2*28 Constantina. ' 



Opposition. The interests of the community at large must hence- 

 forward be consulted ; and those interests are involved in the recog- 

 nition of money as the real and bond fide standard of value, which 

 it is not at the present time. What remedy government may choose 

 to adopt for this evil that cries so loudly for redress, we know not. 

 The most natural and the easiest remedy is either the repeal of the 

 ex- premier's obnoxious act, so as to enable the Bank of England to 

 issue a limited quantity of paper for supplying the deficiencies of the 

 bullion currency, or, what would be still better and would place 

 the government and the country out of the power of any Joint-stock 

 Company like the Bank of England, to return to the plan, almost 

 forgotten and now mere matter of history, of government notes or 

 small exchequer bills. Either of these plans would have the effect, 

 at once of restoring the equilibrium of foreign exchanges, of giving 

 a due reward and full scope for the labour of agriculturists and 

 manufacturers, and of securing to the tradesman adequate returns 

 for the outlay of his capital. 



At all events let the Bank of England directors remember that in 

 1797 their credit was all but ruined : in 1837 their prospects may 

 not be less gloomy, if they omit to importune the king's govern- 

 ment to give them those powers of relieving the public, without 

 which the general distress must recoil on themselves. 



CONSTANTINA; 



ON THE IMPORTANCE OF ITS OCCUPATION BY THE FRENCH. 



MARSHAL CLAUSEL was the first who fully appreciated the reduction 

 of Constantina, or rather foresaw the advantages to be gained by its 

 acquisition. That measure has nevertheless met with opponents both 

 in Algiers and Paris. It will therefore be our object throughout 

 this article to demonstrate the absolute necessity which obliged the 

 French to undertake the expedition, not only in consideration of their 

 northern possessions in Africa, but also with regard to their political 

 credit and reputation at home and at foreign, courts. We will, 

 moreover, show that Constantina is a most important town to occupy, 

 first, as a commercial city of wealth and opulence; secondly, as an 

 useful position between the desert and the most fertile provinces of 

 the kingdom of Tunis ; and thirdly, as a central mart for the traders 

 of the northern with the southern colonies. Nor shall we fail to 

 notice, in the course of our disquisition, the fertility"of the province 

 which forms the half of the territory of Algiers, and the character- 

 istics of its inhabitants. 



Constantina, formerly called Cirtha, was founded by the Cartha- 

 ginians, and was indebted for its splendour and extent to the long 

 reign of Masinissa. He was the first who taught the wandering 

 tribes of Masaesylians to build fixed habitations and cultivate 

 the plains of Hamsah. Scipio (^Emilius) added the valley of the Ba- 

 gradas to the kingdom of Masinissa and of Micipsa, his son-in-law, 

 and the whole took the name of Numidia. Numidia was devastated 



