Chapter XXXVI: The Taking of Kairwán

Ever since the middle of August preparations had been in progress for the capture of the so-called focus of Moslem sedition in North Africa. Although everybody knew from the first, that Kairwán was built in the middle of a plain, with no other defence than dilapidated battlements and a few old cannon of uncertain age, all the refinements of modern warfare were brought to bear on the undertaking. This being the case, nearly two months elapsed before the various columns which were to encompass the Holy City could be made ready to commence the elaborate concentric movement, which, in the dreams of M. Saint-Hilaire, was to crush out rebellion from one end of the Regency to the other, and envelop at the same time in its meshes the authors and abettors of the insurrection. The coming campaign had cost Generals Saussier and Logerot a vast amount of trouble, and this was hardly to be wondered at, as half the current maps of Tunis were drawn from imagination, and the only guide to Kairwán was a sketch plan made by Mr. Edward Rae some five years before. At last everything was agreed on; General Étienne was to advance on Kairwán from Susa, General Forgemol was to move from Tebessa, and General Saussier in person was to march with Generals Logerot, Sabatier, and Philibert from Tunis and Zaghouán. The movement was to be made simultaneously, but the palm of conquest was to be reserved for the Commander-in-Chief. Roughly speaking, the total force employed in the expedition amounted to at least 22,000 men. On the 22d October General Étienne received orders to set out, and as he became by waywardness or accident the captor of Kairwán, I shall first follow his advance, before describing that of the columns Saussier and Forgemol.

Lieutenant Kane thus writes of the setting out of the French army from Susa:—

OUED LIA, _October 23d_.

I returned to Susa from the advance guard late last night in order to witness the final departure of the French troops on the following morning. The sight which presented itself before the walls of Susa at dawn on Saturday was certainly a very curious one. The main feature of the scene was our enormous baggage train, which consisted of over 1000 laden camels, 700 horses and mules, and a multitude of carts of all sorts and sizes driven by Maltese. This unwieldy caravan was put in motion before it was light, and huge fires kindled from the refuse on our old camping-ground added to the picturesqueness of the scene. We had also a miscellaneous collection of camp followers. An ordinary Tunisian cab drawn by three mules conveyed M. La Mothe, the correspondent of the _Temps_, in our rear, and I noticed a German cavalry officer following the march on foot. At my suggestion he asked General Étienne for a written permission to accompany the column, which was readily granted as soon as it was applied for. With a view to obviate the possibility of any of the insurgents attacking our convoys, the advance guard was made strong enough to clear completely the line of march, and consisted of the 6th Hussars, a mountain battery, and the 116th Regiment. Additional precautions were taken to prevent surprise by throwing out a line of flanking parties on either side of the column. After the advance guard came the carts and heavy guns and then the infantry. Much confusion ensued in consequence of many of the camels and bullocks falling down under their enormous burdens. I rode to the front with the Hussars. We arrived at Colonel Lannes’ camp at Kala Piccola (“little Kala”) without any interruption, but to the right of the camp we heard some rather heavy firing. On entering the camp I could see the Hussars under Colonel Lannes hotly engaged with the Arab cavalry. The ground there was covered with small plateaux, and the Arabs were firing from one plateau at the Hussars on another, and _vice versâ_. In about half an hour the Arabs were driven away, but it was impossible to ascertain their loss. The Hussars had a _sous-officier_ wounded and a trooper killed. The cavalry of the advance guard were now extended in front and to the left of our line of march, and were engaged all along the front by small bodies of Arabs. We thus pushed on, driving the Arabs before us, until we arrived within three miles of Oued Lia, which was to be our new camping-ground. With a field-glass I was able to see distinctly a body of about 400 Arab horsemen _en masse_. They, however, soon disappeared as the infantry, in skirmishing order, pushed right up to the lines of Hussars, and surrounded Oued Lia. To the left of the place, about two miles away, and on the crest of some rising ground, some Arabs were still in sight, but they were driven away by the French artillery. Oued Lia has been completely burnt out, but while the house of a Frenchman, M. Saccoman, was destroyed, that of the Caid of Susa was comparatively uninjured. Near the village I saw the corpse of a Maltese lying on a heap of stones and burnt to death. The unfortunate man started from Susa on Friday with a supply of wine for Colonel Lannes’ soldiers, and, having missed his way, met this terrible fate at the hands of the Arabs. We have water in abundance at Oued Lia (“the Spreading River”), and an open ground in our front slopes up to the crest of the hills about three miles distant. We expect to halt here for one day at least. I afterwards learned that in the engagement to the left of the column the daring Zlass chief Ali Ben Hammara had been killed, and that a good rifle was found close to his body. Seven wounded soldiers were conveyed back to Susa in ambulance waggons. The advance guard had also come up with the Arabs and defeated them with severe loss.

OUED LIA, _October 24th_.

Colonel Lannes’ column from Kala Piccola joined us to-day, together with the camels carrying water for our coming march. The allowance is to be five litres _per diem_ for each horse and two for each man. It is feared that the Arabs have poisoned the wells at the next camping-ground, in which case it will be necessary to make a forced march on Kairwán. A report has reached us that the insurgents have already pillaged the city.

SIDI-EL-HANI, _October 25th_.

After leaving Oued Lia we soon reached the open plain. We are now at Sidi-el-Hani, and through a field-glass I can see a white streak of wall which I am told is Kairwán. We have not met a single Arab.

KAIRWÁN, _October 26th_.

Kairwán surrendered to-day without a blow being struck. When we were within two miles of the town Colonel Moulin, escorted by some cavalry and his staff, galloped on, and in a few minutes came within easy firing distance. Flanking parties of cavalry were sent out on each side of the town, and I went on with one of them. We rode right up to the walls, and immediately after the inhabitants hoisted the white flag on the tower of the Great Mosque. The staff then advanced to within speaking distance of the walls, and in a few minutes we were met by the Governor-General Mourabet, who rode towards us on a mule, led by two grooms, and who wore an enormous pair of yellow slippers. Mourabet declared that he voluntarily surrendered the town. The order to march was then given. Just one hour after the advance guard had reached the walls, the troops began to defile into the city through the Bab-el-Khaukh. Each battalion was headed by its trumpeter playing a fanfare. All the column passed through the town and then came out by the Tunis Gate on the opposite side. We are now encamped under the walls. The 48th Regiment only is stationed in the citadel. The soldiers have been strictly forbidden to enter the town. This has caused much disappointment and a good deal of openly expressed grumbling. The men are very fatigued, and the weather has been exceedingly hot, and the dust almost insupportable. All the country round Kairwán is a dried-up marsh. The Zaghouán column is reported to be within a few miles’ march of us, but the Tebessa column will not arrive for two days at least. The natives look sullen and dejected, and I have never seen one smile since we have been here. The French have confirmed the Tunisian General Mourabet in his appointment as Governor of Kairwán. The insurgents occupy the mountains near the city. They have not been subdued, and every one even here is laughing at the whole business. The arrangements of General Étienne and Colonel Moulin are excellent, and our supply of water is amply sufficient. It is rumoured that an expedition in Southern Tunis will be necessary.

General Saussier now appeared in the vicinity of Kairwán, and was very angry indeed because he was not there first of all. As France seems to consider the taking of Kairwán as little less heroic than the taking of Troy, the Commander-in-Chief had every reason to resent the laurel wreath being so unexpectedly snatched from his brow by one of his subordinates. Although the walk in and out of Kairwán seems to me a very commonplace occurrence, Frenchmen apparently think differently. Three months afterwards I happened to see the streets of Paris crowded with joyous conscripts, most of whom wore a brightly coloured picture in their hats. A closer inspection revealed my old friend, the “taking of Kairwán,” flanked by a “bombardment of Sfax.” In the former a cavalry officer was brandishing his sword at an open door, and in the latter a ferocious Zouave was to be seen in the act of cutting down an equally ferocious Arab. In the middle was a colossal figure of the Republic holding out benignly wreaths of victory over Sfax and Kairwán. The inscription beneath was a modest one—_la gloire et la patrie_.

Lieutenant Kane did not share the veneration of the conscripts’ artist. He next wrote as follows:—

KAIRWÁN, _October 28th_.

I have returned from a visit to General Saussier’s camp, which is now pitched four miles north-west of Kairwán. With his large brigade are no fewer than three Generals, and very great jealousy exists on account of General Étienne and his Susa column carrying off the honours of the surrender. We are, I believe, treated with the gloomy prospect of being perpetually quartered at Kairwán in consequence. The contrast between the facilities given to correspondents by General Étienne and the treatment they received with the Commander-in-Chief is a very marked one. We now hear of a fourth column coming from Gabes, but its approach will be delayed as well as that of the Tebessa column. The tricolour of the 23d Chasseurs has been hoisted on the Kasbah. To appease the men they are now allowed to go in bodies of six into the city.

Later in the day four Arab messengers came back in a wretched plight. One of them had taken a message for the _Times_, and they had been sent with despatches from Kairwán to Susa, but returned, declaring they had been pillaged _en route_. Money being found on them, and complicity with the insurgents being suspected, they were immediately tried by court- martial and shot. It appears that Ali Hammara, the celebrated Arab chief killed at Kala Piccola, was buried with great pomp at Kairwán before the French arrived here. Nearly all the Kairwán townspeople are of the same origin as the Zlass tribe. Eight of the principal sheikhs of Kairwán have been arrested by the French authorities. The Tebessa column is now a day’s march from Kairwán.

On the 29th October General Forgemol’s column also arrived, and he was likewise allowed _la gloire_ of a march in at one gate and out of another, preceded by his _goumiers_ and martial music. Twenty-two thousand men were now around the devoted city, but it appeared that on the 25th October the whole of the insurgents had levied as much blackmail as they could, and then started off for more congenial battlefields in the far south. It soon became apparent that although the troops had got to Kairwán, nobody knew why they had ever come there, and what they were to do next.

Lieutenant Kane wrote thus on the 2d November:—

The march of General Forgemol’s African troops through the town has greatly impressed the inhabitants. Yesterday a conference took place in the camp between General Saussier and the Governor, the Cadi, and chief men of Kairwán. General Saussier intimated to the Governor that he required four things of him. First, that all insurgents belonging to the city should be brought back and surrendered unconditionally within two days; secondly, that prices of provisions in the town should be lowered; thirdly, that one hundred horsemen should be furnished for a postal service; fourthly, that the shops should be kept open all day. In the event of non-compliance, General Saussier said that very rigorous measures would have to be adopted. Since yesterday a large number of horses, said to belong to the Zlass chiefs, have been given up to the French. The mosques have also been thrown open unreservedly to Christians and Jews. The Tunisian authorities are taking bribes not to denounce householders as belonging to the Zlass tribe. The prisons are full of political offenders, but several spies have been released after receiving a sound flogging. Large numbers of soldiers have visited the Great Mosque to-day. The guardians of other religious establishments are putting up French flags by the side of their distinctive banners. Preparations for the march on Gafsa have been recommenced.

This information induced me to visit Kairwán with a view of exploring its antiquities; but before describing the results of my journey, I should certainly complete my narrative of the other component marches of the concentric movement. General Saussier’s advance from Manouba by way of Zaghouán presents no feature of possible interest. The reconnaissances of General Sabatier had cleared a great portion of the route, and after a brush between the advanced guard and the Arabs in the defiles of Foum-el-Karouba, the way was clear and even deserted. The skirmish was unfortunate, as it caused just enough delay to prevent the name of General Saussier from being handed down to posterity as the captor of Kairwán, although it cannot deprive him of whatever fame is due to the originator of a campaign, the essential feature of which was “much ado about nothing,” and in which wholesale cattle-lifting avowedly takes the place of hard fighting.

General Forgemol’s march from Tebessa was a very different feat from General Saussier’s march from Manouba. While at Kairwán I had access to the journal of the _goumiers_ and other papers, and was able to write the following fairly correct account of an advance which awakens memories of Xenophon:—

One of the most notable features of the concentric movement of the French troops on Kairwán is undoubtedly General Forgemol’s thirteen days’ march from Beccaria, nine miles east of Tebessa. The Division Forgemol consists of 7000 combatants, escorting a convoy of 8800 camels and 1500 mules, which carried thirty days’ provisions. Its composition is as follows:—Ten battalions of infantry, including three battalions of the 3d and two of the 1st Zouaves, three battalions of the 23d and one of the 1st Turcos, two battalions from the 100th and 34th of the Line, six squadrons of cavalry, the 3d Chasseurs d’Afrique, and two squadrons of the 3d Hussars, one troop of Spahis, together with 800 Goumiers, or Arab irregular cavalry, one battery of mountain guns, and another of horse artillery. The brigadiers under General Forgemol were Generals De la Sougéolle and De Jislain. The cavalry brigade was commanded by General Bonie. The order of march was adapted to the requirements of the enormous convoy, which even in close square covered a large extent of ground. The advance guard consisted of four squadrons of cavalry and two battalions of infantry. The main body of troops followed, headed by two battalions of infantry and one battery of artillery, flanked by a battalion of infantry on each side. The baggage train in close column of route was formed by an intervening battalion into two divisions, the first containing the baggage and the second the provisions. On either flank marched a troop of cavalry. The rear of the column was brought up by the mountain guns, three battalions of infantry, and one squadron of cavalry, while the whole force was covered by a cloud of irregular cavalry on every side. General Forgemol struck his camp at Beccaria early in the morning of the 16th of October, and in the afternoon of that day arrived at Ras-el-Aioun, on the Tunisian frontier. The next day a cavalry reconnaissance made a rapid movement to Hydra, some miles to the north-east of the boundary. Near the Roman ruins it was attacked by the warriors of the Ouled Maggers and the Frechich tribes, who had a few days before perpetrated a successful _razzia_ on Algerian territory between Ras-el-Aioun and Tebessa. The Goums suffered a loss of five killed and twenty-four wounded, and in the _mêlée_ considerable confusion ensued owing to the similarity existing between their costume and that of their assailants. Two _goumiers_ are even said to have been shot by mistake, and an order was subsequently issued that the Algerian irregulars should wear red, green, and yellow ribands on alternate days round their turbans, in order to distinguish them from their Tunisian co-religionists. The Arabs fought with great courage, and only retreated after a charge of French cavalry, in which fifteen of their horsemen were slain. The reconnaissance retired on Ras-el-Aioun in the evening, and the next day the division reached Hydra without further molestation. The heat was very oppressive, and the march lay across hills and valleys covered with brushwood. From Hydra a reconnaissance advanced some miles farther east to Hanout-el-Ajem, without encountering any resistance, and on the following day (the 20th of October) the whole column arrived there also. On the 21st General Forgemol reached Oudem-el-Ghanem, and some of the smaller tribes came in to demand the _aman_ (pardon). After passing Henchir-Rohia a movement was made on the 23d of October towards Henchir-Sbeiba. The camp had hardly been struck when the Goums reported the presence of 4000 Tunisian horsemen in the neighbouring ravines belonging to the tribes of the Ourten, Ouled Maggers, Ouled Ayar, and Hamáma. The Arabs commenced the attack, and were at length dislodged from their position by the infantry and artillery after an engagement which lasted till noon. During the action the column continued its advance, and after sunset reached Sbeiba. General Forgemol halted the following day at Sbeiba, and on the 25th of October commenced a march on Coudiat-el-Halfa. The assailants of the 23d resumed their attack simultaneously on the advance and rear guards. The Goums and infantry sustained some loss, and the Arabs finally yielded only to repeated charges of cavalry. From Coudiat-el-Halfa the column moved to Oued-el- Foul, and on the following day, before the march commenced, the Arabs in force assailed the camp on all sides except the east.

In spite of the attack, rendered more serious by the presence of contingents from the tribes of Zlass and Ouled Said, the troops advanced towards El Haouareb. The firing of the Arabs was silenced by the artillery about noon. Leaving El Haouareb next morning, the camp was pitched before sunset at Biar Zlass, in sight of the _Minár_ of Sidi Okhbah at Kairwán. Without meeting any further obstacle to the final advance, General Forgemol moved on next morning (October 29th) to Kairwán itself. Nearly all the effective strength of the column, with its bands playing the “Marseillaise,” defiled through the Tunis Gate, and, passing across the bazaars and principal streets, returned to their camping-ground outside the city by way of the Bab-el-Djelladín.

Nothing has impressed the Kairwánis more than the presence of the Algerian army with its Moslem soldiers, who seem to have lost none of their religious ardour by their loyalty to the present rulers of their country. When the Turcos reached the Bab-el-Tunis a rumour spread with wonderful rapidity that the much-longed-for troops of the Sultan were at hand, but this momentary ray of hope soon gave place to bitter disappointment. From that moment the Moslems of Kairwán have apparently resigned themselves to their fate, and green-turbaned Ulema, and venerable Sheikhs of still more venerable sanctuaries, spend their time in exhibiting to their unbidden guests those very buildings, the entry into which a fortnight before would have cost the intruder his life.

I had while at Kairwán many opportunities of talking over the campaign with several of the officers of the _Colonne Forgemol_. I shall not easily forget one of them, who had seen over a quarter of a century’s service in Algeria, saying to me—“We came to Kairwán, but we have done nothing; we shall go to Gafsa, and we shall still do nothing, for we can never come up with the Arabs. In a single day they can march four times as far as we can, and as they have already removed their herds out of our reach we cannot starve them. In Tunis, as in Algeria, the conquest must be a matter of years. The Algerians have been tired out, the Tunisians must be tired out also.”

The one question asked a thousand times a day at Kairwán during my stay was, “What will the Chamber decide about Tunis?” That question has never been answered yet. My own impression is, that there was not one of those brave men around Kairwán who was not heartily tired of an expedition which as yet has done nothing but call forth misplaced energy and zeal, and the ultimate results of which are justly dreaded by every patriotic Frenchman.