14 



ALGERIA. 



Russia, giving most emphatic utterance to Ids 

 private opinions only on the question of the 

 maintenance of the most intimate relations with 

 Germany. He was married in 1841 to Maria, 

 daughter of the grand duke Ludwig II., of 

 Hesse. His oldest son, Nicholas, born in 1841, 

 died in 1865. He was betrothed to the Prin- 

 cess Dagmar of Denmark, who, after his death, 

 married the second son of the emperor, Alex- 

 ander, who is now the Czarevitch or heir ap- 

 parent to the throne. The Czarevitch has 

 given but few indications of his future policy, 

 although it is pretty well known that he 

 shares his father's views as to the continuance 

 of friendly relations with Germany, and that 

 he is in full sympathy with the most extreme 

 section of the Panslavists. During the war in 

 1877, he commanded the army of Biela. 



ALGERIA, a French province in Northern 

 Africa, having an area of 258,317 square miles, 

 and 2,416,225 inhabitants. The French colo- 

 nies have never enjoyed that prosperity which 

 the British colonies have had. The principal 

 reason for this has been stated to be the dif- 

 ference in the system employed by the two 

 nations in governing their colonies. While the 

 British, in India, for instance, do not inter- 

 fere with the customs and religion of the na- 

 tives any more than is absolutely necessary, 

 the French in Algeria have always striven to 

 assimilate the natives to themselves. True to 

 this principle, the Government of Algeria was 

 begun by a centralization of its affairs in Paris. 

 The little progress made by the colony caused, 

 in 1860, a radical change to be made, which, 



CONST ANTINE. 



although it did not lead to a complete adoption 

 of the British system, did away with the cen- 

 tralization. The report of the Civil Governor- 

 General, General Chanzy, shows that, since 

 that Time, a decided improvement has been 

 made. The report begins with an opinion 



on the working of the present system, and, al- 

 though General Chanzy still regards assimila- 

 tion as ultimately possible, he still favors this 

 system. He particularly remarks with satis- 

 faction that the "arbitrary and despotic" de- 

 crees had been discontinued, and that now, 

 whenever the basis for a new institution was 

 to be laid, or a new principle was to be es- 

 tablished, the Government always fell back 

 upon the law to do it. It was an important 

 and beneficial measure not only to guarantee 

 liberty of religion, but to assume the financial 

 care of the Mohammedan church, by providing 

 for the payment of all connected with the 

 mosques. In the department of education, the 

 French influence makes itself more strongly 

 felt. The Mohammedan schools for superior 

 instruction have been, indeed, restored by the 

 law of July 30, 1876, but the Arabic instruc- 

 tors are assisted by French professors of his- 

 tory, geography, arithmetic, and of the prin- 

 ciples of law. The Arabs do not seem to have 

 primary schools for themselves, but there are 

 French schools in which Arabic is taught. In 

 1875, there were 46,887 pupils in a total Euro- 

 pean population of 322,792. The police and 

 the courts are arranged according to the French 

 system. In a few provinces only have the 

 native cadis been permitted to remain, and 

 they are gradually decreasing, numbering 144 

 in 1875 to 204 in 1874. On the other hand, 

 there were in 1875 69 justices of the peace. 

 The criminal statistics for the province are very 

 instructive, there being in 1875 one convicted 

 Frenchman for every 2,751 inhabitants, one 

 convicted Jew for every 

 3,008, one convicted 

 foreign Mohammedan 

 for every 3,538, and 

 one convicted native 

 for every 5,226. One 

 of the most important 

 questions in the perma- 

 nent organization of a 

 new order of things is 

 the regulation of real 

 estate. This subject had 

 been up to the present 

 time very much neg- 

 lected, as it presented 

 great difficulties. In the 

 greater part of the coun- 

 try the real estate is in 

 the hands of the tribes, 

 and a register does not 

 exist. The law of July 

 26, 1873, for the first 

 time attempted to bring 

 this property into such 

 order that a proper de- 

 velopment of the country could proceed. In 

 executing this law, however, it became ap- 

 parent that its author had not foreseen all 

 the possibilities that might arise. A special 

 commission was therefore appointed to regu- 

 late the real estate relations. In agricult- 



