of the Sultan under the Tafna Treaty, and after vain negotiations and
missions to and fro matters were brought to a head by Marshal Valée in
the despatch of an expedition to march over some disputed ground as a
demonstration of French power and an assertion of French rights. A
column under the Duc d'Orléans started from Milah, in the Province of
Constantine, lately conquered by the French, to march across the
disputed territory and thence onward. A way was gained through a
formidable pass called the "Iron Gates," in October, 1839, by a simple
process. The defile was one which a few hundred men could have held
against any force, but the Kabyle sheiks were shown passports bearing
Abd-el-Kader's seal and authorizing the passage of French troops. The
seal of the Sultan had been forged. On November 1st Valée and the French
Prince made a triumphant entry into Algiers, after this despicable piece
of treachery, and were saluted as the heroes of the "Iron Gates."

The news reached Abd-el-Kader at Tekedemt. He sprang on his horse, and
in forty-eight hours, riding night and day, was at Medea, whence he
despatched a reproachful and defiant letter to the French Governor. He
called the tribesmen to arms, formally declared war, swept down on the
plains, destroyed the French cantonments, agricultural establishments,
and outposts; slew many colonists, burned the villages and drove
panic-stricken fugitives headlong into the city of Algiers. The French
Government then ostentatiously declared the adoption of a firm policy
and announced Algeria to be "henceforth and forever a French province."
Reënforcements were rapidly sent to Algiers, and the effective army of
Valée was soon raised to thirty thousand men. The Sultan headed about
the same number of cavalry, regular and irregular, and six thousand
regular infantry. A fair trial of strength, Frenchman against Arab, was
now to be made.