THE FAMINE IN ALGERIA.

Westport Times, Volume II, Issue 283, 27 June 1868, Page 6

THE FAMINE IN ALGERIA.

A letter from Algiers, in tlie 77qlr of Cherbourg, gives some heartrending details of the famine among the Arabs. The writer says: —"At Orleansville 1 have seen from 150 to 200 ol these poor wretches scarcely covered with ragged burnous, eating the leaves of the aloe plant, and roots of the dwarf palm, and the filthy fragments abandoned in the streets. I have witnessed natives coming down from the mountain, with asses laden with dates, ro' - be of all in an instant by these famished Arabs; the latter I have seen cudgelled unmercifully by Europeans in order to make them desist, and yet they received the blows without seeming to feel them rather than give up a single date. At Relizanne 1 noticed squatted on the footpath, with their backs against the wall, pome dozen of Arab chi d en, the oldest of whom could scarcely he more than four. When I say children I make a mistake ; they were only skeletons; their lugs and arms were, in the most rigorous in fining of words, no more than bones covered with shrivelled skin. On looking at those poor little things so frightfully shrunk, one was at a loss to know by what effort they could stand on their feet. I bought a dozen pound loaves and distributed them to the starving children, but this was scarcely done when I was surrounded by a score of Arabs vociferating for a share. Only with great difficulty could I get out from the midst of the poor wretches, the numbers of whom rapidly increased ; and had it not been for the assistance of some Europeans I do not know what might have become of me. Scarcely had I got clear of the crowd when 1 saw them fall upon the children and snatch away the bread which I had distributed. At Oran, in the middle of the city, in front of the Hotel de FUnivcrse, I witnessed the most disgusting of spectacles. Every evening there is thrown out of that establishment the remains of the kitchen, damaged leaves of salad, and other vegetables, the entrails of fowl and game, and filth of that kind. "Well, on the evening I speak of I saw a dozen Arabs fighting with the dogs of the neighborhood over this offal."

The organ of the War Office at St. Petersburg, the Invalicle Husse, publishes a curious article, in which, while making strong professions of peace, it argues that circumstances render a European war inevitable. "It must be admitted," it says, that of the 210,000,000 of people who inhabit the south and west of Europe, hardly 50,000,000 are satisfied with their political position, the rest beingcompelled by force of things either to think of giving stability to their conquests or of retrieving their losses. Neither Prussia, who has not yet completed her political structure, nor Austria, distracted by the irreconcilable aspirations of Germans, Sclaves, and Magyars ; nor Italy, stopped before Rome by the Chassepot rifle; nor Eranee, limited in her supremacy; nor Denmark, which is still waiting for the promised restoration of some of her territory ; nor Greece, which wants Epirus, Thessaly, and Crete ; nor the population of the peninsula of the Balkan, suffering under the barbarous yoke of Turkey—can accept the present sfalus quo and not desire, or at least hope for a change. When dissatisfaction is so prevalent, it is difficult to prevent a European collision. All expect it, but its consequences appear so fearful that no one is willing to take the responsibility of initiating it, and all must strive to appeal to pacific tendencies, though placing no trust in them." To this declaration the Russian Government a significant commentary is supplied by the official organ of Servia, the Yiclovdan, in an article on the armaments now bcin<r effected in that country. "Whenthe great Powers arm, "says the Vidovchn, " the small ones must look to themselves, for should a great war break out, their very existence would be at stake." " -No one believes," it adds, " that a permanent peace can be established in Europe until after a great and decisive war,'; and it considers it the duty of every small State to protect itself to the best of its power against the coming danger. Printers' Devils. Erom wild friendless boys in the street are made what are called printers' devils ; next they become printers, after that sometimes editors, in which capacity they not unfrequently make their mark in their nation and in the world, Dr. Franklin was a most eminent instance in the earlier days of America, and Thurlow Weed, Horace " Oreeley, Simon Cameron, Hannibal Hamlin'' 'General Dix, Salmyler, Colfax Gideon Wells, and many others, are striking examples at the present time.