which, M. Roustan says, he procured Burguet a present of 30,000 francs. Poor Taib’s dream of power was somewhat disturbed, when Madame Musalli and her brother appeared on the scene, bringing a framed portrait of M. Roustan as a guarantee of fair play, and asked for his signature to a bond for a large amount, to place his speedy elevation to the throne beyond the possibility of a doubt. On the 12th May, Taib Bey was ready to come to the Bardo under a French escort and accept everything that could be demanded of him within an hour of his proclamation. During the whole of that eventful afternoon, Taib Bey sat in a gilt coach before his palace door, waiting for the detachment of troops which was to conduct him to his new friends. Darkness came on and they never arrived. An hour after a short note informed Doctor Burguet that Taib Bey was no longer wanted. M. Roustan was entirely mistaken in his man; Taib amongst his hot-houses, orange groves, and vegetables was a very harmless individual, but Taib Bey, with the _idée fixe_ of ascending the Hassanite throne, and smarting under the blow of a wholly unexpected disappointment, became a formidable enemy. From that moment some of the bitterest opponents of the Minister Resident were to be found within his own camp, and the result has been disastrous to both parties. M. Roustan has lost his satrapy at Tunis, and poor Taib Bey, it is true, is at the Bardo—but half walled up in a prison.[41] In the early morning of the 12th May, the troops of General Bréart, followed by those of General Maurand, were seen crossing the low hills which skirted the further extremity of the Manouba plain, and their approach could even be perceived from the “Abode of Felicity” itself. Before eight o’clock the interpreter Sumaripa was already at the palace. He brought a letter from M. Roustan saying that the President of the Republic had appointed General Bréart to negotiate a treaty with the Bey, and requesting that an audience be granted him forthwith. He also asked that the General be allowed to bring with him some of the French troops from Jedeida. The Bey ordered a reply to be prepared expressing his _gratification_ to see General Bréart, but declining energetically an interview with the troops. Before the letter was ready, the outposts of the French force reached the villas and gardens of Manouba, hardly more than a mile from the palace. Two hours later the main body of the troops with a battery of artillery arrived, and amidst a drenching downpour of rain occupied the Bey’s cavalry barracks and the old dwelling-house of Kheir-ed-Din, the latter by especial permission of the _Société Marseillaise_, under the care of whose agents it had been cleaned a few days previously.