Meanwhile the revolution of July, 1830, had broken out in France. The new government found itself greatly embarrassed by the situation bequeathed it by the preceding régime. Parliament, as a whole, was strongly opposed to the nation’s embarking on an African adventure; but French troops were, on the other hand, in possession of Algiers, and popular sentiment—which in France can never safely be disregarded—was opposed to their withdrawal. The situation was, in fact, not unlike that which confronted the American government in 1898, when Admiral Dewey had captured Manila. The administration at Paris did not want Algeria, any more than the administration at Washington wanted the Philippines, but neither of them was in a position to withdraw its forces. Fearing to arouse the jealousies of the other powers by following up its conquest, its freedom of action hampered by its treaty engagements with England, yet realizing that evacuation would mean a prompt resumption of piratical activities, the Paris government determined to pursue a middle course, called restricted occupation, which consisted merely in occupying the principal ports and waiting to see what would happen. The diplomats of the Quai d’Orsay were extricated from their embarrassing position, however, by the Algerines themselves, who attacked the French troops and gained some small successes. This was all that was needed. It now became necessary to avenge the honor of the flag. Reinforcements were rushed to Africa, columns were pushed east, south, and west, and the hinterland was gradually occupied and pacified. Thus was brought about the French conquest of Algeria, and, as time went on, of all North Africa. * * * * * Having proceeded thus far with my sketch of the conquest of Algeria, I might as well round it out here as to resume it later on. The five years, then, which followed the capitulation of Algiers were a period of anxiety and uncertainty for the French, who, undetermined whether to evacuate or retain the country, remained on the defensive, their dominion extending over only six coast towns. In Algiers, Bougie, and Bône their position was tolerably secure, but along the western littoral, at Mostaganem, Arzeu, and Oran, they found themselves menaced by a most formidable adversary in the person of the young Abd-el-Kader, who had been proclaimed emir at Mascara in 1832, when only four-and-twenty years of age.