The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1901-08-01
TnsINIA, A REGENCY OF FRANCE.

,suecdl Nolle'Poii'ohoo" VI Ah0 oo"A ii'
TINS. AFRICA, June goth. From
,ciers to Tunis you sail due east,
.tn,ost six hundred miles. Again amp
-.in The words of DR.. johnson recur
=, minds The grand object of all trav-
.,,c Is to see the shores of the Med
.,-,aneAn. On these shores stood the
.ur great empires of the world-the
,s.y,ian. the Persian, the Grecian and
me- Boman. All our religion, almost all
..r ANS almost all our arts, almost all
.sa, sets us above savages, has come to
f.om the shores of the Mediterran
~, But in these latter days, the de-
.,.aate races that now inhabit that
.. agion might learn very great
.. from our infant Republic of the
9-,,
I've regency of Tunis-or Tunisia, as
...- now become the fashion to call it
.. rliy little more than prolonga-
POI. Algeria, except that in it are
.,.r .orests and cultivated spaces, and
.. euuntains gradually dwindle to
... .ls. For nearly seven hundred
,,.s- i Algeria, the seward slopes of
.- fla, range are rich in wheat, bar
liz ton and tobacco; orchards OF
mu.s. oranges. cherries and peaches;
-f-- of olives, almonds, cheStnuts
.ai rmarisks; tangled thickets of ole
.lti lbutus, myrtle and juniper, al
q,#.I with sandy stretches over
-sQu Hith the dwarf palm whose ten
rulls and leaf-stalks furnish the sta
.. .aud of the Arabs, and whose tibreS
ras baskets, mats, cords, fans and
t.- lSeful articles. Higher up are
lens. Iorests of carib and locust trees;
nd lt The sunny hillsides have a pecu-
sr ,urlet glow, borrowed from the
aag.y of the universal pomegranate
u,.
!. Imis less rain falls, owing to the
rfElration of the country; and the
use.uence is that the land, though
ar aasolutely sterile, is cultivated with
o mach difficulty and uncertainty that
mostly left to Mother Natures de-
gtorv methods. There is decidedly
. Inference in the political than the
v.l,al features of the adjoining prov
mes Until a few years ago. the gov
i1meut of Tunis was an hereditary
,agIek, whose ruler acknowledged the
ll-rHuty of the Porte, coined his
.Aev N the name of the Sultan, and
-,ry-d investure from him, but paid
a Iipute. Now, in all but name, the
-c-Hly of Tunis is as much French ter
aog as Algeria, and though the gov
rmeut is still carried on in the name
f le Bey, he is merely tigurehead
M ,,lpe-goat, French influence being
J -me. This fiction of Beylic suits
up admirably. being convenient
aa mistakes occur, or acts commit
e. That could not be cOuntenanced I'M
-Y common law of the French Re
utl 1t also provides cheap and easy
. Hery for governing the native ra-
~. l obyiates the necessity for the
rate and expensive governmental
1,.sm that would have to be estab-
we're the country proclaimed an
- part of France.
+ huge joke, like that of the pot
d the kettle hard names, and the
Us sending the poker to Coventry for
r1- meddled with the fire, to find
selves quarantined in Tunis because
.e me from the cleaner and healthier
--oa Of Algeria. However, the an
tauce has been more than made up
weight hours at anchor under
'reeZy cliffs of Carthage-the an
CONAN city on its superb promon-
pointing colossal finger into the
rt Tunis from its westward shore
rHge, you remember, was founded
hpnician colony from Tyre, eight
adged and fifty-two years before
aTSI was born. Then it was called
lrtlladact, meaning New City" in
mosltion to Utica, the 'Old." This
ale became Carchedon in Greek, and
Htuago in Roman. For upward of
seven hundred years it continued in I'M
1iermpted glory, till destroyed by
>nmo r. C. 146. A quarter of a CEN
7ay OF so later it was colonized by
Aus Gracious, and rebuilt by Au-
s4stus. Long afterwards it became the
'Att seat of Christianity in Africa,
and many of its most splendid edifces
We're oemolished with the view of root
1s cut paganism. Its utter destruc-
1oa aowever, did not begin until the
A11h INVASION, "a. d. 500; since which
lMe generation after generation has
Ntnued the pious vandalism with I'M
emitting zeal. All that was movable
+d' been long since carried off, either
Ial the construction of the modern
Ry of Tunis, or to enrich the public
'Idlugs and museums of Europe, or
" ience in barley-fields and cabbage
patches round about. Just think of it!
IAtllS same old Carthago-once scarce
!! Tess glorious than Rome herself in
aagnlticence and in heroes-Regulus,
DIE Roman patriot. surrendered himself