France, however, prepares manfully for the struggle : her temper
will not suffer her to submit to any defeat which can by any means be retrieved; and the contumacy of the Arabs only serves as an impulse to fresh efforts across the Mediterranean. The great military nation have not yet discovered the measure of the means necessary for the final overthrow of Abd-el-Kader ; but some day they will find it out.
Meanwhile, Marshal Bugeaud, if half the tales about him are true is playing such pranks as ought to disqualify him for com- mand anywhere. He writes letters which are published, com- plaining that Ministers do not adopt his ideas ; intimating that the misfortunes in Algeria are all owing to his absence and the misconduct of his subordinates, and making it a point of mag- nanimity to return to his command. Some of the Opposition papers are charmed at his turgid tristia, and find " du Napoleon" even in his punctuation ! He forgets that this invasion by Abd- el-Kader must have been long planning ; that he had left his government but a few days before the outbreak ; and that if any one is chargeable with want of foresight, and with defective ar- rangements to encounter the new anti-crusade, it was he himself. It is even said that be was warned of it. Any indiscretion may be believed of a man who writes such letters as his to the Pre- fect of the Dordogne.
