The Sun.
London, England, 1839-12-10 00:00:00

tiveness. Everybody wished to parchase, without
reflecting that in the military struggle which had
taken place many titles miglit have been lost, and
without inquiring if the vendors had a right to sell.
Such was the rage for acquiring property at last,
that purchases of 10,000 and 20,000 hectares
(.25,000 to 50,000 acres) were made without their
having ever been seen by the purchasers ; and the
gardens of Blidah and Koleah were sold before
the French army had set foot in those towns. The
scarcity of specie, and probably the influence of
habit, had established the system of paying by a
perpetual ground rent instead of capital. This
system was adopted by the French Government,
and contributed greatly to increase the rage for
speculation. Every succeding purchaser had the
hope of selling at a profit, and knew that, in the
event of disappointment, he risked only a very small
sum. This facility of acquisition brought prices up
to an exorbitant height, and houses (although let
at enormous rents) did not produce a revenue equal
to the perpetual rent paid by their owners.
The consequence was, that disasters, such
as take place on the Exchange of Paris, oc-
curred in Algiers under different names. The
course adopted by the colonists, even the most
skilful, is stated by M. Blanqui to have been
highly injudicious. Some of them have turned
their attention to a system of cultivation unsuited
to a new country. They have planted cotton,
tobacco, and madder, and are all ruined. Others
have only appeared in the plains to cut down
the grass for hay, and have seldom had time
allowed them by the Arabs to carry off what they
had cut. Every day costs a head. Immense crops
have been lying for two years, which the colonists
have neither been able to sell nor to carry off.
Blidah has rather less than 40,000 inhabitants. The
streets are much wider than those of Algiers, and are
• covered by a sort of trellis-work, which protects
them from the sun. The houses are open with
front shops, in which the inhabitants are employed,
some embroidering silk burnous, others on saddlery,
and other works in leather, and some in hollowing
out the long pipes which are so prized in the east.
The coffee-houses were filled with grave, silent cus-
:omers, and nothing gave indication of its being a
French town. The inhabitants have never enjoyed
more profound security, but many have emigrated,
and their houses are falling to decay. The orange
trees are withering for want of being watered, and
the fences of many of the gardens are broken down.
" And what gardens !" adds M. Blanqui : " there
is nothing in the environs of Naples so fine. The
orange, almond, and carob trees, and all the fruit ,
trees of warm countries, and the vine, grow here and
at Koleah with remarkable vigour ; and the Palma
Christi grows at Koleah to the height of 30 feet.
As to the houses which have been sold to Euro-
peans, who pay the perpetual rent, as if they
were really proprietors, no person attends to them.
The Europeans cannot enter, and the Arabs,
having no interest in keeping them in
order, suffer them to go to decay." On
whatever side we turn our eyes, M. Blanqui then
goes on to remark, it is evident that it is high time
to put an end to the anarchy which reigns as to
the tenure of property in every part of these posses.
sions : and there is no proprietor who would not
cheerfully prefer a new organization to the present
state of uncertainty. M. Blanqui recommends that
a progressive tax should be put upon all the un-
cultivated lands, and every facility be given to the
industrious colonist, at the same time that an end
is put to wild speculation ; in short, that labour
should be encouraged in every possible way, and
speculation without labour be effectually checked.
After M. Blanqui had concluded the reading of
this part of his report, several members of the Aca-
demy congratulated him on the result of his labours.
M. Dupin observed that M. Blanqui had com-
pletely established the basis upon which the colo-
nization of Algeria must henceforth be conducted ;
adding, that the Romans, when masters of Africa,
proceeded on a very different pla❑ from that fol-
lowed by France, and that their policy of attach-
ing the colonist to the land, as a new country, was
especially worthy of imitation.

BRUSSELS, DRc. 4.—CHARITY OF THE EN-
GLISH AMBAISADOR.—The Philanthropic Society will
give, on Saturday next, a grand Concert for the benefit
of the poor ; which promises to be very attractive.
The society being informed that the English Ambas-
sador intended to have a grand evening party on Sa-
turday, Mr. T. Kent wrote to his Excellency some
days ago, requesting him for the sake of the poor to be
so good as to change the day fixed for his party. The
letter was delivered in the evening, and very early on
the following morning, Mr. T. Kent received the
answer of the English Ambassador, who informed him
that he would not only defer his party to the following
Saturday, but that he would make it both his duty
and his pleasure to ask all the persons whom he had
invited, to go to the Concert, where he would himself be
present with all his family.—The Chevalier Peruzzi was
received on the 3d instant by the Minister for Foreign
Affairs, to whom he delivered his credentials as Charge
d'Affaires from his Imperial Highness the Grand Duke
of Tuscany to the King's Government.
THE MAGISTRATES AND THE CORONERS.—
UNNECESSARY INQUESTS.—On Thursday afternoon
an inquest was held before Mr. Baker at the Black
Swan, School House-lane, Ratcliffe, on the body of
Joseph Elliott, mariner, aged forty-four. The Coroner
said this was one of the cases where the Magistrates
complained that inquests were unnecessarily held. In
this case he also thought it unnecessary ; but the regis-
trar bad refused to permit a funeral until one had been
held. An application had been made to him to hold
an inquest when the deceased died, on the 24th of last
month, but on making inquiries he found it was not a
case of any suspicion, as the deceased had been ill and
nearly bedridden for twelve months, and after having
been taken mortally had lingered for at least six hours.
The registrar having prohibited the interment, he (the
Coroner) agreed to hold an inquest if desired to do so
by the paris authorities, and they, at length, on the
sth instant, sent an order to him. He was surprised at
receiving it, for from the lapse of time he thought the
matter was decided. Had the case occurred in a com-
mon lodging-house, or amongst dirty people, the result
might have been frightful. Evidence was then adduced
proving the death was perfectly natural, and a verdict
to that effect was returned.
ROBBERIES.—On Thursday, the 21st ult.,
from the railway station, Liverpool, a black leather bag,
containing a thick patent cloth coat, a silk
vest, a French silk cravat, a pair of grey trousers,
two dressing-cases, linen marked " D. H." a
letter containing a ten-pound Bank of England note,
nine five-pound Bank of England notes, and a
five-pound note of the Shropshire Bank, marked at the
back of each " W. T.," with a recent date ; fifty-
one sovereigns and two half-sovereigns, addressed
to " Ricnard Hall, Esq., Eastern Counties Railway-
office, London-bridge, London, tied with red tape,
"J. M. H." on the seal.—On Sunday, from 48,
Greek-street, Soho, the following articles, the pro-
perty of Mr. Francis Arundel :—Five ten-pound Bank
of England notes, one five-pound ditto, and a pair of shell
cameos for earrings.—From the tollhouse, Cambridge-
heath, Hackney, on Monday morning, about forty
sovereigns, and a note of the Bank of England for
51. or 101., by a lad abont seventeen years old,
five feet six inches high, fair complexion, dressed
in a dark brown coat, corduroy trousers, and
worsted cap.—On Sunday, from the house of Mr
Crew, No. 30, West-street, Bethnal-green, a pair of
pearl drop ear-rings, a pair of coral ear-rings, a wed-
ding ring, two gold rings, a silver single-cased watch,
a gold breast buckle with brass pin, a plum-coloured
waistcoat piece with a dark flower, an old gold
ear-ring with a coral drop, 71. in sovereigns and half
sovereigns, 9s. 6d. in silver, and 12s. in fourpenny-
pieces.—On Sunday morning as William Pattram
was returning from Leicester to Wigton, he
was stopped by three men, about three miles
from Leicester, who threw him down and robbed him
of a silver bunting-watch, with a gold seal and key at-
tached ; a double-cased comb, a pocket-knife with
three blades, and fifteen shillings in silver and some
halfpence.—On Thursday a servant of R. R. White-
head, Esq. of Thuscomb-house, near Minchinhampton,
was robbed of sixty pounds at Gloucester fair. Four
of the notes were of the Gloucester branch of the Bank
of England, Nos. 59,374, 59,375, 59,376, and .59,377,
for 101, each ; the other four notes were of the Bank
of Stuckey and Co., Bristol, for .5/. each. The rob-
bery was committed by two men, about 30 years of age
SINGULAR CASE OE IMPOSITION.—There
•is a woman en route through the Northern Counties,
who calls herself sometimes Daniels and sometimes by
other names ; she appeals to the hearts of the several
clergymen at the different towns which she visits, and,
unfortunately for our incumbent, the Rev. F. Close, re-
fers to him for a character and the truth of her tale ;
and he has actually received letters of inquiry (most of
them unpaid) from Shrewsbury, Chester, Liverpool,
Preston Bury, Wigan, and the last of all from Brad-
ford in Yorkshire. It is needless to add, that he knows
nothing of this woman, who is such a successful vagrant
that we hope she will obtain retribution somewhere. We
understand that Mr. Close has, in several instances, an-
swered the letters by return of post, but the lady is too
active for bey clerical pursuers —Cheltenham Chronicle.
HOLLYHOCKS.—There is now growing in a
garden in the occupation of Mr. J. Jones, of Great Ness,
six hollyhocks of various colours, one of which is upwards
of thirteen feet high, the other five from eleven to twelve
feet.—Carnarvou Herald, Dec. 7.