The population of the city of Tunis does not at present much exceed 130,000 persons, which are distributed as follows, viz.:—Moors, 60,000; Jews, 36,000; Europeans, 20,000; and miscellaneous native races, including 2000 Algerians, 14,000. The European colony in the capital consists of 10,000 Italians, 8000 Maltese and English, together with 2000 French. The story of the dealings of the rulers of Tunis with the governments of the European colonists forms the most important part of the annals of the Regency. Some but not many of the Europeans now living in Tunis are the descendants of Christian slaves. Up to the month of May 1816, the great nations of Europe were compelled to repurchase those of their citizens who had the misfortune to become prisoners of the cruisers of the Beys of Tunis on the high seas. A large mass of correspondence still exists in the British Consulate General on the subject of these humiliating bargains, which were generally arranged by the fathers of the Roman Catholic Mission. St. Vincent de Paul was himself a prisoner in Tunis. The ransoms demanded generally varied from 500 to 1000 francs. A priest who visited the Regency on an errand of this kind in 1700 has left a most interesting account of his travels in a series of letters addressed to his Superior.[11] The writer describes the thirteen _bagni_ or prisons in which the slaves resided. He seems to have been pelted with stones and soundly beaten when passing through the streets, and tells us that the son of the French Consul was disabled by the blow of a Turk. After much negotiation four slaves were purchased, and the priest was requested to perform mass before the Bey, who kept all the necessary vessels in a chest in his room. At the end of the eighteenth century there were still a large number of Christian slaves at Tunis, but M. Chateaubriand declares they were generally treated with kindness. The ransom for sailors was then fixed at 230 Venetian sequins, but 460 were asked for captains and women of all ages. In 1842, at the instance of the British Consul-General, Colonel Sir Thomas Reade, Ahmed Bey declared that the children born of slaves should henceforth be considered free. A little later he enfranchised all his own slaves, and his example was very generally followed throughout the country. Finally slavery was formally abolished, and the market, on the site of the modern jewellery bazaar, closed for ever. There is still a large number of eunuchs and other negro servants in Tunis, but these enjoy at least nominal freedom. From time to time a solitary negro takes refuge in the British Consulate General, but a certificate of freedom is always granted as soon as it is asked for. No Mussulman potentate has so earnestly and so honestly endeavoured to carry out his obligations with Europe in the matter of slavery as the Bey of Tunis and his predecessor. CHAPTER III. NINE CENTURIES OF POWER, A.D. 648-A.D. 1535.