Item #309318 Appel en Faveur d'Alger, et de l'Afrique du Nord, par un Anglais. Saxe Bannister.

Appel en Faveur d'Alger, et de l'Afrique du Nord, par un Anglais.

Paris: Dondey-Dupré père et fils, 1833.

Price: $650.00


About the item

[ii], 30 pp. 1 vols. 8vo. Stitched, drab wrappers. Untimmed. OCLC: 456857151 (BNF); 560080513 (BL); 252304774 (Berlin).

Item #309318

Early response to the French conquest of Algeria in 1830 and subsequent plans for its annexation to France. While the initial hopes of “men of various parties in England” had been that the 1830 expedition would see a favorable outcome from the French administration of the conquered, “these writers were wrong, and it will thus be permissable to an Englishman, who shared those hopes to express, in 1833, an equally frank opinion against the policies that today weigh upon Alger.”

Saxe Bannister (1790-1877), retired army captain and lawyer, served as attorney-general of New South Wales 1823-25 but resigned after constant disputes over pay and returned to England.

“Bannister had a keen interest in philanthropic causes, and was concerned with the welfare of children, convicts, and especially Aborigines. He was instrumental in the establishment of the first infants' school in Sydney, and published numerous pamphlets dealing with the subjects of transportation and government policy towards indigenous people … a lucid and engaging writer whose works reveal an agile and learned mind” (ODNB).

Ferguson notes two titles by Bannister published in 1830, An Appeal by a Colonial Law Officer of the Crown (1322) and Humane Policy; or Justice to the Aborigines of New Settlements essential to a due Expenditure of British Money and to the best interest of the Settlers (1323), and lists works on the Indians of North America and policies in South Africa.

“France cannot press this conquest further without committing yet more crimes and greater crimes, nor without danger to itself.” Pages 19-30 are press extracts cited in Bannister’s arguments.

Bannister decries policies that enrich France at the expense of Alger, and “recalls the project of extermination, proposed against the millions of persons to whom the country belongs as lawfully as Paris belongs to the French.” The press reports cited speak of the need “to clear the ground” (“balayer le sol”) to favor European colonization. The conscientious advocacy for the indigenous is consistent with Bannister’s ealrier writings.

No holdings reported in North America.