The Massacre of Dahara

Upon this atrocious massacre the Courier Francais has the following appropriate remarks. We may consider them as marking the opinion of the French press upon an enormity which would have disgraced even the savages who were the victims of this fiendish cruelty:

"See what has just happened in Algiers.-Colonel Pelissier, commanding an expeditionary column in the Dahara, and pursuing the tribe of the Ouled Riahs, found no other means of reducing them than to burn or stifle 500 Arabs, men, women, and children, who had taken refuge in a cavern. This atrocity, committed in cold blood, and without necessity, will cause every man to thrill with indignation; and, for the honor of France, it is our most imperative duty to brand it with reprobation, in the name of the army, in the name of the nation, in the name of the Government itself, which cannot without shame approve of an act praised in one of Marshal Bugeaud's journals! An act worthy of the Spanish adventures of the 16th century, conquering the New World; worthy of the buccaneers of the

worst description; but unworthy of the noble and holy France in the 19th century, who combats heroically on the field of battle, but does not massacre her conquered enemies; who wages war with the sword and not with fagots; who, in fine, is a soldier, and not an incendiary! France, we answer for it, will stigmatize with unanimous reprobation a monstrous act like this; such as one may read of in the annals of savage tribes, and of Mandarin's bands; such, that in reading the account in the bulletin of the army, which prepares, under the national colors, to carry civilization into Africa, we remain mournfully astonished and afflicted, and are obliged to ask if France civilizes or barbarises in Algeria! And it is not enough for public opinion to separate energetically the country from all joint responsibility in this abominable act of a French colonel.

The government must pronounce, after an inquiry, on the morality of this military act, or else its protestations of love of peace will appear in the eyes of Europe nothing but the jugglery of the coward, who sets up for a peace observer with the powerful, and an exterminator with the feeble! Let it not be said of France that she has re-established the punishment of the stake against Mussulman Arabs defending their faith and their independence with arms in their hands; let it not be said that the cruelties of the holy office have re-appeared in her generous army; and that, in order to reduce fanatics, she keeps executioners. 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 of this feat of arms, lasted from the morning of June 18, to one o'clock of the night of the 19th, and the operation was performed leisurely, with intermissions calculated to watch the effect of the punishment on the victims. Yes, without necessity, for if Colonel Pelissier had waited twenty-four hours longer, those unfortunates, without food and without water, would have surrendered at discretion; but fire seems more expeditious. Unless the investigation which we demand brings to light extenuating circumstances, this act before divine and human laws, can only be designated by one name that of crime. A crime-and we know the terrible weight of that word-it is not on a triumphal arch that the remembrance of the exploit of the cavern of the Ouled Riahs will be engraven, but on the pillory of history."

The Courrier then goes on to contrast this horrible affair with the language of Marshal Bugeaud, in his last proclamation to the Arabs, where he promises them a paternal protection, urges them to place confidence in the French as their friends, and recommends to them the practices and usages of civilized society. It next fixes upon Marshal Bugeaud himself the responsibility of the proceedings of Colonel Pelissier, by stating that it has been spoken of with eulogium [eulogies] by the France Algerienne, a paper published at Algiers "under the censorship of the Governor-General."

The Heraldo, of Madrid, publishes a letter from its correspondent in Algeria, who is one of the officers sent by the Spanish Government to attend the operations of the French army in that quarter. The writer had witnessed the horrible destruction of the Riah Kabyl tribe of the Dahara, and, while striving to justify the atrocious deed, fully confirms its worst features. We can afford room but for the following extract from his communication:

"At half-past four I proceeded to the grotto, with two officers of the Engineers, an officer of the Artillery, and a detachment of between fifty and sixty men of those corps. At the entrance there were dead animals already in a state of putrefaction, and enveloped in woolen coverings, which were still burning. We reached the entrance amidst a foot high of ashes and dust, and thence penetrated into a cavity of about 32 steps. Nothing can convey an idea of the horrible aspect the cavern presented. All the dead bodies were naked, and in positions denoting the convulsions they had endured before the poor creatures had expired; the blood dropped from their mouths owing to their putrefaction; but what made one shudder most, was to see the number of infants at the breast lying amidst the wrecks of sheep, bags of beans, &c. One also beheld earthenware vases, which had contained water, boxes of papers, and a large number of various other things: despite all the efforts of the officers, the soldiers could not be prevented from seizing upon them, searching for jewelry, and carrying away bournouses all covered with blood. I have bought a necklace taken from one of the corpses, and I shall keep it, as well as two yatagans the Colonel has sent us, as memorials of this fearful scene. Nobody can tell what has passed in the grotto, whether the Arabs, stifled by the smoke resigned themselves to death with the stoicism they glory in, or their leaders and the fanatic Marabouts opposed their leaving the cavern.-Be this as it may, the drama has been truly horrible, and never was more barbarous bravery displayed at Saguntum and Numantia.-The dead bodies amounted to between eight hundred and a thousand. The Colonel would not believe our report, and has sent other soldiers to count the dead. About six hundred were drawn out of the grotto, not including all

those heaped over one another, and the infants at the breast, who were almost all concealed in their mother's clothes."

(->) Now we will simply add to the above awful murder, that it embraces the genuine spirit of the age; no matter how much so-ever the French papers may pretend to condemn the act as an outrage, they like the Americans, in the Missouri murders, the Vicksburg lynching, and the Carthage martyrdom, may speak great swelling words, but they will never punish the offenders. Blood touches blood;-the French could kindle the fire and kill, and the Spanish could rob the dead. Missouri could expel and murder her own citizens with impunity; Philadelphia and Vicksburg could take the law into their own hands; and Illinois could shut up the prophets and martyr them in cold blood, while the Governor was catechising [catechizing] the saints to observe the law, within a stones throw as it were, and what is the result? The murderers go unpunished, and silently are applauded for the hellish deed.

"O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord," for all this blood shall be avenged!-Fire, storm, war, pestilence and famine, shall continue to waste the wicked, until a man shall be as precious as fine gold. Howl, ye nations, for the day of your desolation hastens to wipe the earth where your spots of power, are now red with the evidences of your guilt! Weep, for God will feed you with judgments until you are fitted as convenient flesh for the fowls of the mountains, and the beasts of the wilderness Wade on in your glory, if human blood has any glory in being sprinkled upon the skirts of nations professing to be Christian! Wade on! the hour of judgment is nigh! The present kingdoms are crumbling to pieces! This generation shall not pass till you enter into your degredation [degradation] and doom, "where the worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched."