2-798-390 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Gate of Tangier - flight of the population, 1844. Scene from the Franco-Moroccan War, showing '...the flight of the inhabitants, by the gate Marshan from the citadel of Tangier, during its recent siege by the French. This celebrated spot, picturesque in itself, and magnificent in its relations - bearing, as it does, the treasury of the city, and being the seat of the local Government -became a point of great importance to the besiegers. It was severely handled, at least, in intention, but it happily escaped with little injury. During the bombardment vast numbers of the population escaped by this gate; and here might be seen an unoffending multitude flying beneath a shower of shells, and forming a sickening episode in the terrific spectacle of war'. From "Illustrated London News", 1844, Vol V.