The night of the 11th May was spent in anxious watchfulness by the inmates of Kasr es Said. A council of state sat for hours, the Bey’s carriages being kept in readiness till its session was ended. It was first proposed that Muhamed es Sadek should follow the example of many of his ancestors and find a temporary refuge in Holy Kairwán. The Bey, however, had neither the moral courage nor the _physique_ necessary for such a bold step as this, and the project was dismissed. Mustapha Ben Ismael urged his sovereign to go that very night to the Dar-el-Bey or city palace in Tunis, and close all the town gates, leaving it to the French to have recourse to actual violence. The more timid counsellors opposed the plan as likely to cause a tumult, and it was also abandoned. It was finally decided that the Bey must remain where he was and trust to _kismet_ for a solution of his difficulties. On the eventful evening in question I paid a visit to Hammida Ben Khoja, the _Sheikh-el-Islam_ or supreme ecclesiastical authority in Tunis, who lived in the very centre of the Arab city. Sy Hammida was at the same time one of the handsomest and fattest old men I ever saw, indeed he appeared to have arrived at such a pitch of rotundity that he was unable to stand without overbalancing himself. In a huge turban consisting of a twisted Cashmere shawl, seated on a Kairwán carpet, and surrounded by illuminated Korans on arabesque lecterns and a circle of white-robed _ulema_ or disciples, Sy Hammida Ben Khoja presented just such a picture as Hodgson would delight to paint. As might be expected, Sy Hammida was full of the woes of his country and his faith, and at once proceeded to discuss the _quæstio vexata_ in classic Arabic. He said that since the troubles began, his son, brothers, and himself had preached assiduously, both publicly and privately, patience, forbearance, non-resistance, and implicit obedience to the Bey in the mosques of Tunis. They had written letters to the same effect to their subordinates at Kairwán and throughout the Regency. Nevertheless, he had heard that it had been announced in Europe that a religious war had been advocated, and that a revolutionary conspiracy had been discovered in the chief mosque of Tunis. This was absolutely false. He had told the people that they, being weak, could not resist the invaders. If they wanted the sympathy of Europe they must gain it by forbearance. Even if their flocks and herds, which were the sole wealth of the Tunisians, were destroyed, this patience would ultimately entitle them to the good offices of the friendly nations when the injustice of the invasion became known, as it ultimately must. Europe must now see that the punishment of the Khamírs really meant at least a French protectorate of Tunis, which was utterly opposed to the civil and religious duties of the Tunisian people. The invasion of the Regency was unnecessary, for the Khamírs submitted