Morning journal and courier., 1890-03-15
MIR. wAKEmAN,sJ sJOURNEYINGs.

MR. WAkEmANsSJOOR
 At Alglers-An Outline of Algerian
 Hlstory-In she Mediterranean Sea-
 sights to be Seen From Vessels Flags of All Nasl0As-The Merchan.
 disc Taken to A1glers-The Mosque Djamaa el Djedid . Maneuvering
 Grounds of the French ArmY-Fort
 PEmpereuF.
 ALa1ERs, Feb. 15.
 To the Editor of the JOURNAL AND COURIER:
 Unless the United States government shall speedily do what should have been done any time during the past half century, take or buy Cuba, and thus provide vast and splendid winter sanitarium for the Ameri- can people, and for hosts of European idlers and travellers, nothing can prevent the Bar- bary states of north Africa in general, and that of Algiers in particular, from becoming the winter resort of the whole civilized world.
 An outline of Algerian history can be given in a few sentences. Algeria became 8 Roman province at the close of the Romsu civil war. Commerce and agriculture four ished and christianity was in the ascendant. Then, in the fifth century, when the van- dals swept in conquering hosts upon Roman territory, Algiers became the scene of awful strife and constant change of rule. On the incoming of the seventh century Algsrians, as we'll as the people of nearly all north Af- rican states, had sunk into ferocious barba- rism. This was remedied to some extent during the brief Algerian reign of Ferdinand of Spain, from 1909 to 1516, when Ferdi- nand died, and that most famous of all pi- rates, Barosss, graduating from brilliant curriculum of Turkish horrors in piracy, &C., quired Algerian rule by force and diploma cy, and introduced that system of piracy and compulsory tribute which, until as late as 1880, period of more than three hundred years, was not only merciless scourge to the maritime interests of the whole world, but carried with 1t the most diabo1ical out
 rages upon countless enslaved christians known to the history of man. Thirty thou- sand of these sufferers 1abored under lash and torture three years to build the great mole which protected Algiers from their own release by the maritime powers; and it is curious fact that the defiance of this buga- boo of the Mediterranean, leading to the eventual overthrow of the last stronghold of piracy on earth, came from "Yankee" gov ernment and was effectively conveyed by a "Yankee" frigate bold. think 1t was in 1915, and under Monroe's administration, that our government decided to curb Algeri- an pretensions. Commodore Decatur was sent to the Mediterranean to serve notice on the then Dey of Algiers that from that time khA T1n3kod StAfoa nnarchAntm0n and battle ahips touching at the port of Algiera should cease to pay tribute. One refusal like this, as precedent, would ruin Algeri- an piracies, and the august Dey parleyed with excellent diplomacy, finally agreeing to accept from Decatur an insignificant amount of powder for the sake of appearances. The answer of the plucky commodore to this was: eff you succeed in taking any powder you will get the balls with them" And he kept his word. He gave the town hot bombardment, letting light galore into many ! This spirited example touched the pride of | the English and gave them courage to order | tho bombardment of Algiers the following year under Lord Exmouth. But little came ! of all this until France took her turn at Al- giers. This was effectually done by the l landing of large army on her coast in 1850, followed by such thorough work that on July of that year Algiers surrendered; | ErRuc6 LOOK IOEuhl pOebeouAOu OA tuo oouA- | try; waged unrslenting though often unsuc. cessful war upon the savage interior tribes; l finally effected the establishment of power ! ful interior fortresses and splendidly ! equipped oatposts, carrying civilization and ! progress close to the butt end of every rifle; | until, in 1871, the powerful sheiks were glad | to sue for a permanent armistice; military l rule was withdrawn; and now, under wise | and benefcent rule, the people of Algters, a | territory as great in area as that of France, | have in less than two decades been reclaimed | from positive barbarian to at least conformi- | ty with civil administration, and put in the | line of such elevation and progress as will at | no distant day render this land of tradition and natural enchantment the most lovely | garden spot of the whole world-unless, as l | have said, we will make of our nearer Alge- ] ria-C Cuba, its twin sister in languorous clime and radiant possibilities, paradise park for | the new world and the old.
 Your steamer will convey you from Mar | seillss to the port of Algiers in trifle over ! one days time It is seldom out of sight of ! some Mediterranean craft, and there is al- ways consciousness of nearness to other human interests and of quiet and restfu1 ocean which have never known upon other waters. So, too, glimpses of lovely Ninori. ca and Majorica, the easternmost gems ot the Balearic islands, still held by Spain, and
 midway between the Spanish and African coasts, their white villages nestling upon
 emerald mountain sides, or blending with
 the glittering spume at the edges of circline
 bays, are full of winsomeness and delight
 Then, far away, before the tropic night set
 ties softly upon sea and land like a per
 fumed, translucent cloud of darkeninR pearl
 there is spread before you such reach ol grand and glorious coast line-the real "Af
 ric's coral strand" of indescribable beauty and not the dread coast of the old missionary hymn-as renders true picturing impossible
 the whole ohangeful panorama of headland
 beach, forest, glittering village and noble
 bay, backed along the ragged horizon by tn, eternal peaks of the Atlas heights, whicf even under tropic suns soar above the clouds
 to the region of silences, ghostly and phan
 tomfnl with their crowns of snow and ice
 The very air at sea is odorous, as with thyme
 and balm. The fancy, quickened by tradi.
 tion and the memory of oriental mystioisms
 builds wondrous creations surpassing tht
 widest and most fabulous tales of thu
 "Arabian nights" Snug in steamer chail
 one reclines and dreams. Subtle essences ai
 from lotus flowers mingled with subtler rost | kkouo k1A and hfnl {v,a a1n