Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1860-10-06
ABD-EL-KADER.

Never did the cross of the Legion of Hon
or, nor the order of the Medjedie decorate
a nobler breast than hat of Abd-el-Kader,
upon whom the Emperor Of the French, with
prompt dispatch, and more recently the Sui
tan, taking the imperial cue, have conferred
those well-merited marks of their approba-
ton.
A very different part he might have taken
in the massacres that have just now deluged
the passes of the Lebanon in Christian blood,
had he been prompted by that hatred to the
'Infdel' which seems of late to have infect
ed with tenfold fury the whole Moslem race,
from the borders of the Danube to the banks
of the Ganges.
Little had those whose faith was that of
the French to expect at the hands of the
Algerine chief, as will be sufficiently indicat-
ed by a short review of his past history.
After many a gallant attempt to repel the
foreign invaders of his soil, he was obliged
at length to succumb to the force of arms.
But, at the time he might have secured his
personal safety by a flight to the desert, he
voluntarily delivered himself up to his enc
mics on the express condition that they
should send him through France to the
East.
This condition was never complied with
under the reign of Louis Philippe, and Add
el-Kader was left to bewail the perfidy of his
French captors, a State prisoner at Toulon.
So bitterly did he resent this breach Of faith,
that during the long period of his captivity
he refused to acquire the language of the
country in which he was detained, and to
this day he is obliged to converse with his
French visitors through an interpreter.
Well might the devoted follower of the
Prophet had he been ~instigated by the cruel
tenets of his own creed, have seized upon
the opportunity offered by the recent foray
of the Druses upon the Christian tribes that
4 inhabit the slopes and valleys of the Leba-
non, to avenge himself for the wrongs he
had suffered at the hands of the Franks.
But Abd-el-Kader, untaught by the Gospel
/, of Christ, seems to have exhibited the spirit
. of that Gospel in a degree that is rarely
. shown by the professed followers of the
| Cross. He had been spending the long years
4 of his exile by the ALBANIA and Pharphal
4 in devotional exercises, and in hymning
: praises to Allah, in fine Arabic verses tina,
' challenge the admiration of the orienta
scholar. But now, at the time Of their i'm
y minent peril, he threw open his gates to tn,
:. hereditary foes of el-Islam, the wretcheC
creatures-men, and children, WHIT
7 fed thither for protection, and stood between
l.. them and the murderous onslaught of tn,
savage Druses and their Mahommedan abet
tors. By threats and entreaties, and tn,
8 prestige attached to his high character fo
. religion, he saved the lives of some Thousand
) Maronite, Syrian and Greek Christians.
In the ancient city of Damascus, not il
the %"street called straight" (still its mum
d, cipal thoroughbred but in a more remote
portion of the town, rise the walls that sur
/ round the humble quarters of the renowne
! Algerine; where asmall pension granted hin
5 by the tardy justice of the French Govern
? ment Tor, in other words, by the Emperor 0
h the French(, has enabledhim, during the pas
/ eight years, to extend the hospitality of hi
: divan to the Western traveller. Here tn
e Howadii, availing himself of the services o
e a Dragoman, is surprised at the intelligen
8 inquiries put to him in relation to all part
/ of the world by his host, whose life of seclu
S sion has not kept him uniformed of passin.
events. Meanwhile the stranger is pressed
e with all the warmth of Arabian hospitality
to coffee and a chibouque, or is served wit
sherbets cooled with snow from the neigh
boring heights of Hermon.
1t was the courtyard of this house tina
n but a few weeks ago was crammed to sufoco
d ton by crowd of terrified Christians VIII