The French have been alarmed. by a local movement in
Algeria. It is their practice to allow their settlers in a com- mune to rule it, and the settlers abuse their powers, especially as regards the transfer of land. Recently some injustice more patent than usual roused the Arabs of Marguerite to revolt, and several settlers were murdered. The revolt was put down by a military movement, but M. Jonnart, the retiring Governor-General, has sharply reprimanded the officials in . "mixed communes" for not watching more carefully over native interest.. He declares that racial contests are fatal to civilisation, and ruin among natives the respect due to authority. "The role of protector is not fulfilled unless it is first made that of an educator." He appeals to the patriotism of all French settlers, but he will find, we fear, that when white men and dark men live together on an equal footing, patriotism is only strong while the patria backs the white. Mixed communes can only be governed justly by a trained Civil Service whose incomes are not affected by the decisions they give, and whose mem. bers, if they feel race-hatred, keep it down.
