ALGIERS.
TIT city and state, the third in point of dignity of the three pi- ratical governments of Barbary (Tripoli being the first, and Tunis the second), but by no means the third in power or in mischief, has assumed an interest, since the sailing of the French expedi- tion, inferior only to what it possessed at the time of Lord Ex. MOUTH'S. A short account of it, therefore, will be acceptable to our readers.
Al Jezir al gusie---" Algiers the valiant," the Jomnium of the ancients, lies in about 36t degrees of north latitude and about 31 of cast longitude. It is situated half-way down the west side of a deep bay, formed by • Capes Mittifo on the east and Caxinei on the west. The town is of the form of an equilateral triangle, the be lying along the shore, and the apex rising towards the high lands in its rear,,Which stretch from Cape Matifo westward to Sidi al Ferruch. Though presenting in its whitewashed walls and terraced roofs a beautiful appearance from the sea, nothing can . be . imagined more contemptible than the interior of the town. The streets are most . ridiculously narrow; in many places barely admitting of three. or four persons walking abreast, so that the un- fortunate foot passenger who is met or overtaken by a. mounted Turk or Moor, must draw himself up to the wall to avoid being ridden over. The outsides of the houses are destitute of windows; and thus the aspect of the town is as sombre as it is mean. Algiers contains nine great mosques and about fifty small ones : there are five casserias or barracks for the troops, and as many prisons for the slaves ; it has several bazaars, and plenty of ta- verns, but none of them 'possesses the convenience of sleeping apartments. Europeans without houses of their own hire apart- ments of the Jews that reside in the town. Of this patient tribe. Algiers contains about eight thousand ; and in no part of the world are they exposed to more tyranny and oppression. Yet, as the whole traffic of the city is in their hands, they contrive to amass no inconsiderable wealth ; and gain operates in Barbary, as it does everywhere, to reconcile them to the most abject degra- dation. The palace of the Dey- still bears the name ofthe Pachalic, in acknowledgment of the dependence of its owner on the Sultan, though the dependence has long been a nominal one.
The country round Algiers is fine. The grape is so universally cultivated, that within a circuit of four leagues, there arc said to be not fewer than twenty thousand vineyards ! The landscape is as beautiful as the soil is productive; and Fiesole, Chantilly, and our Richmond, are the parallels employed by travellers to give an adequate idea of its charms. The olive-tree thrives most luxuri- antly; the pomegranate and the gourd arrive at a great size ; and wheat, barley, and maize produce abundant crops, though the agriculture is of the rudest description. The natives of Algiers, as in the other districts on the Barbary coast, are a mixed race. The interior, and more especially the hilly parts, are held by the Berbers, an aboriginal tribe, who have given its modern name to the country. They are a bold, hardy, and active set of men, and enjoy amidst their fastnesses an inde- pendence, of which the Turks,who lord over the natives of the plains, have sought in vain to deprive them. The Arabs, the descendants of the early conquerors, are the second element in the population of the state. They exhibit, with but small modifications, the characteristics of their fathers. The Arabs are allies rather than slaves of the Dey. The descendants of the Moors of Spain, who had been enervated by-sloth and indulgence before they were ex- pelled from Granada, and who have given birth to sons more vicious and indolent than their sires, form the third and most nu- merous class. In the interior there are said to be some tribes, whose ruddy complexion and blue eyes bespeak their descent from the Vandals ; but travellers have not investigated their history with much exactness.
The lords of Algiers are a Janissary corps of ten or twelve thousand men, who are chiefly resident in the capital. A few of these troops are born in the country, and bear the name of Chiloulis, a term equivalent to that of Creole in the West Indies ; but the greater part are recruits from Smyrna and Constantinople, gleaned from the very lowest ranks, many of them slaves, and not a few of them criminals. From this fierce democracy every officer • Narrative of a Residence in Algiers. By Signor Pananti. London 1818-30. of the state is chosen, the highest as well as the lowest ; and so far are they from seeking to conceal the humility of their origin, that they rather glory in avowing it. " My father pickled neats' tongues, and My mother hawked them," said a Dey to a fellow that was brawling in the market ; " but they would have been ashamed to offer for sale so filthy a tongue as thine." The head of the Government, or Dey, is assisted by a Divan or Council ; but he employs them to execute his will, not to advise with him. There are three inferior Governors, termed Beys,—one at Oran, one at Constantine., and one termed the Camp Bey, who commands the troops that are in the field, to levy tribute, or make war, as the case may be. The whole of these, it may be supposed, plunder and oppress the subjects of these governments without measure or mercy. The Cadis of the town play the same game in little that the Beys do in great ; and when Beys and Cadis have robbed and rioted their fill, the Dey, the great robber of all his people, lays hold of the delinquents, the fruits of their extortions are poured into the treasury, and their heads are tossed to the people, as a slender compensation for the evils they have inflicted. The city of Algiers has been fortified chiefly with a view to repel maritime attacks ; and it is strong against such only. The whole range of coast, for a considerable number of miles to the east and west of the town, is studded with forts, some of them of a very formidable character. The number of guns on the sea- wall and the mole alone is not much short of three hundred ; the smallest eighteen-pounders, and most of them twenty-fours. About one thousand yards to the south-east of the city, there is a strong square fort of fifty-five guns, besides detached works • and at nearly the same distance, on the north-west, are five others, mounting in all sixty-three guns. On the land side the defences are few. At the upper extremity of the town, there is the Cassaba or citadel ; and from the Cassaba to the sea, there is on each side of the town an old turreted wall, with a ditch, neither of which presents any formidable obstacle to a besieging enemy. The Cassaba itself is commanded by different outworks in its rear, and these again by the neighbouring heights. Of the outworks, on the land side (the Star Fort, it is said, has been demolished), the Em- perors fort (Sultaun Kellahci), so called because of its having been commenced by CHARLES the Fifth previous to the storm that dispersed his fleet, is the most important; it mounts fifty- seven guns. Its capabilities of resistance are not very . well known, nor is even its form very distinctly laid down by what may be deemed authorities. A correspondent of the United Ser- vice Journal speaks of it as an octagon without bastions ; according to the plan given in PANANTI'S book, where the account has been reprinted, it isa square with bastions. There can, however, be little doubt about the fate of a place which is commanded by a rising ground only six hundred yards distant. The expedition of CHARLES the Fifth, and the more recent one of O'REILLY, landed to the east of the town ; and the failure of the latter has been attributed in part to his men's ignorance of bush-fighting —a mode of warfare essential in that quarter, where the whole surface is covered with wood. The present expedition have, with more judgment, sought for a place of embarkation in the west, not only because the sea defences are comparatively in- significant there, but because the advance on the city is much more easily effected. The point selected, called by the natives Sidi al Ferruch, and by the Europeans (from the tower in the neighbourhood) ToiTetta Chika, is about twelve miles from the Emperor's fort. The roadstead formed by Cape Caxines and the peninsula of Sidi Ferrnch, is described as a safe one. The castle on the peninsula, though it fell an easy prey to the French, may yet serve the latter as a valuable defence for the protection of the landing ground. There are other defences laid down in the maps, but they are not of importance. Two roads lead from Torretta Chika on Algiers, one direct, the other by the high grounds. It seems not improbable that the French will proceed by. both—by the shore road, for the purpose of masking the batteries that lie between their present position and the town, by the mountains, in order to gain the rear of the Sultaun Kellahci ' • although it ought to be noticed, that there is a rumour that that fort, as well as the Star fort, has been dismantled. It will be the better for the Dey if it be so. If it remain entire, it will but furnish the French with a position and guns with which to batter his palace about his ears.
The most recent accounts represent theforce in Algiers as not exceeding 9,000 men, of whom only 6,000 are Janissaries. But although muchaccount is not to be made of the Bedouins, and other irregulars, they are not to be wholly despised; they are, in general, excellent marksmen, and may serve to annoy the French, though they can do little against them in open fight. There is a story afloat of a large treasure being deposited in the coffers of the Dey; and it is probable there is some,—though eight millions sterling, the reported amount, appears to be a gross exaggera- tion. The French papers speak of taking Algiers in ten or twelve clays ; but this is cutting before the point. Boumwoisrr has used every possible precaution to insure victory ; and, recollecting the character of the troops that he commands, which are mostly re- cruits and men that have not seen active service, he has been even lavish of the means of defensive warfare. The chevaux de frise are of a novel and most formidable kind, which, once planted, will enable him to laugh to scorn the best and most vigorous charge of cavalry that ever was made. The troops also carry with them a number of musket-proof blockhouses, which are loopholed, and will serve as temporary redoubts in aid of the chevaux de frise. These precautions—wise ones we deem them—are not indicative of coups de main. There is plenty of water in the rear of the French, and in their line of march. Provisions may fail them in the country, but they carry an abundant supply along with them, and they have besides ample magazines both at Toulon and Port Mahon. In short, there is but one enemy that they have to fear, and that is sickness. The time chosen for landing is not the best in that respect ; the approath of winter is recommended by PANANTI, and apparently with reason, as the healthiest. Still, we have no doubt of BOURMONT'S success, though we think it will not be reaped quite so suddenly as the journals of his country hold out. With five-and-thirty thousand white faces, it will be strange if he cannot beat seventy thousand blacks ; and there is no reason to suppose, even with the most ample allowance for irregu- lars, that the Dey can bring that number into the field. The facts which we have here thrown together have been drawn from various sources. The volume whose title we quote below is a second edition of the publisher. We don't think much of PA- NANTI ; and we think still less of his translator, or editor, as Captain BLAQUIERE calls himself. We have seldom read less in- teresting, or, to speak truth, more twaddling notes, than those he has appended to PANANTI'S compilation. The work was heavy in 1818, when first printed—it would not otherwise have remained so long on Mr. COLBURN'S shelves. We do not think that the can- celling of a sheet will do much to lighten it in 1830. SCALER'S book, quoted by the French papers, seems to be of some value ; we have not seen it.
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