diers being sent here, to be rendered musicians previous to being admitted into the regimental bands. The effect of it is plainly visible; and I doubt if the English bands, though sustained at enormous expense by the officers, can equal the French. The third branch is the School for Farriers. It may be added, though not appertaining so immediately to the military, that there is connected with the school a very large Government Haras, numbering some as beautiful animals as I have ever seen, many of them Arabs, many, too, of English blood, all being destined for the use of the Institution.

Sir, again let me apologize for thus addressing you unofficially, but such I believe is your desire, and is the only mode for an officer communicating direct with the War Department.

CHAPTER VI.

EL TELL AND EL SERSOUS.

FRANCE IN AFRICA.

"I speak of Africa."

SHAKSPEARE'S "HENRY IV."

"Behold the African,

That traverses the vast Numidian deserts

In quest of prey, and lives upon his bow.

ADDISON'S "CATO."

66 COMBATTRE ET SOUFFRIR."

"Journal de l'Expedition et de la Retraite de Constantine en 1836; par un Voluntaire, Officier de l'Armee Afrique.”

KEARNY IN ALGIERS.

The

SICILY was considered the training ground of the Roman and Carthaginian armies, contending for the Empire of the Mediterranean. Algiers has been the training ground of the French Army -dreaming of another European career of conquest and spoliation like that which they enjoyed under the First NAPOLEON. present French ruler seems never to have forgotten a remark made by FREDERICK THE GREAT: "That if he were King of France, not a shot would be fired in Europe without his permission." It is a very hard school; it forged and tempered the steel-heads of those columns which did the fighting in the Crimea; who stormed the heights at Alma; brought succor at Inkerman; captured the Malakoff, and wrested victory from the Austrians in 1859, from Monte Bello to Solferino.

Although a tropical land, the vicissitudes of the temperature are as fearful as those which convert iron into steel. In the mountain regions, only a short distance from the coast, the changes are almost incredible. In the retreat of the first expedition against Constantine-23d November to 11th December, 1836-the French suffered as much from snow and cold as they did in other years from heat.

63

This retreat, in many of its hardships and perils, was a repetition in miniature of the retreat from Moscow, 1812. Indeed, some of the old officers declared that during this campaign of seventeen days they had encountered in Africa the icy cold of Moscow and the bottomless mud of Warsaw. No wonder KEARNY did not contemplate the mire of the sacred soil with a dread equal to that of MCCLELLAN, after floundering through that of Barbary, roadless, and soaked with the continual and severe rains of that zone, During the second siege of Constantine, which was successful, one French regiment was exposed "for fifty hours, without rest or sustenance, to a pelting storm of snow and rain."

Lieutenant RAASLOFF, of the Danish Artillery, a very prominent officer, who, like KEARNY, participated, as a volunteer, in the campaigns of 1840-41, relates a very interesting anecdote of this retreat, from commencement to end a series of the most fearful sufferings, labors, and privations. One of his friends, who was present, told him that after twenty-four hours of almost insupportable miseries, he mustered his energies to enable him to live through the coming. night, which promised no alleviation of them, standing, leaning against his horse and holding him by the bridle. Two private soldiers, wrapped in their cloaks, had lain themselves down in the deep mud at his feet. After they had remained quiet in this uncomfortable position for some time, one of them suddenly roused himself into a sitting position and exclaimed: "Well, I declare, I wonder what they are playing at the Varieties Theatre (in Paris) to-night," after which he sank down again into the sleety slush and slumber of exhaustion. When the day broke, RAASLOFF's friend sought to awaken the two sleepers, but in vain. They both slept the sleep which knows no waking. What an illustration of the careless disposition of French soldiers, and under such circumstances!

Then again, during the operations in summer, the heat almost surpasses belief. In some of his letters, KEARNY spoke of men and horses falling dead around him from the heat under a burning sky, like the heaven of brass prophesied to the Israelites as a curse. Notwithstanding, the French troops were called upon to undergo marches and privations-such as it is almost impossible to conceive that men can survive, especially during the season of the Simoon, or wind from the desert. Life at times becomes a burthen to them, and the exclamation is quoted as made by more than one: "I wish that the Bedouins would grow out of the ground by millions and

put an end to us all." All this, however, realizes the truth of the proverb, "Fatigue and privation render the soldier careless of danger," and, or yet make the best soldiers.

The writer can speak, to some extent from personal experience, in regard to the climate in the fall. Suffering from a disease of the chest, he made a trip to Algiers in 1851, in the latter part of the month of November, which CASTELLAE, an old African campaigner, styles "the Father of Tempests" (le pere des tempetes). The party experienced the truth of this remark. They looked forward to a trip over summer seas of not over forty-eight hours' duration. Vain hope! Worse weather and more wicked seas were never encountered on the ocean. It was not only tempestuous, but the wind was intensely cold and penetrating, one of those terrible piercing northwesters, descending from the snow-clad Cevennes and Pyrenees, which share dominion with the Mistral, whose cradle is the everlasting snows and glaciers of the Alps. These are the winds which render the south of France so dangerous to persons affected with weak lungs, and make the navigation of the "Gulf of the Lion"not "of Lyons," as it is now written-so perilous during the late fall, winter, and early spring.

sas.

The Merovée left Marseilles, 15th November, at 2 P. M., in one of these gales so fierce that the steamer, instead of putting forth on its direct course, crept along the French coast not five miles from the land until off Cape Creux, one hundred and eighty-five miles, where the mountains are thrust forth just north of the Gulf of RoThence the vessel was steered for the straits between Majorca and Minorca, passing in sight of the former and of Cabrera-a den of horrors for the French prisoners taken by the Spaniards during the Napoleonic wars-and then directly south for Algiers, where it arrived on the 18th, about 11 P. M., having consumed eighty-three hours in accomplishing what the passengers were assured would take only forty-eight. Amid all the discomforts of this passage, there are incidents which linger on the memory like glimpses of fairy land. On the 17th the passengers had a magnificent view of the Spanish coast, with the Pyrenees rising in all their grandeur, one sheet of glistening snow, like a vast succession of pyramids of polished Pentelican marble, and on the night of the 17th, in perfect contrast, the shores of Majorca-where the best oranges eaten in France are grown-were plainly visible, all bathed in lovely moonlight.

Finding Algiers anything but a suitable place for an invalid, and the temperature entirely dependent upon the sun, which did not shine auspiciously, since it poured almost the whole time, the party determined to seek a more propitious climate. While the sky is clouded and the rains fall, fires are indispensable for those who do not enjoy good health and are accustomed to such a comfort; then when the sun does come out, the contrast makes the heat almost insupportable. While in Algiers, the party saw all that was to be seen; ascended the mountain Sahel, in the rear of the city, looking down upon the plain of the Metidjah, where Pun KEARNY fought in 1840, the last time that the Arabs ventured a descent into the fertile lowlands, between the Sahel and the Lesser Atlas, an intervale varying from fifteen to twenty-five miles in width-many remembered an American officer who distinguished himself the last time the Arabs descended into the plain-drove in and out the different gates through the new and stupendous fortifications, and along the splendid military roads; climbed to the ramparts of the Emperor's Fort; visited the son of the last Mufti, himself an old man, at his villa a few miles outside the walls, who did not think much of the French, but seemed to have the highest respect for the broadsides -which he had heard-of England and America; threaded the lanes, and roamed through the Cazbah, the former palace of the expatriated Deys; in fact viewed everything except the interior of a mosque—and that no one cared to enter for fear of cold, or adding to it, from walking on damp floors with bare feet-a sacrifice visitors must make to their curiosity, since everyone had to take off his boots or shoes.

The return passage occupied nearly five days, in consequence of a succession of fierce blows. The Merovée sailed from Algiers on the 20th, at 1 P. M., in the height of a strong Libecchio or southwester, and, with a heavy sea running, steered toward the Islands of Majorca and Ivica, passing so close to the former that the city of Palma-its capital-was distinctly seen. On the 22d, 2 P. M., when off the Gulf of Rosas, the Mistral burst from the N. E. like a thunderbolt upon the steamer, with the fury which makes it a terror at this season to those who navigate these waters. The tempest and the sea leaped into existence simultaneously, as if they had been evoked by the wand of an enchanter, and the vessel was struck down and deluged with water in an instant. No description can do justice to a veritable Mistral, or give a just idea of its