Star.
London, England, 1830-08-10 00:00:00

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~.,,4..3,. " -,) HE FAMILY MAGAZINE.
‘N,•I7-174.:‘, • ....—......—.
CHARACTERISTICS
Pio.) .1.4,1 OZ
?Tbe barber takes you by the nose,
And talks about 'widen . •
And Thames-Street warehousemen disclose
Their art in crane-iology.
lasi dying speeches beggars sell,
And prate about buy-ography ;
While journeymen take walks, and well
Improve them in toe-pography.
The milkman, who turns pale each day,
While studying astronomy,
Calls pouring on the milky way
Political economy.
Our waggoners that uphill go,
Can tell you of highdrato.lics;
They taste the luxury of " woe !"
And drag through lectures prolix.
Now gardeners extract their roots
By science, till they've not any ;
And costermongers taste the fruits
(While selling greens) of Botany.
Innkeepers double entry learn,
And wisely calculate;
• While carpenters those sawyers spurn,
Who log-arithms hate.
The march of intellect all love ;
All wish to have a hand in;
E'en cobblers labour to improve
The human understanding.

Of the present Number of the Family Magazine, it may be truly
said, of nonsense and trash there is none, of good sense and useful
information, ample to repay the trouble of its perusal and small price,
f:es the most fastidious. Several of the tales are interesting. The
only article in which we perceive anything to blame, is in that
c stilled " The Family Physician." All the observations in this pa.
jar are sound, but that in which he recommends abstinence from me.
iieine. until a person " finds he has need for them." Now no one
...in approve of swallowing nostrums on fanciful suspicions: but
living, as the most prudent do, in this metropolis, and following
the habits of society, it may be almost said that no individual
should exempt himself from taking a simple cathartic occasionally,
even as a preventative. More are lost from not taking medicines in
time, than taking them too often. We abridge below an article
on Algiers, with some stanzas above on the " March of Intellect,"
which we derive through the medium of this Magazine, the stanzas
being merely introduced as an extract from the poem under the
above name, published with Cruickshank's humorous illustra-
tions.
The Regency of Algiers extends to the Desert; but the &nth°.
rity of the Dey ceases at the chain of the great Atlas the martial
tribes dwelling in the lofty valleys, or roving through the date-
country on the margin of the Desert, laugh at his power, or are
even ignorant of his name. On the coast, and for a certain dis-
tance inland, the soil is tolerably well cultivated: and this part is
chiefly inhabited by Moors. Towards the mountains permanent
abodes become more and more rare, and scarcely any thing is to be
seen but pasturage and tents: here dwell the wandering tribes of
the ancient conquerors of the country. They still departure the
lower valleys of the Atlas; but the upper belong to the tribe of the
Berbers. Of the four governments into which the country is divided,
three are situated on the coast, the fourth in the interior—the seat
of the latter is a moveable camp amidst the Arab tribes. This
camp is pitched by a division of Turkish soldiery, wherever the
collection of tribute from the moving Arabs renders it necessary:
and it is the capital of the southern province.
When Horace Barbarossa appeared before Algiers, he was the
leader, but not the master, of his crews. These Turkish adven.
turns had committed the sword of authority to the ablest band,
and their laws resembled those of all the freebooters both of the
old and new world, that is to say, plunder was the universal ob-
ject, one was as good as another, and they had all equal rights.
The original equality prevailing among a band of pirates has
been kept up in the corps of the Turkish soldiery. The only ins.
quality consists in rank, which is attained strictly by seniority.
The Dey alone is elected, and that by the whole corps. All receive
the mate pay without distinction of rank ; the Aga and the Dey only
having double allowance and being paid first.
All the 'Turkish soldiery are styled effendi, or master; the lowest
of them with a look strikes terror into the most !powerful of the
Arabs and Moors. They pay no taxes, are supported in all dis-
putes with the natives, are exclusively appointed to all offices of
state, and in this case also according to seniority, so that ifs man
lives long enough he is sure to arrive at last at the source of
wealth. They are attended in their barracks by slaves at the ex.
pense of their government, are allowed four loaves a day, and have
the privilege of purchasing meat for one third less than the ordi-
nary price; they have a share in the prizes and may equip vessels
at their own cost. When they become old and unfit for service,
the State maintains them and their children, and gives them quiet
lucrative offices. But in no point has the simple system prevailing,
among the original crew of a Corsair been so closely preserved as in
the double right of electing and deposing the Dcy, and interfering
immediately in affairs of state.
A Dey seldom reigns longer than five or six years; he is almost
always put to death by the soldiers, whenever they are dissatisfied
either with the too long continuance of peace, or with their pay being
in smear. Every deposed Dcy must die even though the supreme
power was forced upon him ; none can abdicate it.
The Dey is, in the fullest extent of the term, the executive power
of the sovereign body which has elected him ; he exercises it by
means of a dozen ministers, declares war and concludes peace, levies
taxes and imposts, is general of the troops, supreme judge in every
thing; in short his will is law.
So terrible is the power of the Dey that his will is seldom opposed
in the Divan, unless the Divan know that a mutiny is prepared to
support their resistance in case of emergency. The Divan confirms
for form's sake, the principal ordinances of the executive power
The Dey in person takes cognizance of criminal cases: the admi.
niatration of civil justice is deputed to the two Cadis, under whom
are other judges, who take their rounds in the villages. So small a
number of judges would be overwhelmed with business if suits were
so frequent and so long as in Europe ; but this has been provided
against. Whoever loses his cause receives the bastinado for taking
up the time of the officers. A complainant who commences a pro-
cess for some frivolous cause fares the same; but if the affair is
intricate both parties are beaten that they may learn to make out a
simpler statement of their case. Hence, whoever seeks the inter.
ference of law must be previously certain of the justice of his cause.
No such thing as delay is to be thought of ; the witnesses are exa-
mined on the spot, and the judges pronounce immediate sentence,
from which there is no appeal. The longest causes last an hour
at farthest ; most are dispatched in five minutes. and nobody has
long to wait for the execution with which they finish, that is the
bastinado.
Criminal justice, which is always administered before the tribunal
of the Dey himself, is not less prompt ; there is no appeal from his
sentence, and it is always executed instantaneously. The murderer
is doomed to die; a thief has his hand cut off, and is led through
the city upon an as ; a Christian or a Jew suspected of intercourse
with a elahomedan woman receives the bastinado ; if the offence is
proved he is put to death, and the woman, after being paraded about
upon an ass, is sewed up in a sack and thrown into the sea ; the
fraudulent bankrupt, if a European, is strangled, if a Moor hanged,
if aJew burned. For less heinous offences there is the bastinado,
from the minimum of thirty strokes to the maximum of twelve hun.
And. Imprisonment is not usual, the bastinado is cheaper and
more prompt.
Other circumstances concur with those already mentioned to run.
der crimes of rare occurrence. Accomplices are punished in the
same degree as principals; every district is responsible for the rob-
beries committed within it; the price of all kinds of provisions is
fixed ; and the shopkeeper who cheats is hanged. The police is ad-
mirable, and every thing is communicated to the Dey. The streets
of the city, as well as the roads in the country•, ate tolerably safe ;
the Turk is too proud to degrade himself into a robber ; and the
responsibility of the district, the consequence of which is a mutual
vigilance not easily evaded, keeps the Moon in order. The pro-
vinces are governed in the name of the Dey by Beys who are more
severe than himself. Every town of consequence has also its go-
vernor called Caid ; these Caids take what has escaped the rapacity
pf the Bey, for, as the officers in general have no salary, they are al-
lowed to turn their power to the best account they can, and they
•ever fail to do so.
The ordinary revenues of the Regency consist of the tenth of
the whole produce of the soil ; 2. the tribute of the Arabs ; 3. the
property:of all who die without heirs ; 4. a duty of 21 per cent. on
imports and exports ; S. a tax of twenty dollars on vessels anchor-
ing in the ports of the Regency, 8. the produce of the licences foe
the export of corn, oil, and cattle ; 7. the sale of salt ; 8. the pr..
&Kea piracy; and, 9. the presents of the Christian powers. Al
these resources together yield between two and three millions if
francs : the expenditure amounts to much more, so that, but for
the providenee of the Dey, there would be a yearly deficit,. were it
not made up by extortion.
The army was originally composed of the Turkish soldiery aloes
—that is, of fifteen or twisty *boomed ; but the wars with