XLV. 1840. CHAP. himself, with the happiest results, of the insight which he had obtained into the Arab character.* Though his mind. was essentially contemplative, and he often turned by predilection from military pursuits to questions of political economy or philosophy, yet no one was more energetic 1 Castellane, when the moment of action arrived, or exhibited more 287, 304, coolness and decision in giving his orders in circumstances of difficulty or danger.1 305. 18. General Bosquet. If General de Lamoricière was not favoured by fortune in obtaining a greater theatre of action, the same cannot be said of his rival in glory, GENERAL BOSQUET. Called to the brightest destinies, his character proved equal to them. An iron will, a brilliant courage, a thirst for glory, were in him united to a solid judgment, a discriminating intellect, and an extraordinary power of rapid decision in the most trying circumstances. Beloved by those who approached him, from the simplicity of his manners and the kindliness of his disposition, he was yet regarded by all with the respect which never fails to * On one occasion, an Arab having been taken prisoner, and brought before him, the following characteristic dialogue took place :— "Je te connais,' lui dit le prisonnier au bout d'un instant. Te rappellestu que c'est moi qui t'ai remis une lettre un soir du Général." 'Oui,' répondit le Général, alors donne-moi des renseignments sur les bataillons.' 'Sur Dieu, jamais; je serai muet.' 'Fais attention: je vais faire appeler les chiaous; le bâton frappera.' 'Non, je ne vais pas m'y prendre ainsi avec cet homme,' dit-il à ses officiers. 'Bentzman, allez chercher un sac de mille francs et versez-en la moitié sur la table.' Au bruit des pièces d'argent, les yeux de l'Arabe commencèrent à s'ouvrir. ‘Tu le vois,' dit le Général; elles appartiennent à toi si tu me mènes où sont tes bataillons.' 'Les gens sont-ils prêts? partons,' dit l'Arabe. 'Ce n'est pas tout,' et il fit signe de verser le reste du sac; 'il me faut ta tribu.' 'Je suis prêt, je te conduirai', dit l'Arabe, qui ne quittait pas l'argent du regard; 'partons.' 'Si tu es prêt, je ne le suis pas encore; mais demain si tu me fais rencontrer tes bataillons, la moitié de cet argent sera à toi.' 'Le lendemain la colonne surprenait les bataillons de l'Emir; et depuis, cet homme fit faire un grand nombre de razzias au Général; mais aussi le succès de ces entreprises était rendu plus facile par l' habileté de nos soldats CASTELLANE, pp. 286, 287. XLV. 1840. environ those who, it is foreseen, are born for great CHAI achievements. No one could converse with him without feeling that he was born for command; that he was one of the men capable of saving from danger, when all had come to despair of fortune. Like the youth in Tacitus, he loved danger itself, not the reward of courage; like Nelson, he never calculated odds when duty called. Fortune was not wanting to these great endowments; his subsequent career justified these expectations, for it presented a theatre for the display of these qualities. His name will never be forgotten in British story; for he commanded the noble band of Zouaves who rushed to 'Castellane, 305; St Arthe rescue when the English Guards were dying at their naud, ii.267. post on the ridge of Inkermann.1 men. He 19. Arnaud. MARSHAL ST ARNAUD was not so fortunate as General Bosquet he did not reap a harvest of glory, for he Marshal St was called away when the sickle was just put in. had not the military capacity which characterised Changarnier, or the daring spirit which burned in Bosquet; but nevertheless he was a most eminent man, and well worthy of a place in the gallery of contemporary portraits. His mind was essentially heroic: he had that thirst for glory which invariably characterises elevated characters, and is of all qualities the most inconceivable to the majority of His talents for war shone forth with peculiar lustre in the Algeria campaign; for he was cautious in desigu and yet rapid in execution, and possessed that talent for combination which was of so much importance in a country so difficult of access, and when the troops required to converge from so many distant points to achieve decisive success. His disposition was affectionate, his heart warm these qualities appear in every page of his correspondence, one of the most charming works which military literature has ever produced. In it we see, as in Collingwood's letters, the deeply interesting combination of military ardour and pursuits with the amenities and affections of private life. It was St Arnaud's wish XLV. 1840. HAP. that he might die in the hour of victory, after having planted the French standards on the ramparts of Sebastopol; and if not exactly fulfilled, it was so in substance. For his enthusiastic spirit, when on the verge of death from a long and painful malady, enabled him to bear the long-protracted fatigues of the fight at the Alma, and among the last sounds which reached his ears were the enthusiastic cheers of the allied troops when the fiercelydisputed heights were won. 20. If St Arnaud exhibited the interesting combination of Marshal warlike ardour with domestic love, very different was the Pelissier. character of his successor, who, like him, trained in the wars of Algeria, but more fortunate in the next contest, gave the finishing-stroke to the immortal siege of Sebastopol by the capture of the Malakoff. Stern, unrelenting, and determined, PELISSIER had all the qualities required to bring a sanguinary and long-protracted contest to a successful termination. Such was his determination that the prospect of the most terrific slaughter could not deter him from attempting what he deemed essential to success, or following it up, when once begun, with the perseverance which so often in war, as in civil life, commands it. When in the attack of the Cemetery on the right of the Bastion du Mât at Sebastopol, immediately after he succeeded to the command, the French, after a desperate conflict, were driven at night out of the work they had won, he gave orders that every regiment in the army should be led to the assault till it was finally secured; and he was as good as his word. Nor did he hesitate himself to share the perils to which he exposed his troops, for he fed the assault on the Malakoff with an incessant stream of stormers, till ten thousand men had fallen within its walls, and then he himself fixed his headquarters there for the night amidst the perpetual risk of a mine being sprung, determined to preserve his conquest or perish. It was the same in Algeria: he succeeded in subduing the country by a determined prosecution of his designs, regardless, like XLV. 1840. Napoleon, of the cost of human life at which it was pur- CHAP. chased. And if humanity shudders at some of his sanguinary deeds, and the destruction of a whole tribe, including women and children, by smoking them to death in a cave, is pointed to as one of the most terrible acts recorded in the annals of the world,-history, in justice, must recount the provocation he had received, and the atrocities perpetrated by the Arabs on such Frenchmen as fell into their hands. aves. 21. In the African wars which drew forth the talents and confirmed the character of this cluster of illustrious men, The Zouthere also arose a body of soldiers who, both in the campaign in Algeria and in the contest in the Crimea, have acquired the very highest renown. The name of the ZOUAVES will never be forgotten as long as the story of the siege of Sebastopol endures, and it will take its place beside those of Troy and Jerusalem. They were originally intended to be regiments composed of Frenchmen who had settled in Algeria, or their descendants; but the intermixture of foreigners in their ranks ere long became so considerable, that when they were transported to the shores of the Crimea, though the majority were French, they were rather an aggregate of the Dare-devils of all nations. In their ranks at Sebastopol were some that held Oxford degrees, many those of Göttingen and Paris, crowds who had been ruined at the gaming-table, not a few who had fled from justice, or sought escape from the consequences of an amorous adventure. Yet had this motley crowd, composed of the most daring and reckless of all nations, become, in the rude school of the wars in Algeria, an incomparable body of soldiers, second to none in the world in every military duty, perhaps superior to any in the vehemence and rush of an assault. Without the disciplined steadiness of the British infantry, who have so often perished like the Spartans at Thermopylæ rather than abandon their post, they were superior to them in the vigour and impetuosity of a sudden attack. So VOL. VII. 2 L 1840. 1 Castellane, 378. CHAP. little was it deemed possible that they could ever fail XLV. in such an operation, that when they were formed for the storm of Naatcha, in the Algerine wars, their commander said to them, "Recollect, Zouaves, if the retreat is sounded, it is not for you.”1 not for you." They amply justified this high character on the fields of the Alma and Inkermann, and at the assaults of Sebastopol. Ever leading the column of stormers, they rushed forward in a tumultuous swarm, which at first excited the apprehensions of the British officers who witnessed it; but this feeling was soon changed into one of unmixed admiration when they beheld how gallantly they mounted the breach, with what vigour they forced themselves into the embrasures, what desperate hand-to-hand encounters they maintained when they got into the interior, and the difficult task of holding it against the assaults of the Muscovites had commenced. 22. State of Algiers in 1840. The colony of Algiers had hitherto been garrisoned only by an insufficient body of troops, and in consequence it had never acquired the consistency or security necessary to render it a flourishing settlement. Extending from Bona on the east to Cherchell on the west, both of which were on the sea-coast, it did not reach more than thirty leagues to the southward into the interior. Constantine, Milianah, Medeah, Huenza, and Setif, formed its original frontier line of strongholds intended to overawe the Arab tribes in the mountains; but since Milianah and Medeah had been ceded to Abd-el-Kader by the treaty of La Tafna, this line of defence was entirely broken through, and the enemy was encamped as it were in the middle of the French territories. After the general insurrection of the Arabs under that indefatigable chief in 1839, already xxxiv. § 59. narrated,2 great advantage had been taken by him of this commanding central position, and he gained the advantage in several detached encounters, while a French brig sailing from Oran to Algiers was attacked and plundered by the Kabyles near Cherchell. To avenge this affront an expedition of twelve thousand men was sent from Algiers, 2 Ante, c. Dec. 26, 1839. |