the case
of the old days of slavery revived under a new form, when the renegade
was received with open arms, and the man who remained steadfast was
seldom released from slavery. Of course, in these days there is
nothing approaching such treatment, and it is only the natives who
suffer to any extent.

These are despised, if not hated, and despise and hate in return. The
conquerors have repeated in Algeria the old mistake which has brought
about such dire results in other lands, of always retaining the
position of conquerors, and never unbending to the conquered, or
encouraging friendship with them. This attitude nullifies whatever
good may result from the mixed schools in which Muslim, Jew, and
European are brought in contact, in the hope of turning out a sort of
social amalgam. Most of the French settlers are too conceited and too
ignorant to learn Arabic, though this is by no means the fault of the
Government, which provides free public classes for instruction in that
language in the chief towns of Algeria and Tunisia. The result is
that the natives who meet most with foreigners have, without the most
ordinary facilities enjoyed by the Europeans, to pick up a jargon
which often does much more credit to them than the usual light
acquaintance of the foreigner with Arabic does to him. Those who make
any pretence at it, usually speak it with an accent, a pronunciation
and a nonchalance which show that they have taken no pains whatever to
acquire it. Evidently it pays better to spend money educating natives
in French than Frenchmen in Arabic. It is an amusing fact that most of
the teachers have produced their own text-books, few of which possess
special merit.

As a colony Algeria has proved a failure. Foreign settlers hold most
of the desirable land, and till it with native labour. The native may
have safety and justice now, but he has suffered terribly in the past,
as the reports of the Bureau Arabe, established for his protection,
abundantly prove, and bitterly he resents his fate. No love is lost
between French and natives in Tunisia, but there is actual hatred in
Algeria, fostered by the foreigner far more than by the smouldering
bigotry of Islam. They do not seem to intermingle even as oil and
water, but to follow each a separate, independent course.

Among the foreign colonists it is a noteworthy fact that the most
successful are not the French, who want too much comfort, but almost
any of the nationalities sett