The Sun.
London, England, 1846-03-30 00:00:00

EXECUTION IN-ALGERIA..

L' Akhbar has the following graphic account of an
execution that recently took place in Algeria:—The de-
linquents were two Arabs, and their crime assassina-
tion. The 26th was the day fixed upon. At eight
o'clock ♦.31. a guillotine was erected in the place Babel-
Oued ; a curious crowd pressed around the red ma-
chine, which increased as the fatal moment drew
nigh. At half-past ten o'clock the vast esplanade was
taken possession of. The weather was magnificent.
The guillotine, with crossed arms and gaping mouth,
awaited its food in the centre of the crowd—a circle
preserved with some difficulty by a company of Zouaves.
There was something frightfully solemn in this
spectacle. The mountains on the horizon were exhi-
bited in bold relief against a sky of wonderful clearness;
the sea, which oscillated between their feet and the
shore, was calm and blue; on the other side of the square
the garden of Marengo bloomed in all its spring
verdure ; and Algiers, crowned with timid spectators,
commanded the scene. The two culprits at length
arrived, guarded by mounted gendarmes. They
walked with firm anti equal steps, without
braggadocio, or apparent spasms ; they mumbled
their prayers. It is asserted that ose of them
several times interrupted his orisons to protest the inno-
cence of both, but the facts adduced at the trial fully
established their guilt. On the arrival of the "patients"
at the foot of the scaffold, the executioner made one of
them turn his fare towards Algiers, that he might not
witness the tragedy about to be performed behind him.
In less than a quarter of a minute Bel Hassem-ben.
Mohamed has ascended the scaffold, been bound
down to the bascule, and lost his head. It was a
frightful legerde►amain. " Where is my comrade?" asked
Mecaoud-ben-Amed, whilst he was in his turn bound to
the plank; and no doubt he found a solution of the terrible
enigma, when he saw under his own head, already fixed
in tile socket, that of the decapitated Arab grinning at
the bottom of the box into which his own was just about
to fall. This indescribable moment must have been
horrible, for Mecaoud made an attempt to extricate
himself ; but a second afterwards axes and heads had
disappeared, and the executioner's assistants remained
alone on the platform, with their shirt sleeves tucked up,
hastily buckling the straps of the basket into which the
bodies had been thrown. Six vigorous biskris, in rae•s, then
conveyed the basket to the cemetery at a double quick
march. A few drops of blood filtered through the osier
hurdle, and the guillotine vomited through the fissures
of its joists that with which it was gorged. The eager
crowd rushed to the instrument to examine it more mi-
nutely, but the gendarmes kept them at a respectful
distance. The Arabs generally die with a stoical in-
difference. The doctrine of fatalism, " God has willed
it," is unanswerable. The other day ten Arabs were
hanged (there being no guillotine) at Tltncen, and in
the following way :—There was no gallows, and the
want was supplied by thursting outside the ramparts the
mouths of ten cannons, to which ten ropes were fastened
at one end, and the necks of the ten mea to the other,
by a slip-knot. It was only necessary to " launch"
them into empty air, but the Arabs saved the execu-
tioner the trouble, and bravely leaped into eternity of
their own accord. We most di,trust people who die
thus," adds the 'Mbar, " for they have the faith of
martyrs, and they sleep in hope, until the voice of a
marabout comes and awakens it at the bottom of their
hearts."

EXPORTATION OF BEE -W ith reference to an
order issued by the Lords of the Treasury in September,
1842, on the subject of the exportation of strong beer,
the revenue authorities have received a communication
from Mr. Cardwell, secretary to the Lords Commis-
sioners of the Treasury, stating that he has been com-
manded by their Lordships to acquaint them that they
have authorised the Commissioners of Excise to permit
the exportation of bottled strong beer on drawback; in
cases containing two dozen quart or two dozen pint
bottles, provided the case be properly secured and the
quantity of beer exported at any one time be not less
than 36 gallons. This order has been communicated to
the several departments in London and to all the outports et
the kingdom, for the information and future government of
the officers of the revenue with reference to the Com-
missioner's general order, of the 3Cth of September, 1842,
founded on the previous order of the Lords of the
Treasury on the subject, which, on a memorial, praying
for permission to pack strong beer in eases, instead of in
casks, authorised the Commissioners of the Excise to permit
the exportation on drawback of bottled strong beer packed
in cases, provided that the same should be properly
secured, and the quantity of beer exported at any one
time should not be less than 36 gallons. It will be seen
that the former order sanctioned the exportation of the
article in cases, instead of only, as was previously the case, in,
casks; the order now issued referring- to the quantity only
which is to be so packed in each case, no alteration being made
in the total quantity to be exported at any one time.
with Mr. A. Hope, M.P., had an interview the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer on Saturday, at his officicl resi-
dence in Dowaivg•street,