THE FRENCH IN ALGIERS. [From the Morning Chronicle, July 14.]

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume II, Issue 62, 20 December 1845, Page 3

THE FRENCH IN ALGIERS. [From the Morning Chronicle, July 14.]

It is most painful to read the details published by the papers of the terrible and disgraceful tragedy which has just occurred in Algeria, and some account of which we give below. In this affair upwards of 800 men, women, «h3 children kive" perished "by 'means

the most cruel end detestable that can be conceived. There .was not a shadow of excuse for the outrage. The victims were, not warjriors ; they were inoffensive and unresisting country pcop c, who, with their wives and families, their cattle, and their property, had taken refuge in the caverns, in which they were destroyed, to escape the lawless violence of their invaders. Of resistance they had no idea, excepting in so far as they wished to make terms, by which their lives and property would be saved from the violence and rapine of the French soldiery, yet the whole of these unhappy people have been destroyed. They attempted to parley, but the terms proposed to them were such that death it-elf was preferable, and the brave Colonel Pelissier (it is right that his name should be recorded) instantly gave orders that the whole of the entrances to the cavern should be closed up with combustibles, and set fire to. The order was executed. Eight hundred miserable wretches perished by the horrid process of suffocation, and the tribe of the Riahs is exterminated. A' fouler blot does no? stain the page of French history. The massacre of the prisoners at Joppa may, in the eyes of some, be palliated on the ground of necessity. The poisoning of the wounded at Jaffa, has been denied ; but nothing can excuse the coldblooded massacre of the unresisting Arabs of the Dahra. That we may not be supposed to exaggerate the horrors of this affair, we subjoin the account of it g'ven by the Paris Re/orme. We shall only add, that-the affair occurred on the 18th of June — a day which does not at any period appear to be " a toutes /ef gloires de la France."

Mass\cre at Dahra. — [From the Reforme.] —•On the 18th of June the expedition arrived before the grotto of the Dahra, in which the Arabs had taken refuge : But before telling what occurred in this place, I must enter into some details. The Dahra is a strange country ; it is a vast plain, intersected with mountains horribly rugged, and of an isolated conical shape, which are surrounded by a country of extraordinary fertility, producing corn, vines, and fruit trees. The houses are commodious, well built, and surrounded with gardens. The people are comfortable and rich. Two of these hillocks (mamelout) are united by a sort of natural wall of nearly 100 metres in breadth, which crosses a very deep ravine. This wall is called the J Cantera. It forms one of the largest grottoes of the Dahra, and since the time of the Turks, the Arab tribes have here found a retuge against tyranny. The Cantera on one side has two entrances, placed the one above the other. On the one side there are only very narrow fissures. Colonel Pelissier drew up his column in front of the Urge openings. A hot fire was raised from the openings, which was answered by a fusilade from the troops, that was less effec ivethan it 1 would otherwise have been from the darkness of : the place. During this time the troops were busy gathering bundles of wood and heaping up ; stubble and other rubbish. Colonel Pelissier intended nothing less than to smoke and burn the \ thousands of Arabs whom he supposed to be 'blocked up in these subterranean caverns. The business commenced. The combustibles were thrown into a ravine. Fire was put to them ; " and the fire was kept up till evening. This occurred on the 18th of June. On the morning of the 19th, the Arabs ventured to come out of the cavern. They came to hear the propositions of the Colonel. They were made to pass through the camp, where they could see the immense heaps prepared fur their destruction, and the lighted torches, &c. They returned to their caverns, there to perish with their wives, their children, and their property. The conditions made by Colonel Pelissier were so severe, that they could not listen to them. Then the (ire commenced. It lasted the whole day from two o'clock, and was continued throughout the night. The soldiers were kept to this detestable work by gangs; and it was, I assure you, a frightful duty for them amidst the heartrending cries and sounds which arose from the interior. For a long time the fire rose in a double column at the two entrances to (he cavern; but on the 20th there only remained a mass -of half-burnt and unouldering charcoal ; and all sounds from the interior had ceased. It was decided that the cavern should be entered. But how can I paint the frightful spectacle that met our view ? The cattle driven mad, running about wildly, and crushing everything under their feet ; men and women, in their attempt to fly, lying in all ejections dead, being smothered by the smoke, jr disembowelled by the infuriated cattle. We w^ere obliged to take upwards of. twenty steps , ovtr the heapsof the dead and dying. A thou:san*d persons were accumulated in this horrible dungeon, from which there was no issue. At the bottom dead bodies were found standing, the faces of the victims being .pressed against the fissures of the rock, in the -fruitless hope of geiting a mouthful of air to breathe. About •eveuty persons who were still living expired as Boon as they were brought into the open air. Others died from being crushed by pieces of the rock, which were detached by the -heat. A greut number were found with ■taw of yatagans upon tbeiF bodies. Some had a great number of Wounds, and it was evident that in the course of that dreadful night, and- in the midst of the horrible darkness, a terrible struggle had occurred, of which these were the marks.' Already nearly six hundred bodies have been taken out of the cavern ; and there are many more yet in it, which we have been unable to reach. Eight hundred men, women, and children, have perished. The whole of the tribe of the Riahs is exterminated.