480 - ALGERIAN CAMPAIGN. A lovely, friendly letter from an officer in HUSSEN-DEY dated August 29, 1840, to his colonel, 3 pages, in-4°: “… I received your letter only this morning, as the mail ship was delayed by a gale that forced it to call at MAHON…. I hope to have the pleasure of seeing you soon… You mention the arrival of the Inspector General, but it is possible there will be an additional inspection, and we will rejoin the regiment without having undergone an inspection here. … According to your letter, the winds of a general war seem to be blowing; we may arrive only to leave again soon. If we are to believe the man from Toulon, the government has just signed a contract for 20,000 horses to be delivered within a month, but until I hear the first cannon shot, I will doubt this resolve on the part of all the sovereigns, for I am convinced that a general war would be their downfall…. They will think twice about it…. For the past three months, efforts have been underway to dismantle our organization. Our twelve squadrons have been incorporated into the four Regiments of African Chasseurs. The day before yesterday and yesterday, we shipped 490 mounted men to Oran. Our two squadrons are about to depart. They are under the command of Colonel Randon; the men are all delighted. All the officers are returning to France with half of the non-commissioned officers; in a few more days, we will have rejoined the great family…”