Under the , the had been permitted limited self-government in areas where European settlement was most intense, but there was constant friction between them and the army. The charged that the hindered the progress of colonization. They agitated against military rule, complaining that their legal rights were denied under the arbitrary controls imposed on the colony and insisting on a civil administration for Algeria fully integrated with metropolitan France. The army warned that the introduction of civilian government would invite Muslim retaliation and threaten the security of Algeria. The French government vacillated in its policy, yielding small concessions to the "colon" demands on the one hand while maintaining the "régime du sabre" to control the Muslim majority on the other.