On Sunday afternoon last the French Consulate at Casa Blanca
was fired upon, and when the French Consul informed the Governor and the Commander of the troops that he should hold them responsible for whatever occurred, they answered that they could not keep order and proposed that French troops should be landed from the cruiser ' Galilee.' The Commander of the Galilee' accordingly landed seventy-five men at dawn on Monday, the Moorish officials having pro- mised that no shot should be fired on their side. Some Moorish regular troops nevertheless opened fire on the detach- ment when it was near the town-gate and the French officer and three of the sailors were wounded. The detachment, which appears to have behaved with remarkable gallantry, forced its way to the Consulate under a heavy fire. When the Commander of the Galilee' heard the firing in the town he began to shell the fort and official quarter, and the French cruiser `Du Chayla,' which arrived in the course of the morning, joined in the bombardment. According to one statement, the Commander of the Galilee' did not open fire till the Governor of Casa Blanca had requested him to do so in order to keep back the tribesmen who were advancing on the town. Fifty more men were landed from the `Du Chayla' and fought their way to the French Consulate. The bombardment of the environs of Casa Blanca continued so long as there was fighting on shore. The Spanish warship Hernando Cortes' landed a few men on Monday, who fought their way to the Spanish Consulate, bravely overcoming many difficulties on the way.
