and gambling, two vices of which the Americans were ignorant in the time of the founders of their great federation, have taken very deep root.  The decrease of the inflexible spirit of religion, and the increase of vice and luxury, gnaw the powerful tree, and are fearful enemies, which cannot be resisted by a structure that might resist with scorn all foreign foes, and would have played a mighty part in the world’s history had the spirit of Washington and Franklin remained with it.  The annexation of Texas, the war with Mexico, and now the gold of California, have transformed the United States.  A people which makes conquests, loses inward power in proportion to the aggrandizement of its volume, and the increase of its external enemies.”

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An Arabian newspaper, with the title Mobacher. has lately been commenced in Algiers, at the expense of the French Government.  It is edited in the cabinet of the Governor-General, issued weekly, and lithographed, as less expensive than printing, which in Arabic types would be quite costly.  It contains political news from Europe and Africa, the latest advices from Constantinople, all those laws and decrees of the Government which in any way concern the Arabs, and descriptions of such new discoveries and inventions as can be made intelligible to the readers for whom it is designed.  A thousand copies are printed weekly and sent to the chiefs and headmen of all the tribes that are under French rule or influence.  At first it was not read much, but now the vanity of the Arabs has been excited by it as a mark of special attention from the Governor-General, so that they take it as an honor, and a degree of curiosity has been excited to obtain news from other parts of the world.

Within a short time, also, an additional importance has been given to the paper by the publication in it of the amount of the tribute which each tribe is required to pay to France.  Formerly this was known only to the chiefs who would accordingly exact from their people whatever amount they deemed best, under the pretense that it was for the government, while the greater part was retained by themselves.  These tribes have profited greatly by the French conquest; it is estimated that of the eighty millions of francs which the army in Algeria costs yearly, from twenty to twenty-five millions remain in the hands of the Arabs.  The Arab sells his corn, dates, horses, sheep, the baskets he weaves, &c., to the European population, but never buys anything from them in turn, except it be arms and powder.  The rest of his money he carries home and buries where no one knows but himself, so that, if he dies suddenly, it is lost.  Only the chiefs of the tribe know how to extort anything of these hidden sums.  According to the most moderate estimates the tribes must have from two to three hundred millions of French money.  The gains which the chiefs draw from this wealth is considerable; some