In the second place, France was constantly and repeatedly hampered in her Algerian policy by the intervention (generally immoderate) of the hyper-articulate pied noir lobby. The pieds noirs were never strictly honest, even to themselves, as to what they really wanted. Despite all the brouhaha, it was not Algérie française; what the majority wanted was a pied noir Algeria, ranging between South Africa at its best and its worst, but under the umbrella of French protection.

DEFINE: Clarifies that the pieds noirs' public rallying cry of 'Algérie française' obscured a more self-interested aim: a settler-run colony akin to South Africa, not integration with France.

Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Alge…, loc. 1652