Part 79

There were 3,000 Turkish soldiers in Algiers, and about 7,000 in the country. These kept order. Now they are sent away the French may colonise extensively, but they cannot keep the country with the present inhabitants.

The Dey had ten millions sterling in gold and silver, a treasure which had been accumulating since the time of Barbarossa. [Footnote: A famous corsair of the sixteenth century.] He claimed 400,000£ as his own, and was allowed to carry it away. The French enquired about the jewels of the Regency. The Dey said there were no jewels but those which belonged to his wives, and la galanterie Française would respect them as private property. So they did.

There was a magazine containing 250,000£ of things in the trinket line. There were 150 ornamental daggers, all the presents of European princes, &c. Colonel Monteith saw one officer coolly put into his pocket a watch set in diamonds, which had evidently been given by a King of England, worth, he supposed, 2,000£.

General Lavardo pillaged more openly than any one. He had thirty soldiers employed in carrying off his pillage.

The affair at Belida was accidental. Bourmont went out with 1,600 men and invited the chiefs to meet him. They were coming peaceably; but some Arabs saw the French artillerymen taking their horses down to water without their guns, and they could not help attempting to steal. The artillerymen beat them off; but the firing having begun was soon converted into a battle. Bourmont beat them off, but thought it expedient to retreat.

The beach was particularly favourable for landing. The weather fine, and there was plenty of time to prepare.

The thing best done was by General Valagi, who in eighteen hours raised a continued work of a mile and a half. He had 1,600 sappers and miners. Colonel Monteith is in admiration of this entrenchment, which was beautifully finished, and was capable of resisting 30,000 regular troops.

The Arabs are miserably mounted. The Dey's two best horses were not worth 30l. each.

Duperre he thought a man willing to do all, but quite overpowered by the management of 100 ships of war and 500 transports. His reports are all lies. Bourmont's are nearest the truth. The ships, with the exception of those which were in the Levant, were not in good order. There seemed to be no discipline.

The army never wanted either water or provisions. Water was within three feet of the surface everywhere. In the gardens on the side of the hills towards Algiers the water was found at the depth of twenty feet.

Nothing could be more perfect than the equipment of the army. They calculated the cost of the expedition at four millions.

I see by the newspapers that the Prince of Orange yielded the point of the colours to the deputation from Brussels. He seems to have conceded a great deal, but to have acted with great personal courage and decision. It is expected that the Commission he appointed have asked for the separation of Holland from Belgium, and the establishment of a Federal union only; two countries under one King with distinct legislatures, armies, &c. The great towns are quiet. Holland ready to march upon Brussels.

I shall not be satisfied unless some of the Bruxellois are hanged for pillage.

The answers of the King seem to have been firm and judicious.

It is impossible not to admire the constancy of the troops, who bivouacked for eight days in the park.

The French Government seems too weak or too timid to prevent outrage in Paris. The printers' devils will have no machinery for printing! It is entertaining to see those who make all revolutions suffer by them.

September 7.

Saw Greville at the Treasury. He told me he had got from Lord Chesterfield that Palmerston had no objection to come in. Lord Melbourne had; but they required the sacrifice of Aberdeen, Bathurst, and Arbuthnot. There must be some mistake about this condition. I told Greville if he could get a fact to communicate it to the Duke.

It is feared the Prince of Orange is gone away to the Hague. He promised Colonel Jones he would be firm.

September 8.

The Prince of Orange certainly went to the Hague. He was received there enthusiastically. The proposition he takes is for Federal union. I fear he must submit to some modification of that, or encounter real opposition and civil war.

September 9.

Hardinge gives me rather an indifferent account of Ireland. Great animosity still existing between the Catholics and Protestants in the lower ranks; in the higher, peace. A revolutionary disposition raised in the middle classes by the example of Prance. Great dissatisfaction in consequence of the proposed taxation of last session.

He told the Duke, and so did Arbuthnot, that he might dispose of their offices if he wanted them. He seems to think Peel is tired and anxious to withdraw--annoyed at the idea of being unpopular, an idea the defeat of his brothers has given him. This makes him less energetic than he should be with respect to the measures necessary to strengthen himself in the House of Commons.

September 10.

It seems the desire of separation is general in the Netherlands. It is the result of national prejudice and vanity. The Dutch seem just as violent the other way, and the deputies were rather in danger at Rotterdam. The separation will probably defeat the objects of the great Powers in 1814, for it is idle to expect such terms of Federal union as will enable the two States to act cordially together.

September 11.

By withdrawing his troops from the palace, and going to the Hague, the Prince of Orange has ruined his cause. He has appeared to give it up.