The North African Mission
By Louis Richard Conradi
Thus far our missionaries have worked in only one of the four ancient pirate states of North Africa—in Algeria. It, with Morocco, Tunis, and Tripoli, forms the southern coast of the Mediterranean, extending about twenty-three hundred miles from east to west. These countries have a wonderful history. Nearly three thousand years ago the Phenicians founded the first colonies on their shores. Old Carthage outgrew the rest and became a mighty rival of Rome. Rome had to wage three long wars, from 264 to 146 B. C., before it could raze Carthage to the ground. For four hundred years this territory flourished as the Roman provinces Mauretania and Numidia. The Christian religion found an early entrance here. Tertullian and the Montanists lived and taught in these regions. Here Cyprian wrote; and with the exception of Rome, probably nowhere did so many martyrs seal their faith with their blood as right here. It was in New Carthage that the Donatist bishop protested against the religious superiority of Rome, and Donatus himself challenged its emperors, saying, “What has the emperor to do with the church?” Here the Vandals reared up a kingdom, and from here they led out in their plundering expeditions against tottering Rome. In the middle of the seventh century the Arabs swept the country and destroyed the very traces of the once-flourishing Christianity. Nowhere has Islam been a more fierce or cruel persecutor of both Christian and Jew than in North Africa. The last crusade, which started in A. D. 1270, from Aigues-Mortes under St. Louis the Pious, was directed against Tunis, and here he perished. Emperor Charles V, in 1538, delivered not less than fifty thousand Christians from the yoke of Mohammedan slavery. But his victory had only temporary results. For centuries11after, the pirate states troubled the shores of Europe as far north as Iceland, and many of the smaller Christian states paid them an annual tribute in order to be able to carry on their commerce unmolested; among these was the United States. However, during its struggle with England, this tribute was not levied; and believing that the American fleet had been destroyed by the English, the ruler of Algeria declared war in 1812 and captured some American sailing vessels. What Europe, on account of its dissension, could not do in all the centuries of the past, the United States accomplished in 1815, by sending a fleet and in two months forcing the rulers of Algeria, Tunis, and Tripoli to pay damages and to promise that they would respect the American flag and not demand any more tribute. In 1830 the ruler of Algeria happened to strike the French consul with his fan. This incident gave France the opportunity to send a fleet and take the city of Algeria. The bey with his harem was sent to Europe, and the terrified ruler of Tunis and Tripoli promised to stop piracy and no longer to keep Christian slaves. Tunis became a French protectorate in 1881, Morocco has recently been converted into a protectorate, and Tripoli has become an Italian colony. France, Italy, and Spain are now the rulers of these four pirate states, which in size are twice as large as the countries ruling them, but have only one fifth of the population, or about seventeen millions. At the Strait of Gibraltar, North Africa can be seen from Europe. A few hours by steamer suffice to carry one from continent to continent. To go from Marseilles to Algiers takes twenty-seven hours. Yet in scarcely any other trip of that length can one see so great a change of surroundings. In going from Europe to North Africa it seems as if the clock of the world had suddenly been set back many centuries. Brother Tieche and I took the steamer at Marseilles, May 5. The next day we passed the Balearic Islands, and early on the seventh our steamer safely anchored at Oran. We were still in our bunks when Brethren Hancock and Abella called on us, and when we finally stepped out the sight was very different from that which one sees when he reaches Egypt. The coast, instead of being low and sandy, is mountainous and rocky. Oran is a modern city with a population of 123,000 people, of which ninety thousand are Europeans, mostly Spaniards. Many natives from Morocco can be seen here, as the railway already enters Moroccan territory and is being fast pushed toward Fez, and from there to Tangier. A continuous line of railway now reaches from Morocco to the very border of Tripoli, a distance of about one thousand miles. France has already pushed one branch railway into the Sahara, and several others are being built in the same direction. Brother Guyot labored among the French in Oran for several years, and won a few souls. Last winter Brethren Hancock and Abella made an effort here. I spoke one evening to the little company in this place and celebrated the Lord’s Supper with them. As Brother Hancock wished to enter Spanish territory in Morocco, we considered his trip, which he has since made. He found Morocco, with its nine million people, open for mission work. The government grants religious liberty, and at present doctors can practice here without any extra diploma. An English mission society, called the North African Mission, has a hospital in Tangier, and several in North Africa. But as the hospital in Tangier took in cases of typhus, it lost its doctor and several nurses, and for the last six months has been closed. In Tetuan, a town of 20,000 inhabitants, several women are laboring among the natives. A German woman is working among the Jews. She has thus far had six converts. These suffered much persecution and had to leave their homes, but they hold on to the gospel and keep the Sabbath. The Jews form one fourth of the population; and as most of the business places are owned by them and are closed on the Sabbath, it is quieter in Tetuan on Saturday than on Sunday. Otherwise the town has preserved its native character. We have no worker among the Spaniards here, but Brother Hancock expects to begin work soon. In three hours, the train took us from Tetuan to Relizane, a town of about 15,000 inhabitants, where we spent the Sabbath with our Spanish company. Many of the farmers here are Spaniards. Some have large farms and live in the towns, while the natives live in small, miserable villages. As early as 1888, the light of our truth had penetrated into Africa through our French literature, and a number of Spanish farmers began to observe the Sabbath. Their leader was with us at our first camp meeting in Tramlingen, Switzerland. But he chose to follow his own visions. We had no Spanish preachers at that time, and although these farmers were visited by our two French ministers, they separated from us, and by their misconduct heaped reproach upon the cause of the Sabbath and upon themselves. Had we had the right men at that time, we probably should have a flourishing work in this field today. In later years our Spanish Brother Abella visited among these people, and a little church of eleven members was founded. After a good meeting Sabbath forenoon, we had the ordinances, and on Sunday we held a missionary meeting.