it is no less certain that they resisted with
splendid valour and indomitable perseverance. Again and again they
defeated the superior forces of France in the open field, wrested
strong cities from the enemy, and even threatened to extinguish the
authority of the alien in Algiers for ever. For all which the invaders
had only to thank themselves. Had General Clausel, the first military
governor of Algiers, been a wise man, the people might have accepted,
by degrees, the sovereignty of France. But the violence of his
measures, and his ignorance of the very word "conciliation," raised up
such strenuous opposition, engendered such terrible reprisals, and set
the two parties so hopelessly against each other, that nothing less
than a prolonged struggle could be expected.

The hero of this sanguinary conflict was 'Abd-el-K[=a]dir, a man who
united in his person and character all the virtues of the old Arabs
with many of the best results of civilization. Descended from a
saintly family, himself learned and devout, a H[=a]j or Meccan
pilgrim; frank, generous, hospitable; and withal a splendid horseman,
redoubtable in battle, and fired with the patriotic enthusiasm which
belongs to a born leader of men, 'Abd-el-K[=a]dir became the
recognized chief of the Arab insurgents. The Dey of Algiers had
foreseen danger in the youth, who was forced to fly to Egypt in fear
of his life. When he returned, a young man of twenty-four, he found
his country in the hands of the French, and his people driven to
desperation. His former fame and his father's name were talismans to
draw the impetuous tribes towards him; and he soon had so large a
following that the French deemed it prudent for the moment to
recognize him (1834) as Em[=i]r of Maskara, his native place, of which
he had already been chosen king by general acclamation. Here he
prepared for the coming struggle; and when the French discovered a
pretext for attacking him in 1835, they were utterly routed on the
river Maska. The fortunes of war vacillated in the following year,
till in May, 1837, 'Abd-el-K[=a]dir triumphantly defeated a French
army in the plain of the Metija. A fresh expedition of twenty thousand
met with no better success, for Arabs and Berbers are hard to trap,
and 'Abd-el-K[=a]dir, whose strategy evoked the admiration of the Duke
of Wellington, was for a time able to baffle all the marshals of
France. The whole country, save a few fortified posts, was now under
his sway,