ALGERIA - BOUTEILLON (Brigadier General) - Letter A.S. BOUTE - Lot 566

ALGERIA - BOUTEILLON (Brigadier General) - Letter A.S. BOUTEILLON Chef de Bataillon du Génie, in BLIDA (Algeria) June 20, 1842, to Lieutenant General Comte de CASTELLANE (Marshal of France in 1852) Commanding the 10 D.M. in Perpignan (Address + M.P. Blidah/Algeria) - 4pp in-folio - Superb letter describing daily life in Algeria at the time and the campaign against ABDEL KADER: "...The populations are exhausted and Abdel Kader will give them time to prepare, but it is very likely that in 15 or 18 months we will have to start the war all over again, unless we make good use of this truce to build roads that will give us the means to penetrate the heart of the tribes and ensure our domination, and to organize the resistance of these tribes against ABDEL KADER by giving them influential chiefs devoted to our interests. However, I recognize that the choice of chiefs is a delicate and difficult thing, and to do it well would require defections among Abdel KADER's lieutenants... if Mohamet Ben Abbel, Barkani and Bensalem came to us. We'd have real peace, in the Province of ALGER at least, but until we have at least Mohamed Ben Allel, these submissions we've made such a fuss about, which have cost us so much, won't mean much..."