On the 20th of April the Chargé d’Affaires addressed us the letter, a copy of which is now subjoined. This letter relates to a demand we can never accept, as you will see from our answer to the same. You cannot ignore the fact that if the French soldiers enter on Tunisian territory, however large or small may be their number, a danger of very great gravity has been pointed out to you. We have organised and despatched an expedition for the settlement of the dispute; order and tranquillity reign up to this moment throughout the country—a fact which you can yourselves attest—but, if the French troops enter our territory, it is impossible for us to guard against the immense dangers which may result from such an invasion. We are, therefore, compelled to repudiate all responsibility for the consequences of such an event, and to throw it entirely on him who is the cause of it. We inform you of this for the protection of all interests involved, and beg you to acquaint your Government telegraphically of our declaration, which we trust, in its wisdom and equity, will lead it to admit the legality of the motives for the attitude we have assumed, and to bring to the examination of our difficulty the spirit of impartiality with which we know it to be endowed. CHAPTER XVI. AN INTERVIEW WITH THE BEY. The Bardo Palace, or official abode of the Beys of Tunis, is in reality a walled town, surrounded by a ditch, about two miles from the gates of Tunis. It has evidently existed ever since the time of the Spaniards, for the name is clearly a corruption of the Spanish Pardo—a royal domain just outside Madrid. The Bardo contains a bazaar, a mosque, and a Turkish bath, the three outward and visible signs of all Tunisian cities, both great and small, besides a hall of justice, two audience- chambers, a quadrangle usually known as the Court of Lions, the public offices, a series of dungeons for political offenders, and an enormous _seraglio_, behind the latticed windows of which European gaze has never penetrated. No Bey of Tunis has ever been known to inhabit the palace of his predecessor, and each occupant of the throne has generally built a pleasant place for his residence according to his own devices. Ahmed Bey lived far away in the Zaghouán plain, while his successor preferred to enjoy the cool breezes of the Mediterranean amongst the palm groves and vineyards of the Marsa under the shade of the Carthage hills. For several years Muhamed es Sadek “avoided the evil eye,” by transferring his court to the half-ruinous Bardo enclosure, in which some of his ministers now built convenient dwelling-houses. One of them, Sy Ismael Sunni, purchased a plot of ground in the smiling Manouba plain just outside the Bardo _fosse_, and erected a four-storied mansion after the fashion of an Italian barrack or English workhouse, which he called inappropriately enough the Kasr-es-Said, or the “abode of felicity.” Sy