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928 THE LEADER. [Saturday,
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THE FRENCH IN ALGERIA. The Tricolor on t...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Life And Cobrespondence Of Loud Metcaxfj...
appointed by the Crown . This Executive Council was composed of members of both Houses—principally of the Lower House , to which they declared themselves directly responsible . This , in fact , was that Responsible Government of which subsequently so much was heard in all discussions on Canadian affairs . The responsibility was the responsibility of the Executive Council to a majority in the House of Assembly . They professed to govern the vince through that majority . They represented , indeed , the representatives of the people , and , therefore , governed through and for the community . So far -was this theory of Responsible Government sufficiently sound—but when it came to be reduced to practice there were some obtrusive difficulties in the way of its successful application . And among the most difficult questions which suggested themselves was this"What , under such a state of things , - was to become of the Governor-General ?
This question filled Metcalfe ' s mind ; and when he addressed himself to its solution , it was natural that he should have considered , in the first instance , how his predecessors had dealt with the difficulties which he was now called upon to encounter . The name of Responsible Government was , at all events , nothing new to the North-American Colonies . It had been talked of by Lord Durham ; and tried by Lord Sydenham and Sir Charles Bagot . In one of his first despatches Metcalfe said : — " 2 vW , I conceive , * ' he said , "is the first time when the scheme of Responsible Government , as here construed , has come forward to be carried fully into effect in any colony . Lord Diirham had no difficulty in writing at leisure in praise of Responsible Government , which had no effect during his administration , and was treated by him as
a general question , without any definition of the details by which it was to be carried into effect . Lord Sydenham put the idea in force without suffering himself to be much restrained by it ; and for the greater part of his administration it had no existence , and was only coming into ; operation when he died . Sir Charles Bagot yielded to the coercive effect of Lord Sydenham's arrangements ; and thence , Responsible Government , as understood "by its extreme advocates , is said to be Sir Charles Bagot ' s policy ; but though he yielded to the extent of calling certain parties into his Council , he had not the least intent of surrendering Ms power into their hands ; and for the remainder of his time the contest was staved off by his illness ; but that very cause rendered it more certain for his successor . Now comes the tug of war , and supposing absolute submission to be out of the question ^ I cannot say that I see the end of the struggle if the parties alluded to really mean to maintain it . "
He found himself a name—not a governor . Sir Charles Bagot had been an invalid ; arid the Executive Oouncil had usurped all the power . Metcalfe at once contended that there was no parallel between the home Government by party , and the colonial Government by party ; that the Governor-General ought not to be a cypher ; and that the two systems must be incompatible . He had therefore a new experiment in constitutions to make . He found that there were three parties in the colony , and more than three races of men . He found that there was a loyal Conservative party ; a Liberal , or Reform , party ; and a French-Canadian party . The first was composed principally of
Englishmen ; the second , of Englishmen , Irishmen , and people of American stock ; the third consisted entirely of the old French settlers , who since the union . of the two Canadas had been gradually rising in importance . It was only among the first of these three parties that loyalty , as signifying attachment to the mother country , existed in aiiy force . It was only , therefore , with that party that Metcalfe , as the representative of the Imperial Government , could properly sympathise .. But that party was the Opposition of the day . The Reformers and the French-Canadians constituted the majority In the Representative Assembly , and , therefore , the Executive Council—the Responsible Government—which Metcalfe found in the province wa 3 composed of the leading men of those two Radical parties .
The difficulty of managing all these discordant parties without a Council Metcalfe might have overcome ; but the interposition of the Council rendered the work almost an impossibility . Determined , as far as he could , to abstain from identifying himself with any party , and to render equal justice to all , he still felt that the very Catholicity which he desired to infuse into his administration , might become in itself a new source of difficulty and embarrassment . " The course which I intend to pursue , " he wrote , soon after he had assumed the charge of the Government , " with regard to all parties , is to treat all alike , and to make no distinctions as far as depends on ray personal conduct , unless I discover , which I do not at present , that principles and motives
are concerned which render a different course proper . " But he presently added : " If I had a fair open field , I should endeavour to conciliate and bring together tlie good men of all parties , and to win the confidence and co-operation of the legislative bodies by ^ measures calculated to promote the general welfare in accordance with public feeling ; but fettered as I am by the necessity of acting with a Council brought into place by a coalition of parties , and at present in possession of a decided majority in th « Representative Assembly , "I must , in some degree , forego my own inclinations in those respects ; although I may still strive as a mediator to allay the bitterness of party-spirit . "
There was very little British loyal element in his council . The leading men , Sullivan , Daly , Morin , Aylwin , Lafontaine , and Baldwin , ; were of Irish , French Canadian , or American origin , —decided rebels , impossible . Metcalfo understood it , and decided not to allow the province to drift away from the Crown he served . At the period O'ConnelUsm was at its height in Ireland : had there been a successful rebellion in Ireland , Metcnlfe calculated that the Irish would pour iuto Canada from the United States , and supply opportunely rebels of nil sorts wanted for a collision with him . Tuo ' collision came soon enough , but not after this fashion . Metcalfo made wn appointment ; his council disapproved of th o selection : ho was firm ; they resigned . There was the test of the exact position . Canada waa not free yet ; the English Crown wns not yet disposed to grant that practical Republicanism at present enjoyed by the province , and so much still desired in England . The excitement in Canada was intense : the Parliament was
prorogued ; the people held public meetings , and there was at least absolute freedom in talking , writing , and addressing . To all remonstrances Metcnlfe returned rhetorical and dignifiod roplioa 5 stating the differences botween English and Canadian constitutional circumstances , and contending that it was for the public good ho should not allow a party , which was not the colony , to be absolute in a colony containing so many parties and so many interests . The ex-councillors , in return , laughed at hia pedantry , and nick-nainod him Old Square-toes . " The public mind deliberated ; there was no rebellion 5 Metcalfe won . Ho coula now have thrown himself on the Conservative puvfcy ; but ho declined to govern by party oven when the party could have earned him easily through . Ho attempted a coalition—such as that of Sir Alan M * Nub ; but that was promaturo 5 some Wdmen came to his aid , and he carried on government by a sort of com * mission—tilling vacant places with unpledged men : and , in the end , he was driven to the danger c > f dissolving the Assembly . He wns fast making personal friends in his usual way , and at last he got half a doxen loving friends
such as Viger and Draper , who took seats in the Council , and got Government into organisation . The Governor-General thus was acquiring the prestige of beating his opponents , and the elections were in his favour The rest was easy . It was a conquest of good temper—and that saved Canada to England .
928 The Leader. [Saturday,
928 THE LEADER . [ Saturday ,
The French In Algeria. The Tricolor On T...
THE FRENCH IN ALGERIA . The Tricolor on the A tlas ; < w , A Igerfa and the French Conquest . From the German of Doctor Wagner . By Francis Pulszky . Nelson and Sons . The awkward and unsuitable title to this volume , will give few readers any correct idea of its contents . Doctor MoritE Wagner , a Bavarian naturalist , lived three years in Algeria , and j aublished , in 1841 , an account of his experiences there . This work Mr . PiflKky now introduces to the Eng lish public . He has condensed the first volume of the original , has translated the second , has furnished an account of recent events from the capture of Constantine to the surrender of Abd-el-Kader , and has added a statement of the present condition of Algeria , taken from the official French Report published in 1853 . The book thus compiled has no very remarkable merits , and no very glaring faults . Those portions of it which describe the native races of Algiers , are the best in a literary point of view ; but as they go over ground which has been , for the most part , long since occupied by previous travel-writers , they are not so likely to interest the general reader ,
as the last division of the volume , which as devoted to narrating the history of the French Conquest and occupation of Algeria . This portion of Doctor Wagner ' s subject has , * in England at least , the merit of some freshness to recommend It . We know too little , in this country , about what the French have done , and arc doing in . Algeria—the famous training-school for the officers and soldiers of the array , with which we are now allied . It is only justice to Mr . Pulszty ' s translation and compilation to say , that it will supply the general reader with all the main points of information which he can require on the subject of the French settlements in Algeria . Of the style in which this information is conveyed , we will say nothing . Mr . Pulszky is a foreigner , and , as a writer of English , has , therefore , claims to our indulgence which we most willingly allow . We shall be doing his book the best service in out power , if we abstain from criticising it too minutely , and if we extract , instead , some of the passages which appear to give it a fair title to the attention of the general reader . Let us begin with a truthful-looking description of
MOOKISH ASJ > FRENCH COFFEE-HOUSES EN ATGIBKS . Among the places-which I recommend every tourist to visit at Algiers , I must especially mention the Moorish coftfee-houses , of which , in the upper part of the city alone , there are above shtty . I spent an hour there almost every evening , and I seldom regretted my visit ; for , -whoever is interested in the people and their language , finds instruction here . 2 Jb place is more favourable for the acquirement of the Arabic language . Even if not much talk is going on , still the Moors are here less taciturn than anywhere else . The long rows of different guests , sitting with crossed legs , offer a most interesting opportunity for the study of physiognomies . At the side of the hnmoveahly calm Moor , or Kurugli in gaudy Turkish garb , we behold a sable negro in the same style of attire , but mostly of dirty yellow material . Next to him is a fine tall Arab with sunburnt face , his mighty frame clad in white garments , arid a rope of earners hair twisted round his head . Then again we notice a short grown Kabyle , ragged , wild , with piercing glance , or a Mozabite of the Sahara , and a
Biskari from the Belad-el-Jerid , and among them again , a Frenchman in regimentals , or clad according to Paris fashion , adapting himself to every society , and everywhere happy by his merry turn of mind . The finest Moorish coffee-house was formerly situated in tho Rue de la Marino , not far from the large mosque . It had a hall partitioned into several galleries , and supported by columns which could accommodate hundreds of people . Another coffee-house of the same style , though not as spacious , I saw as late as at tho close of 1836 , in the street Bab-a-Zun . Now , however , both have disappeared . European speculators have bought these houses , and have raised stately buildings in their stead—hotels and store-houses , which enrich Algiers with some good French architecture , but have impoverished it of specimens of building characteristically Moorish , for among all yet existing coffee-housea there is not one as remarkable for its style as those -which have been destroyed . The present ones are lengthy vaults without marble columns , furnished only with two rows of stone benches which are covered with mats , braided of palm-leaves . On these the guests sit down in the
wellknown Oriental way . The kitchen , a small smoky corner , ia in a niche at the outside of the vault . Tho coflPeo is served in small china cups , resting on tin stands , and mixed for the French with moist sugar ; it is pretty strong and of pleasant flavour ; the sediment fills almost half the cup . It is offered together with a red earthenware pipe on a long tube , filled with excellent tobacco . Tho whole coats one sou ( about one halfpenny ) 5 5 t is hardly possible to fancy a cheaper treat . The proprietor of a larger coffee-house usually little troubles himself with his business ; but , sitting at tho entrance with calm gravity , ho greets his European guest with "Good evening , sir , " and his own co-religionists with the warmer welcome , "Peace bo upon thce ; " and then he shouts to the servants , " Bring cofibe , bring a pipe . " The cook is usually a negro , tho waiters , Moorish lads with milk-whito and rosy faces , who , instead of the turban , wear a red skull-cap on their completely shorn heads . The larger coffeohouses have regularly music in tho evening : ; the orchestra is placed close to the kitchen , from the smoking kettles of which the musicians receive from time to time
invigorating coffee . The instruments of thoao African artists are most usually a threecorded violin , called refoobb , several pipes and guitars , and a peculiar kind of drum , the tarr , which , however , is oftoner hoard in tho streets ; tho brass instruments , likewise , which deafen us at tho celobrfttion of the Bairam , and at nuptials , are excluded from the coATeo-housos , Hero one seeks repose ; and a noft monotonous lulling music , which is well adapted to the idle enjoyment of tho assembly , doos not disturb vaguo 'Contemplation , or scaro away the misty dreams , in which tho fertile imagination of thcao effeminate Moorn delights , who do not wiHh to bo roused here by energetic sounds to tho remembrance of tho clattering arms an d tho chivalrous feats of their ancestors . A celebrated coffeo-housc stands near to tho Roman Oatliolic Church , where wo mostly mot with many Europeans , aa the coflfco is oxccllont , tho society interesting , and tho
orchestra very good . Its conductor ia an old Moor , wlio handles his instrument , tho violin , with peculiar originality , and tho play of hia features , tho movements of hia head , accompanied by grave and monotonous gestures , nro strikingly funny . Ho waa one of tho musicians to tho last Day , and for sixty years ho has over enlivened all tho festivals of Algiers . In consequence , ho is liliowiso highly respected , and a welcome friend to the families whom ho hna cheered and comforted by his sound * in tlio days of joy and of woo ; at tho nuptials , vhon his melodies directed tho steps of tho dancers , and at tho funerals , wh . on his strings uttered tho name melancholy monotonous oounda which scorn to match equally well tho feelings of rogrot as of calm enjoyment . In tho coitco-houso of tho Divon-strcet , wo sometimes saw dancing girls , dinging to the music The proprietor of this coffco-houso ia tho brother of the Braham Shauah , tho oxecu-
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 30, 1854, page 16, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_30091854/page/16/
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