FRENCH CONQUESTS IN AFRICA.
IT is difficult to imagine any object in the howl which has been raised this week about Lord ABERDEEN'S language respecting the French occupation of Algeria: Lord ABERDEEN said to the French Ambassador, "I look upon your occupation of Africa as a fait accompli, and I have no further observation [or, according to the Count ST. AULAIRE'S version, no further objection] to make." Well ; and is it not a fait accompli Have not the French been upwards of ten years in the uncontested possession of Algiers? Have they not during the whole of that time been avowedly trying to settle a permanent colony there ? The French occupation of Algiers is a fait accompli, whether Lord ABERDEEN admit it or not. And what suppose the Foreign Secretary had said that he had "no further objection to make" ? What would be the use of his objecting P The French title to the possession of Algeria is not exactly of the most respectable kind—it is the title of those who take because they have the power : but it is the identical title in virtue of which Great Britain holds her Indian dominions. What could this country gain by disputing the French title to the possession of Algeria ? Even the miserable pretext of jealousy of the increasing power of France is untenable ; for Algeria, so far from augmenting the strength of France, is a constant drain upon her resources. Any objection on the part of the British Mi- nistry to the French occupation of Algeria must be offered either with the intention of going to war to expel France from Africa, or with a view to reserve the objection as a diplomatic stock in trade forfuture use. The former would be an unwise, the latter a dirty and disingenuous game. Probably, after all, the raisers of the clamour alluded to have no other object than merely to embarrass the rivals who have ejected them from office. It' this is the case, they pay but a slender compliment to the good sense of the British nation in supposing that its confidence can be gained by such a paltry factions manceuvre.
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