Army in the Crimea.

II The New commandments of the
French Army in the Crimea.
The officer who has been recently in
vested with the command of the French
army before Sebastopol earned his claim
TO that distinction about ten years since,
in Africa, by an'exploit which will forever
cover his name with infamy. He suffoca-
ted some three hundred men, women and
children of one of the Arab tribes in a
cave, because he was unable to make them
surrender to his arms. We copy from
the Pantheon Populaire, of Paris, the fol-
lowing rather apologetic account of this
affair -
!" The cave had only two entrances,
one above the other, to which an inclosed
footpath led. A company of grenadiers
received orders to follow this difficult
route, and to arrive as soon as possible at
the retreat of the Kabyles; but the latter
had the advantage Of firing with cer-
tainty of killing the men engaged in this
species of ravine. 1t was found necessa-
ry to abandon the attack in front.
" An investment of the place was then
thought Of Famine would probably have
compelled the Ouled Rhias to submit !;
but Colonel Pellissier was in hurry to
join his colleague. On the other hand,
there were not troops sufficient to take up
permanent encampment on these noun
tains, where an insurrection might annihi
late the column in short, a siege was not
in conformity with the Colonel's instruc-
tions. He had directions, at any price,
to destroy the prestige attached to the re-
treats of the Kantara.
"An internal idea, borrowed, unfortu-
nntely, either from our civil wars or from
the wars of the Spaniards in America,
had been indicated as an extreme meas
ure by the Governor General. It was to
terrify the Kabyles by threatening to suf-
focate them in their caves by fire. 1t
was thought that in presence of such a
menace all resistance would cease. After
succeeding, though not without good
deal of difficulty, in placing himself in
communication with the defenders Of the
cavern, Colonel Pellissier threw out the
threat suggested by Marshal Bugeaud.-
The Arabs laughed at it, and one Of the
French flags of truce was even killed by
them.
" a commencement of the project was
made, in the idea that their Indifference
only arose from the certainty which they
entertained that the threat would not be
putin execution. Heaps OF dry wood and
straw were thrown from the tops of the
kantara in front of the caves. The Ka-
bylcs removed them, according as they
were flung down, but the fire of the
French having driven them back into the
caves, these. combustibles after while
made vast heap, to which it now only
remained to apply the fire. No signs of
surrender on the part, of the Arabs having
been made, the fire was at length thrown
on the pile. AS if it did not wish to as
sociatc itself with the horrors Of this hu-
man butchery, it long refused to commu~
nicate itself to the combustible masses
piled by the French at the entrance Of the
caYerns.
'' A few Arabs escaped, and went to a
short distance to obtain water. 1t was
expected that others would follow them,
and that the whole body would then sub
NIT. This was vain hope. Just as the
sun began to quit its zenith a breeze
arose. which blew directly in the direction
Of the entrance to the Dhar. The smoke
began to whirl and curl into the air, the
flames burst forth, and were drawn by
the current into the caverns. Many
thought that the Aarbs had aed by some
secret issue, or at least that they had
found retreat where the fire could not
reach them. This state of uncertainty
lasted all night.
!" At daybreak company, composed
partly of artillery and partly Of engineers,
received orders to penetrate into the caves.
A melancholy silence, broken by distant
means. prevailed there. At the entrance.
the animals, whose heads had been COW
cred over to prevent them from seeing or
making a noise, lay half reduced to Gin
derS. Then were beheld fearful groups
which death had seized upon. Here a
mother had been suffocated Just as she
was defending her child against the fury
of bull, whose horns she still held, and
whom the fire had stifed at the same
time.
"To add to the horror of the scene, the
naked corpses poured forth their blood by
the mouth, and by their attitudes attested
the dreadful character of the death strug-
gle. Here, two spouses, or two lovers,
were locked in each others arms. New
born children lay amongst the chests and
the provisions, and in other places were
concealed in the garments Of the mothers,
In fine, scattered in every direction, were
to be seen mutilated masses ofhuman flesh,
trampled under foot during the struggle
of the night, and forming altogether sort
of human ragout."
LIFE IN s1BEE1A-At 60 degrees north