An example of a successful retention of native forms of government is to be seen in the adjoining country of Tunis, which under the ægis of a Turkish prince is governed despotically, ably, wisely, and well by a single Frenchman. Tunis, which, like Algeria and Tripoli, had since the close of the 16th century been more or less a Turkish dependency—that is to say, a country governed at first by Turkish officers, who finally became quasi-independent rulers, with a recognized hereditary descent—soon began to feel the results of the conquest of Algeria in an increase of interest felt by the French regarding its condition. At first the relations between France and Tunis were flattering to the latter country. The relatively enlightened character of the Husseinite Beys[126] was recognized, and when France was in difficulties with Abd al Kader and the Bey of Constantine, proposals were even made to Tunis to supply from its ruling family two or three princes who should be made Beys of Constantine and Oran under French protection; but the idea was not carried out. In 1863 the Bey of Tunis went in state to visit the Emperor Napoleon at Algiers. Nevertheless, during the ’50’s and ’60’s Great Britain firmly maintained the independence of Tunis, at whose court she was represented for many years by a sage diplomatist, Sir Richard Wood. The disenchantment which Algeria caused in the early sixties diminished the interest which France felt in Tunis; and during this time, under the fostering care of Sir Richard Wood, British enterprise had acquired so large a hold over the Regency, that at the beginning of the seventies it would have been reasonable to have extended British protection to the Bey. But another factor had come into play—the newly-formed Power of United Italy. The finances of Tunis had from the time of the Crimean War onwards got into a disarray resembling in a minor degree the condition of Egypt under Ismail. Not only was the Bey extravagant, but still worse, his ministers, mostly of servile origin, robbed the country shamelessly, and loans were obtained over and over again merely to swell their ill-gotten gains. At last the Powers had to intervene, and in 1869 the finances of Tunis were brought under the control of a tripartite commission with representatives of England, France, and Italy. During the early ’70’s, however, British commercial interest waned, and the enterprise of France increased, with the result that France obtained permission to erect telegraphs, and took over an important railway concession which had been accepted and then abandoned by a British firm. It was becoming obvious that the native government of Tunis could not continue much longer without a definite European protector. Whatever right England