and we were filled with the greatest anxiety for the fate of the brave men who defended it. "Three times did we attempt to open a communication with Mazagran, and three times were we driven back, by a numerous and formidable cavalry. At last, on the sixth of February, afternoon, the commander-in-chief, determined to ascertain something of our brave comrades, or to make a diversion, which, by drawing all the troops on us, would be favourable to them, or, at the least, would give them a moment of repose. He accordingly sent out a party of our garrison. Captain Palais, commander of the artillery, marched at the head with two pieces of cannon, one of which was a twenty-four pounder; we were only three hundred, and we were going to fight with eight thousand horsemen; but we were all animated by a sentiment of honour and self-love, which made us desire to share the fate of our comrades of Mazagran. "The combat commenced immediately, for the Arabs expected us, and had even boasted, that if we left our intrenchments they would enter them before us. We were attacked by their cavalry. The good conduct of our troops, and the murderous and well-sustained fire of our pieces, stopped them, and prevented them from compelling us to a retreat; the battle lasted until night, and, protected by the fire of ten pieces of cannon, which had been ably planted by our commander, and which caused great loss to the enemy, we were able to re-enter our fortifications, without the loss of a single man. "The next day a frightful silence, like that of the tombs, reigned over Mazagran, and we were very much alarmed for the fate of our companions. Two hours afterwards we saw the tri-coloured flag of this brave garrison, which was torn by the balls, and pierced with innumerable bullet holes; we saluted it with twelve discharges of cannon, and we embraced, with an undefinable joy, our brave comrades who had just fought so bravely with this crowd of barbarians." Thus, during four days, one hundred and twenty-three men resisted the efforts of twelve thousand Arabs; they re pulsed several assaults, one of which (the last one) was terrific. The enemy had two pieces of cannon, which kept up a continual fire, at about six hundred feet from the intrench ments. During these four days, the defenders used from twenty-five to thirty thousand cartridges. At the moment of the retreat of the Arabs, they had only ten thousand left. The Arabs displayed, in their attack on Mazagran, great intrepidity and courage. The complete ignorance of the mechanical arts was one of the principal causes of their defeat. These brave defenders of Mazagran were not permitted to go unrewarded, as the following will show: "The lieutenant-general Gueheneuc authorizes the tenth company of the first African battalion to preserve, as a glorious trophy, the flag which waved over Mazagran during the third, fourth, fifth and sixth of February, and which, all torn by the bullets of the enemy, attests at the same time the fury of the attack and the obstinacy of the defence. "Besides, he orders that, the sixth of February of every year, the present order shall be read before the African battalion, if it is possible, and, when this cannot be done, each commander of a detachment shall read it before all the men assembled under arms. Honour to the heroic garrison of Mazagran! "THE LIEUTENANT-GENERAL GUEHENEUC." A subscription has been opened at Algiers to raise a column, on which the names of the brave defenders of Mazagran are to be inscribed. THE END. |