when he understood the situation, we had his warmest sympathy. He could take us to a tavern where they sold capital pale ale, and was willing enough to act as guide and as taster too. So before we climbed the cliffs to a friend's quarters in the citadel, we had eaten and drunken to our heart's content. As

for the bitter ale, it tasted like that nectar of the gods which we had failed to find under the seats of some of those deities on Parnassus.

We forbear from glancing back at the greater horrors of Turkish and Spanish steamers-aggravated, moreover, by seeing the cooking going forward on the deck in hands that might have been grubbing all morning in the coal-bunkers. And we end our article with the brighter sketch of a merry noon-day dinner on a river steamer. Though the hour may have been unsuitable, according to our insular notions, we remember nothing pleasanter than the tables set out under the awnings on the deck of a boat on the Rhine or the Danube. Where there is no movement but what is agreeable; where there are no sounds of suffering from adjacent state - cabins; where everybody is happy, or appears so, and when most of the party are making holiday,-there is an air of light conviviality about the long-necked flasks that ought hardly to hurt the sensibilities of

the most thorough-paced total abstainer. Then the scenery that glides past as the boat shoots on surpasses the noblest landscapepaintings in the most princely dining-hall; while the decorations nature displays on the banks are worth any quantity of flowers and fruits adorning all the diners à la Russe. Castles and convents, vineyards, villages, and orchards, all pass before the eyes in turn; now we change the course to leave room for a lumbering raft; now we give the go-by to a string of deepladen lighters, dragging along in the wake of the panting steamtug; or we touch bank for a moment or two at some pier, or slacken speed for the shore-boat rocking on our wash, that has come off from a hamlet to land a passenger. So all the senses are soothed or agreeably excited simultaneously, and we feel in peace and charity with all the world; till even the strains of the brass band from amidships are floating on the air in sounds that seem seraphic. Had we stopped our ears to the charming of the oberkellner; had we churlishly turned our back on the company, the calves' cutlets, and the Rüdesheimer or the Vöslauer,— we could never have enjoyed the scenery half so much, while we should have regarded the bandsmen as unmitigated nuisances.

Ir a straight line were to be drawn from the frontiers of India on the east to the coast of North Africa on the west, it would pass through an unbroken series of Mohammedan countries, which have one and all of them at some time or another played an important part in the history of the world. A very large proportion of the States in question are dependencies of the Ottoman empire, which has generally been understood up to the present time to comprise within its limits, not only Arabia and Syria, but the Pashalics or Regencies of Egypt, Tripoli, and Tunis. From the banks of the Tigris to the now famous Hamír mountains on the frontiers of Algeria, numberless Moslem tribes acknowledge the civil and religious supremacy of the Caliphs at Stamboul, and consider their own immediate rulers, the Khedives, Beys, or Pachas, as velis, viceroys, or governors. This fealty paid to the Sultan of Turkey throughout Egypt, Tripoli, and Tunis (to say nothing of Asia Minor and Arabia) is no doubtful sentiment or political fiction; it is a living, actual, and unmistakable reality, and forms part of the common ideas as to civil duty entertained by every good Moslem throughout these three provinces.

The Regency of Tunis has, since 1830, formed the extreme western boundary of the Ottoman empire, and recent events which have occurred in connection with it have in a very marked manner attracted the attention of Europe to its history, its political status, and its ultimate fate. The Tunisian Beylic occupies nearly the centre. of the northern shores of Africa; and its sea coast, which extends

first eastward and then due south, forms an irregular line of nearly 500 miles. The country is inhabited from one hundred to two hundred and fifty miles inland, is watered by several large streams, and possesses a fertile soil, large unexplored mineral wealth, and a peaceful and industrious population. In the north is situated the great natural harbour of Bizerta, and the port of Goletta. Susa and Sfax are of considerable mercantile importance. The export trade of the country is for the most part confined to oil, esparto grass, wool, and cereals, and its imports consist chiefly of colonial produce and manufactured goods. There are about 30,000 European colonists in Tunis, of which 16,000 are Italians and 10,000 Maltese. I refrain from alluding even in the briefest manner to the annals of Tunis prior to its conquest by the Arabs. The history of Phoenician, Roman, and Byzantine Tunis is the history of Carthage. In the twenty-first year of the Hegira, Tunis was invaded. by the Arabs under Okba, and before a quarter of a century had elapsed it was completely occupied. by its conquerors. In 698 A.D. Hassan - ben - el Noman destroyed the Byzantine Carthage which had sprung up on the ruins of the Phoenician and Roman cities, and a victorious Moslem army reached the shores of the Atlantic, founding the provinces of Algeria and Morocco. We hear of one dynasty of rulers succeeding another down to the time when the great family of Beni Hafs obtained the supreme power in Tunis, and held it for just three hundred years. One of the most celebrated of this race, Mouley Muhamed, died in 1525, be

queathing his throne to his youngest son, Mouley Hassan. In order to render his own position unassailable, Mouley Hassan planned the massacre of his brothers. Two of them were assassinated, but the survivor, Reshid, contrived to escape. Taking refuge in the first instance with the celebrated Turkish corsair Kheir-ed-Din, he afterwards accompanied his protector to Constantinople. The Sultan, Soliman, readily agreed to espouse his cause, and undertake the conquest of Tunis on his behalf; but before the Turkish armament set sail in 1534, Reshid was thrown into a Turkish prison, from which he does not appear to have ever emerged. The plans of Kheir-ed-Din were attended with complete success; the gates of Tunis were thrown open to him, the imperial banner of the Caliphs was unfurled on the citadel, and the first act of the conquerors was to proclaim the overthrow of the dynasty of the Beni Hafs, and that henceforth obedience was to be paid exclusively to the veli or deputy of the Porte. It was thus that the Caliphs obtained political as well as religious supremacy in Tunis. In the course of a few days the gates of the holy city of Cairwán were opened to the Turkish viceroy, and the deposed Mouley Hassan fled to the Court of Charles V. The Emperor promised to assist him, and during the summer of 1535 appeared off Goletta-the Piræus of the Tunisian capitalwith a fleet of 400 sail and an army of about 30,000 men. The forces of Spain, Flanders, Portugal, Italy, and the Knights of St John, took part in this famous expedition. Complete success attended the operations of the invading army, Kheir-ed-Din was defeated, and Mouley Hassan was once more placed upon the throne of his fathers. On the 6th August 1535,

VOL. CXXX.-NO. DCCLXXXIX.

he signed a treaty by which he acknowledged himself to be a vassal of Spain, and bearing in many of its details a remarkable resemblance to the hardly less important convention which, on the 12th May 1881, rendered the Regency of Tunis a fief of the French Republic. The Turks, however, continued to offer the most strenuous resistance to

Mouley Hassan and his Spanish allies. In 1573, Sinan Pasha, the Turkish general, regained possession of the Regency, which was entirely evacuated by the Spaniards, and proceeded to reorganise the government of the country on behalf of the Sublime Porte. The supreme power was intrusted to a Pasha named by the Sultan, who was to be assisted by a Cadi (appointed in the same manner) and a divan or council. The public prayer was to mention only the "ruling Sultan of the Osmanlis," and in his name alone was all money current in Tunis to be coined. Up to within six weeks ago the doors of the Hall of Justice at the Bardo Palace were always thrown open at four o'clock, and the public invited by proclamation to pay homage to their most puissant suzerain the Emperor of Turkey, whose virtues were loudly set forth by a functionary appointed for the purpose. 1705, one Hossein ben Ali became Bey or Pacha of Tunis, and his descendants have remained in power ever since. The present Bey, Muhamed - es - Sadik, succeeded his brother in 1859.

In

These references to the past history of Tunis are necessary in order to estimate the gravity of the events which recently happened there. The author of Les Annales Tunisiennes' has compiled an elaborate record of the history of the Regency between the years 1525 and 1832. M. Rousseau was first interpreter of the French Consulate-General at

I

Tunis in 1860, and had access to the voluminous archives of that office. An examination of the results of his labours puts the question of the political status of Tunis during the period above referred to beyond the possibility of a doubt. Some such investigation is rendered necessary by the fact that M. Barthelmy Saint-Hilaire, in a circular of the 9th May 1881 (which was issued simultaneously with a "Livrejaune" on Tunisian affairs), declares that "France has always regarded Tunis as an independent country;" whereas Earl Granville, in his letter to Lord Lyons of the 17th June 1880, says that, "in the view of her Majesty's Government Tunis was a portion of the Ottoman empire." The history of Tunis as written by M. Rousseau, and a study of the various treaties entered into between that country and France, leave no doubt whatever either as to the legitimacy of the Sultan's claims to suzerainty, or as to the correctness of the facts contained in his appeal to the great Powers. M. Rousseau tells us of the constant arrival in Tunis of special envoys from the Porte; of the investiture of each succeeding Bey with the kaftan, or robe of honour sent from Stamboul; of frequent applications made to the Porte in matters concerning Tunis by the French ambassador at Constantinople; of decisions on several occasions pronounced by Turkish commissioners as to disputes between Tunis and Algiers; and of Austria, Venice, and Tuscany, negotiating conventions with Tunis through the good offices of the Sultan. The testimony afforded by the texts of the thirteen Franco-Tunisian treaties entered into between 1604 and 1830, is still more convincing. The Bey of Tunis is uniformly styled as the Viceroy, Dey, Captain-General, or Pacha of

the Odjak of Tunis; the treaties made by France with the Sublime Porte from the year 1535 are ratified and confirmed, and in several of the conventions it is stipulated that French vessels coming to Tunis shall only pay "the dues levied in other parts of the Ottoman empire." In 1830, a Tunisian force was sent to the aid of the Sultan; and even as late as 1854, the Bey of Tunis sent a contingent of 15,000 to join the Turkish army in the Crimea. There can therefore be no doubt as to the untenability of the position assumed by M. St. Hilaire, whose arguments involve a dilemma from which there is no escape. He says

Tunis is, and always has been, independent. Nobody disputes that she accepted the firman of 1871 ratifying her position as a dependency of the Sublime Porte. If she accepted those conditions as an independent state, they are equally binding on her, and must of necessity impugn the validity of any arrangement now made in defiance of them. These considerations are of little practical importance, as the dependency of Tunis on Turkey, politically speaking, is substantiated beyond the possibility of a doubt.

We now come to the consideration of the relations of Great Britain with Tunis. Between 1662 and 1826, fifteen conventions were entered into by the two countries. The conditions obtained were singularly favourable to English commerce; and we always appear to have been considered in the light of the most favoured nation. Article 24 of the Treaty of 1751 ran thus: "Que les sujets de Sa Majesté Britannique seront toujours traité par l'État de Tunis avec le plus haut degré d'égard, d'amitié, et d'honneur, parceque les Anglais, de toutes les autres

nations, sont les premiers et les meilleurs amis." During upwards of two centuries our forefathers jealously watched our position in Tunis as "the most favoured nation;" and M. Rousseau clearly points out that whenever France managed to obtain some exceptional privileges, England immediately demanded similar concessions for herself. Besides the treaties above alluded to, two other important conventions exist between Great Britain and Tunis. By that of 1863, English subjects acquired the right of holding real property in Tunis in their own name; while that of 1875 relates almost exclusively to commerce. In virtue of the one, British subjects have acquired much land in the Regency; while the other has not a little contributed to the development of international trade.

During a reign of twenty-two years, Muhamed-es-Sadik has honestly tried to insure to each European nation a just respect for rights acquired by treaty, and has always refused to allow one of his allies to profit by the loss of another. In 1869 the finances of the country were, with the consent and approval of England, France, and Italy, placed in the hands of an International Financial Commission, in which all three Powers were equally represented. A large portion of the revenues of the country have been conceded to the Commission in order to secure the punctual payment of the interest on the funded debt; but they are collected and administered in strict conformity with the treaty engagements existing between the Regency of Tunis and the Powers. Bey has invariably shown a disposition to favour in every way the introduction of foreign capital into his country; but he has always endeavoured, in the concessions he

The

has granted, to maintain his own independence. Ten years ago several English companies embarked in different enterprises in Tunis. Of these one still exists, while a second has ceded its rights to the Italian Rubattino Company.

One of the most inportant events of the reign of Muhamed-es-Sadik Bey was the reception of a firman from the Sultan in 1871. Although the Bey had been formally invested on his accession to the throne twelve years before, he felt that time had somewhat weakened the tie which bound him as a vassal to the Caliph, and was anxious to place the position of Tunis towards the Ottoman empire beyond the possibility of dispute or cavil. In 1863 M. Drouyn de Lhuys had informed a French banker who was about to contract for a Tunisian loan, that the consent of the Porte was necessary to "legitimise" the transaction; but subsequent events had induced France to call in question the rights of the Sultan as suzerain of Tunis. So strongly did France oppose the reception of the confirmatory firman, that she threatened to prevent the landing of the Turkish commissioner. The firman, however, was brought in state to Tunis, and proclaimed with public festivities and rejoicings. It declared that the Regency of Tunis should form, as heretofore, an integral part of the Ottoman empire; that although the Bey might make commercial treaties with foreign Powers, he was entirely debarred from entering into political conventions with them, or ceding to them any part of Tunisian territory; and that the forfeiture of the right of hereditary succession should follow any violation of the essential conditions of the imperial khat. the 8th November 1871, the 'Times' commences an article on the subject of Tunis with these words:

On