The Sun.
London, England, 1842-09-24 00:00:00

FRENCH AFRICA.

• The Governor-General of Algeria has just ‘pub-
lished a pamphlet on the means of preserving i'aul ren-
dering useful the conquest of Algeria.
General Bugeaud's pamphlet is divided under seve-
ral heads. The first is, "On the necessity of do-
minion over the country for the purpose of itslOnisa-
tion." On this point, he says—" France has resolved
that her flag shall. be the only one in Al2,•eria, and
that a grand colony shall be: formed there. The
first question to be resolved for the success of this
vast enterprise was the subjection of .the Arabs.
With such a population there- is no such thing as
insinuating , oneself into power.. They must be
conquered in order to obtain possession of, and colo-
nise, a portion of their. territory. France, then, has
acted wisely, having once resolved on establishing
herself in Algeria, in being also resolved to conquer
it entirely. The work is certainly one of difficulty ;
but it would be still more difficult to preserve upon
the defensive system any portion of the coast, for in
that case the enemy would be left in full enjoyment
of the country, viz., the resources of taxation and re-
cruitment, and would be able to keep us in a continual
state of blockade, and to attack us whenever he should
become strong, or we should have embarrassments to
conteud with in Europe. Not only is the system of
conquest less difficult than this shameful system of
defence ; it presents immense advantages for coloni-
zation. It has been frequently and truly observed,
that no colonization is possible without cheap labour,
or, what is the same thing, cheap provisions. There
are a number of ob,'ects, such as cattle, horses, mules,
asses, forage, vegetables, poultry, wood, charcoal, &c.,
with which colonists could only be suptlied by sea at
enormous prices. Cheap labour supposes, therefore, the
freedom of internal communication, which can only
exist by means of a peace always precarious with-the
Arabs,' or by the military possession of the whole, or
nearly the whole, of the country. In the rude war
which we have made upon the tribes, they have lost
in the razzia two-thirds of their cattle, and, never-
theless, butcher's meat, which was a few months ago
2f. 50c. the kilogramme (2 lb. French) at Algiers, is
now sold at only 50c. The reason of this is the sup-
ply of our markets from the interior. Here is one of
the first benefits of conquest. Many Others will mani-
fest themselves with time, and when we shall have set
seriously about colonisation."
General Bugeaud then proceeds to consider the
means of effecting and -securing the conquest which
he recommends. He says, "I do not hesitate to as-
sert that the- same, or nearly the same, amount of
force as will have effected the conquest will be indis-
pensable for its maintenance. The Arabs are proud
and warlike.. The-war of tribe against tribe is their
aormal state ; from their infancy all the males, with-
out exception, are trained to the use of arms and
the management of horses, and they are incessantly
engaged in hazardous enterprises. We cannot think
of dismissing our force in presence of such a popu-
lation. We should soon suffer from such an act of
imprudence. The history of the Arabs shows us how
prompt, they are to revolt, and their antipathy for us
and for our religion will last for ages. Let-us then
remain strong in the midst of them, if we do not wish
to lose in a few days the fruit of all our exertions.'
This course is imposel upon us the more by the consi-
deration, that it is the only way_ to prevent our occu-
pation from becoming an onerous one to ourselves.
In a word, a powerful army would have dominion
over Algeria, would exist in it and be paid by it ;
whereas a weak army would be almost constantly a
burden to the French treasury." After proceeding at
some length with the same line of argument, the
author gives his opinion of the amount of permanent
force necessary in Algeria, and the mode of distribut-
ing it. "We ought," says he, "to have two lines of
occupation • one in the interior and parallel with the
.
sea, the other on the coast. The stations for the first
appear to me to be clearly pointed out; they are
Tlemcen, Mascra, Milianah, Medeah, Setif, Constan-
tina, and Guelma ; on the coast Oran, Mostaganem,
Tenes, Cherchell, Algiers, Philippeville, and Bona.
We will begin with the West. The division of
Tlemcem should, in my opinion, be- composed of
3,000 infantry, and 1,000 of other arms, of whom 500
should be cavalry d'elite, making 4,000; the division
of Mascara should also consist of 4,000; Milianah,
2,600; Medeah, 3,600; Setif, 3,600; Constantina,
6,000 ; Oran, 7,000; Mostaganem, 4,000; Tenes,
3,200 ; Cherchell, 2,150; Algiers, 10,000 ; Bugia,
1,000 ; Gigelly, 850 ; Philippeville, 4,000 ; Bona,
4,000; Guelma, 2,600; making altogether a force of
63,200; to which we should add,, at least, 12,000, to
allow for sickness and other casualties, giving thus a
grand total of 75,200; and if we would do these
things securely and 'Speedily we must really have
80,000."

The following chapter is on colonization. The
General is a strong partisan for military colonisa-
tion. On this point he observes—" Military colonies
would be powerful auxiliaries to the army, and would
gradually enable us to reduce the amount of it, for
they would furnish soldiers for a campaign, and oc-
cupy certain points where we are now compelled. to
have garrisons. In my opinion we ought to have
carried on -the astablia,limaut of military 044./ne'-at
the same time with the war, for then
we could have
fixed them in favourable localities without having had
to pay anything to the Arabs, whereas, now that we
are at peace with the tribes who have made their sub-
mission, we cannot take possession of their territory
without offering an indemnity."
The system of Government recommended by
General Bugeaud is military. His argument is as
lows :" If there were in Africa a Europeanfol
--
popula-
tion of 400,000 or 500,000 persons, then I could un-
derstand to a certain extent the idea of a civil govern-
ment; but, in the present state of things, I confess I
cannot conceive how the idea can exist in the minds
of certain statesmen and public writers."
Under the head of the " Resources of the Country,1,
General Bugeaud says ;_tgr
In the short visits that I
paid to Algeria in 1836 and 1837, I conceived but a
poor idea of the fertility of the soil, so much vaunted
by the ancients. Having passed over only the worst
partion of the province of Oran, I thought the Roman
historians had dealt in hyperbole when they
called
Africa the granary of Rome. But since I have pene-
trated into the country in almost every direction, my
convictions have changed, and I have ascertained that Al-
geria produces already a greatdeal of corn, and an im-
mense quantity of cattle, and that it is capable of
producing much more, and also of addiii several
other sources of wealth, such as silk and oil. '
In an-
other part of this chapter, the General says :—" There
are vast surfaces cultivated by the Arabs, without
having received any kind of manure, and yet they
produce an average per hectare (2i acres English) of
from 25 to 30 hectolitres (from 70 to 85 bushels
English) in wheat, and from 40 to 50 in barley."
On the sources of taxation, we read—,, The ordi-
nary and religious tax is the tenth of the grain and
the twentieth of the cattle. If this were regularly
collected, as it would be with a good Government,
backed by a strong force, it would, I have no doubt,
produce sufficient to feed the army, and provide in a
great measure for its general support."

,_—
Mn. 11. PHILLIPS.--A correspondent informs us
that this gentleman has not yet thrown up his en=
gagement, hut that he sings at Drury Lane on the
opening night in two glees in As you like it, which
our correspondent waggishly remarks, with reference
to Mr. Phillips, is not as he likes it.—
Ifusicalßeview.
. AN ILLUSTRATION OF PROTECTION.—Port wine
can be had for 40s. a dozen from Oporto, through the
intervention it may be of a trade in
Sheffield cutlery
to Portugal. Up stands a man
and says he will be
bound to make good wine that shall pass for port, in
hot-houses ut home, for the small charge of 80s. a
dozen; and he shall conceive himself an ill-used gen-
tleman
if the Legislature will not encourage domestic
industry; and the Members for Sheffield vote for the
same. And the instrument he shall
propose shall be
a duty to be laid on the Oporto port; to raise the price
to 80s., or it may be to 85s. Suppose, then, he is in
the full enjoyment of the scheme. AI
Tine-drinkers are
drinking the home--made port at 80s. ; and all this, it
is boastingly affirmed, is laid out on I3ritish industry.
But was nut 80s. laid out on British industr—
y before ?
to wit, 40s. on the industry of Sheffield, and 40s. more
on that other place, wherever it was, where the con-
sumer chose to indulge himself with something for
his money ? If so, what is the national gain, but a '
clear loss of 40s. to the consumers of vinous comforts?
—Col. Thompson's Collected Essays.
Persons should be careful not to send their Inenrife-
tax papers through the post, even if they live a
couple of miles from the officer appointed to receive
them; or if they do they mint pre-pay the postage.
1 correspondent, who states that he is a poor man,
writes word that, after paying a lawyer's clerk ss. to
ill in his Income-tax paper, he seat it through the post
to the assessor, and found out several days afterwards,
hat the assessor had refused to cake it in because the
postage was not pre-paid. Be has applied to the local
1 post-office, and finds that his Income-tax paper has
ueen sent to the dead-letter office in London.
Our readers have frequently heard of' enormous
iailstones, but it was reserved for the Spanish jour-
Isis to record something in this way truly monstrous.
['he Correspon.sc,/ of Nadrid.says :--``
prom They write
m Valencia that great damage has been inflicted on
chat part of the country by horrible storms. At
Akira and Carriagente the hail fell in large quan-
tities, and some of h 3 hailstones weighed eight
pounds (!). At Alcira, which is called the garden of
Spain, the damage is said to exceed In amount
8,000,000 reals."
PRICE of BREAD.—W,.. bear that at Hackney a
s7irit of competition has suddenly sprung up, which
produced at once a reduction of the 41b loaf from 7d
to 6d.

clergynrin once asked Mr. Garrick
-" Why a church congregation were seldom moved
to tears, when the
same people, placed in a theatre,
would be worked up to griet by fictitious distress ?"
"The truth," replied Roscius, "is obvious ; we re-
)eat a. fiction as though it were a truth—you repeat a
truth as though it Were a licron. —Musical Review.

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS

FROM THE DAILY PAPERS OF YESTERDAY.

CHRONICLE.—Our announcement of the in-

tended treaty with Hanover, whereby an increase
of the Stade tolls is to be conceded to King
Ernest, is, we' regret to find, confirmed by the
authority of the Morning Herald. We must,
therefore, again entreat the attention of the
commercial word to an arrangement so deeply
injurious to British honour and British interests,
and which is so wholly unsupported even by the
convenient plea of expediency—now the too
ready pretext of the advisers of the Crown for
the unscrupulous abandonment of British rights.
The Herald admits that the King of Hanover is
now to have a duty of one-eighth per cent. upon
all articles of merehandize. This is the very
gist of our complaint, for it thus appears that
Lord Aberdeen has conceded to King Ernest
twice as much as he is legally entitled to. Ha-
nover has no right to any Stade tolls at all,
unless by virtue of the Swedish treaty of
1691. This treaty fixed the maximum
duty at one-sixteenth per cent. ad valorem, and
Hanover has received formal notice from Lord

Palmerston that the British Government would
not consent to any higher rate of toll. The odd
thing is, that Lord Aberdeen, who at first, we
believe, sincerely intended to carry out the
policy of his predecessor, has since been hum-
bugged into a treaty, which concedes to Hanover
just twice as much as the late Government would
have agreed to. The King of Hanover employed
a clever diplomatist to maintain his interests at
'the Hamburgh conferences. At Hamburgh,
during the late administration, that diplomatist
failed; but in London he has completely suc-
ceeded in outwitting the Foreign Secretary, and
the result is this treaty, which is to double the
retenues of the King of Hanover at the expense
of the mercantile interests of England.
The Herald is evidently quite at borne when
treating of the mysteries of the Stade tolls. We
really regret that the. Downing-street liaisons of
our Contemporary have deprivedthe merchants,on
this occasion, of his independent support, upon
which they had every reason to calculate. It
matters little to the German trade at what pre-
cise period Lord Palmerston first satisfied him-
self of the illegality of the present Hanoverian
tolls, or whether the merit of that discovery
does, or does not, belong to Mr. Ward, the Com-
missioner, of the late Government. The mer-
chants want to know why the tolls are not re-
duced to the legal standard; and we have looked
in vain for any reason why such reduction has
not taken place. Until the Herald can show
that it is more advantageous to trade to pay one-
eighth than onc-sixteenth per cent. upon mer-
chandize imported, we shall remain of opinion
that British interests have been disgracefully
sacrificed by this Hanoverian Treaty, which, tbr
aught we know, has been already signed by Lord
Aberdeen, but which must one day be laid on
the table of the House of Commons.
POST.—In the Parliamentary discussions fol-
lowing the introduction of the new Corn Bill,
the Ministerial supporters of the measure de-
fended the proposed reduction of duties by re-
ferring to the advances made in practical agri-
cultural science within the last twenty years.
The improved processes of cultivation, it was
argued, had made the soil so much more pro-
ductive than formerly—each cultivated acre
averaged so much a larger yearly growth—that
the farmer could well afford to give up a portion
of the protection that was once necessary to the
maintenance of Britain in the position of an in-
dependent country. We did not, and do not,
oppose a rational and moderate attention to this
consideration. But, as the enemies of all native
agriculture sometimes, in their inconsistent
way, endeavour to turn it to the promotion
of their own views, it will do no harm
to make a brief inquiry as to the ex-
tent to which it clu be applied, without
grievously damaging or destroying that great
interest which is the solid primary thundation of
our national strength and safety. Not a single
member of the agricultural community, land-
lord, fanner, or labourer, would call for any
protection to his property, or his labour, farther
than is requisite to make his employment fairly
remunerative 'to himself and beneficial to the
whole nation. The more bread, meat, and vege-
tables produced by our soil, the more clearly
advantageous becomes the soil's culture to every
individual living in the country, as well as to
those more immediately connected with the de-
velopment of this mainspring of the public
wealth. We have for several years had to
notice, and we did so with hope and plea-
sure, the establishment through the empire
of agricultural societies, composed of farmers
and others, whose object was to co-operate
in the adoption of steps calculated to
increase the productiveness of the land—to carry
out the various auxiliaries which science was
daily'-bringing to light in aid of the husband-
man's exertions—and to foster amongst culti-
vators a friendly spirit of emulation, beneficial
to themselves and their country. That the ope-
rations of these societies have been successful,
we may well judge when we reflect on the tre-
bled and quadrupled amount of agricultural pro-
duce raised in many districts. Even neglected
Ireland has her agricultural societies, and glad
we were to notice the amicable annual re-unions
of men belonging to conflicting parties, on this
common ground of benefit to all. It is certainly
not too much to attribute to the agricultural
classes at least as high a degree of patriotism
and public spirit as can be claimed by any
other body in the State; and these feel-
ings we doubtless have to thank for no
inconsiderable portion •,of the improvements
wherein the nation has so much cause
to rejoice. But, after all, in a general
calculation on the probability of human motives,
self-interest must always be amongst the most
prominent key-notes of individual conduct. We
may safely conclude that if the hope of ultimate
remuneration had not entered into his mind, the
British agriculturist would not have incurred the
incredible sacrifices encountered by him of late
years, to increase the fertility of his fields. The
time and capital thus sunk were not squandered
away in a mania of chance gambling. He calcu- •
lated on the average prices of produce, and esti-
mated that he might reap a moderate living
profit after lying out of his money for some ,
time. This was wisely, prudently, and laudably
done. But the farmer could not dream that,
after all his trouble, the Legislature is to step in
and place him, in respect of the value of his pro-
duce, precisely in the same position as if he had
idled his time and dissipated his money, and
never applied a shilling's worth of either in re-
claiming the soil from its ancient sterility. If
such a system be pursued towards him, what
conceivable inducement has he to spend a six-
pence in substituting a perfect for an imperfect
process ?
TIMES.—To sum up all we have said on the
Boundary Treaty in two sentences, the highlands
claimed by England do not divide the streams
falling into the Atlantic from those emptying
themselves into the St. Lawrence. The high-
lands claimed by America (besides another ob-
jection taken by the King of the Netherlands)
do not extend to the sources of the Connecticut,
or intersect a line drawn due north from the
source of the St. Croix. And these two state-
merits, each, we believe, incontrovertible, may
help our Contemporary " to comprehend what
the Times pleaus when it denies that the Com-
mission has proved that the words of the treaty
are applicable to the features of the country."
_However, we suspect our Contemporary's mo-
desty exaggerates its own lack of comprehen-
sion. Another part of its article evidences an
entire conception of our meaning. It has oc-
casion to describe this same boundary line ;
and the very well-judged gingerliziess with.
which that task is performed shnws a most pro-
found consciousness where the shoe pinches.
The boundary, it appears, •' is to consist
of a line drawn due north from the head of the
river St. Croix until it meets certain highlands,"
and then westward. " Certain highlands!" We
will not do our Contemporary's wits the injustice
of ascribing this convenient ambiguity to mere
accident. The suppression is too pregnant to
have resulted from a happy simplicity of heart.
Not a word about the St. Lawrence or the At-
lantic. " Certain highlands". only ! A very
passable foundation for a Whig argument in
England, but scarcely precise enough to meet
brother Jonathan's notions of negotiation!
Good enough from the Morning Chronicle to its
readers; but it would hardly take from Lord
Ashburton to Mr. Webster. To proceed, how-
ever, with the real question in hand. It appears
from what we have said, that Lord Ashburton
did not gain from the report of Colonel Mudge a
right to insist on the full British claim as a
simple and unquestionable fulfilment of the terms
of the treaty, but occupied substantially the po-
sition of preceding negotiators. This fact nega-
tives the whole Whig charge; and we have been
long, perhaps tedious, in placing it before our
readers, in order to expose the only plea by
which that party attempt to excuse their
violent opposition to an arrangement which
gives to England, as a matter of plain geo-
graphy, more than all that they themselves
in 1831 were content and anxious to accept at
the hands of the King of the Netherlands. Time
" abandonment of the Madawaska settlers,"
which, in the words which our Contemporary
borrows from over the way, " is calculated to
shock and to arouse with indignation ally man
who has hitherto felt himself distinguished and

honoured by the name of Briton," is no new
idea. The King of the Netherlands suggested,
Lord Grey's Government pressed upon America,
and Lord Palmerston, if we mistake not, has
. since recurred to the same offer. The Commis-
sioners' survey has mended, but not established,
I ourcase. And even this it has done more by
damaging the American, than by confirming the
English arguments. It was good for something;
but it will not make black white or render thatsettlement disgraceful to the British name, which
ten years ago it was the legitimate object of so
much Whig anxiety to effect. Our Contempo-
rary is, no doubt, wise in loading his guns
heavily, but before he applies the match, he
would be wiser if he would take care that Lord
Palmerston is not standing before the muzzle.
GLOUE.—The only merit that the Tories are
inclined to attribute to the Government of Sir R.
Peel, as far as it has already gone, is the making
up of the deficit which is declared to be the fruit
of ten years of Whig rule—a calculation which
conveniently leaves out of the question some
quarter of a century of Tory ascendancy. It
is rather a late hour to begin disputing as to
who caused the decay of the national finances;
and as credit is given to Sir Robert Peel for
having cured the evil, there is the less occasion
to quarrel respecting its origin. It is, however,
a curious fact, that the jouineists who impute
every wrot,g to what they term, in the slang of
party, Whig misrule, are very apt to date the
beginning of the present state of affairs much
further back than the period at which the men
who at this moment form the Opposition assumed
the reins of government. It is probable that
if Tory policy was calculated to injure the in-
terests of the nation, the ill effects would be felt
and come into powerful operation after the re-
tirement of the party from office. Though there
was no deficit in the time of the Tories, it by no
means follows that they had no hand in
causing the deficiency which has since ensued;
and, indeed, as in our opinion the difficulties
of the country proceed chiefly from the restric-
tions on trade, which it has been the protective
policy of Toryism to preserve, we unhesitatingly
attribute to the party now in power the mischief
that has arisen. Leaving, however, out of the
question who is to be blamed as the cause of the
evil, we will revert to the merit of the cure, the
only merit that Sir R. Peel's organs—if he has an
organ—will allow to him. To us it appears
that the project of the Income-tax is at once
the most obvious and the least statesmanlike
scheme that could have been possibly devised
tbr balancing the accounts of the nation.
That it was " a bold measure," is but a poor
recommendation, unless a Minister's success
in finance is to he 'estimated solely by
how much he gets, without the slightest regard
to the manner in which he gets it. There is
something particularly bold, no doubt, in plung-
ing the hand of taxation into the public pocket,
without any other reason than that the money
is wanted; but it is the act of an impudent
thief, unless there is something like principle
in the mode adopted for leVying a general
contribution on the whole community. The
merit of an Income-tax would have consisted
in its nice adjustment to the means of those
who had to pay it, and its due regard to the
different values of incomes ostensibly the same
in amount ; but the measure of Sir R. Peel has
none of the qualities that might have redeemed
it from odium. It is slapped on indiscriminately
to all incomes above a certain sum, but no trouble
whatever is taken by the Premier to consider
whether he is not extorting; equal sums from per-
sons of really unequal means—an injustice that
was pointed out when the measure was in pro-
gress, but a deaf ear was turned by the Minister.
STANDARD.—We have copied from the
Glasgow Courier a very able left 'r of Mr. M. M.
Pattison, which most clearly proves that the new
American tariff' actually prohibits the low priced
cotton goods of Great Britain from the American
markets. If America sends food to the West
India colonies, and takes nothing but specie in
exchange, there can be no question that the
specie must be applied to the creation and sup-
port of manufactories, to rival these of Great
Britain. Mr. Pattison's remedy is to impose a
duty of ld. or 2d. per pound upon the raw
cotton of the United States. This, 'as we have
said, is by no means incompatible with the
proposition of the Birmingham Advertiser ;
and if, as that journal has proved, we
have the trade of the United States completely
at our command, either remedy or both reme-
dies might be tried with assured success; and
about the right to try them there can be no ques-
tion whatever. The American tariff is a declara-
tion of commercial hostilities, published in the
face of Sir Robert. Peel's conciliatory arrange-
ment; it therefore could not be pretended that
we had begun the contest. The United States have
excluded our manufactures; whatever the end,
then, we can be in no worse condition with respect
to them than that in which they have already
placed us. But if, as the economists teach—and
tbr once teach truly—a demand makes a market,
and a market makes a counter demand, by look-
ing elsewhere for a supply for the West India
provision market, and for the supply of raw cot-
ton, we shall create elsewhere an equivalent de-
mand for our manufactures; and we are happily
in the condition of being able to create both
markets within the limits of our own empire.
Canada can supply the provisions to the West
Indies, India the cottons ; and one hundred mil-
lions of Indians and Canadians can surely employ
the looms and forges of Great Britain as ac-
tively as about one-sixth part of the numbers of
Americans, while our commerce generally would
be free from the hazards of political caprice and
national jealousy. Nothing, indeed, but the in-
convenience attending all great commercial
changes can justify our not having long since
taken the course to which the United States seem
disposed to drive us. Upon them, however, be
the guilt of severing the commercial ties be-
tween the kindred nations. When the Whig
scheme for the importation of the slave-grown
sugar of the Brazils and of Cuba was denounced
as what that scheme was—a project for the
encouragement of the slave-trade—it was taunt-
ingly replied, that the consumers of slave-grown
cotton would with an ill grace object to the in-
troduction of slave-grown sugar. The just re-
joinder to this taunt was, that vast interests had
grown up under the cotton trade, which must be
affected ruinously by any violent interference
with that trade; but every one, we believe, re-
gretted that the country was open to the taunt.
The United States, however, by their tariff,
if they persist in it, will relieve us from this
occasion of regret. If they impose a duty of cent.
per cent., payable in advance too, and therefore
subject to all the risk of bankruptcy in the con-
signee upon our manufactured cottons, we must, in
self-defence, take our raw cottons from our fellow-
subjects, who will deal with us upon more libe-
ral terms, and who (thank Heaven for that!)
employ no slaves. It may be a question
whether, upon the United States relaxing
the prohibitions of their tariff, we shall be jus-
tified in neglecting the opportunity of its tem-
porary existence to exclude " the 'accursed
thing" for ever; but there can be no question at
all it the tariff shall be continued; because
then we can set ourselves right in the matter, in
the sight of Heaven and before men, without
inflicting injury upon any interest or any indi-
vidual.