A French gentleman has murdered six or eight hundred persons
: such is the charge brought against Colonel Peliasier, an officer serving in Algiers; who, according to the tale, surprised a tribe of Arabs, men, women, and children, concealed in a vast cavern of Mount Atlas; stopped up the mouth of the cavern with combustibles ; and thus caused the wretched multitude to be roasted or suffocated within! The revolting spectacle that pre- sented itself when the Europeans entered cannot be imagined. Of a hundred and fifty brought out alive, about half expired on breathing the fresh air into their parched lungs; and ultimately, but thirty-five survived. Unless the tale prove a fabrication, -Colonel Pelissier has outdone the slaughter of the Mamelukes, or even the cruelties of Ibrahim Pacha. The French are 'naturally indignant at the stain on their arms, and Ministers have been sharply questioned in the Chamber of Peers; Marshal Soult "disapproved" of the transaction; nay, on being pressed, lie "deplored" it; and the order for promoting the vigorous -Colonel to be Major-General is "suspended." Surely it cannot be supposed that this story will blow over? No; it will stand for ever in history; and with it ought to stand the record of the indignation of France.
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