The bombardment occurred outside any state of war, and regarded an incident from 1 April 1851 in which the residents of Salé looted a cache of goods which had been rescued from a capsized French merchant ship.

During seven hours of clashes, the Moroccan artillery of Salé supported by that of Rabat and led by the Abdelhadi Zniber suffered significant damage.

[3] After the French army defeated the Moroccan cavalry at the Battle of Isly on 14 August 1844, Sultan Abd al-Rahman asked for peace with France, leading to the signing of the Treaty of Tangier on 10 September 1844.

On 24 November, some of the French ships traveled to Tangier, where they picked up consul Julius Doazan and his secretary, Fleurat, on Narval.

Later that evening, Caton reached Salé and offered safe passage to Rabat for the British consul Elton and his family, in anticipation of the bombardment of the city.

By then, a large crowd of people in Rabat and Salé had gathered to observe the French ships after they were spotted by Moroccan artillery operators.

[16] On the French side, Sané had moved to the fort at the entrance to the Bou Regreg river; Henri IV was a short distance from the Moroccan batteries north of Salé.

[14][16]The French opened fire on the forts of Salé at 10:00 a.m, and the Moroccans retaliated instantly with forty batteries of artillery weapons.

[14][17] An hour into the confrontation, the batteries in Salé were destroyed, and the artillery in Rabat were damaged to a level that they became almost useless, however Moroccan reinforcements arrived.

The Henri IV was passed through in several places, and it carries reputable footprints in its wall; its main topmast was cut by a cannonball.

In order to prevent Tangier from receiving a similar bombardment, Morocco agreed to pay 100,000 francs to the French on 29 November 1851.

Initially, France had desired a revolt against the governor of Salé to force repayment and avoid destruction of the city, but this did not occur.

[2] A few months later, the Governor Abdelhadi Zniber described the situation to sultan Abd al-Rahman through his grand vizier: God gave the people of Islam firm legs that still stand upright and made their religion manifest in spite of the polytheists.

France took the opportunity to launch an expedition in eastern Morocco between August and December 1859, by occupying Oujda, without a fight, and by facing the Beni Snassen.

The French expeditionary force consisted of 18,000 soldiers, reinforced by several thousand more, was commanded by General de Martimprey.

The spread of cholera in the French army killed several thousand in its ranks and put an end to the expedition, at the same time Muhammad IV succeeded his father.