CHAPTER VII. THE DOMINATION OF THE DEYS (A.D. 1590-1705). Of the thirty Deys, who ruled on an average a little more than three years each during the seventeenth century, a majority were deposed, while others suffered a violent and, in many cases, a horrible death at the hands of their subjects. The history of this period of external piracy and internal bloodshed has very little interest, if it were not for the fact that, in spite of their constant challenges to Christendom abroad and their ceaseless dissensions at home, the Tunisian corsairs practically held all Europe at bay, and lived and throve on the blackmail which they levied almost with impunity on every power having commerce with the shores of the Mediterranean. The presents which took the place of tribute have really only disappeared with the last generation, and men still living can remember the time when consuls- general and political agents were obliged to creep into the Beylical presence under a wooden bar! I do not intend to attempt to sketch even in the briefest manner the chronicles of the Deys of Tunis, but shall only mention some few facts connected with their rule, which either refer directly to England, or tend to throw some light on the more recent history of the country. In 1605 M. de Brèves arrived in Tunis, _accompanied by an ambassador of the Grand Signor_, in order to conclude a fresh treaty with France. During his stay at Tunis Hammamet was taken and lost by the Knights of St. John, and its keys hang to this day in one of the chapels of the cathedral at Malta. In 1640 the fleet of the Order, under the Prince Landgrave d’Osia, burned several Tunisian vessels before Goletta, an exploit which forms the subject of one of the frescoes in the palace of the Grand Masters at Valetta. Three years later the Tunisian squadron was sent to assist the Turks at the siege of Candia. Ten years after this the Capuchin Mission was established at Tunis under the auspices and protection of France. Some years previously the Deys had granted to England the burial-ground of St. George, then just outside the Carthage gate, but now in the heart of the city. The original deed of gift is lost, and our first known treaty with Tunis is dated October 1662, in which it is not even mentioned. Some of the tombs recently discovered in this cemetery have considerable interest (see Appendix C). The treaty of 1662 (see Appendix D), which was granted to England at a time when France was threatening to attack the Regency, seems to have restrained very little the piratical depredations of our new allies, for three years afterwards Admiral Black bombarded Porto- Farina “and emptied the _bagnè_ of all the English and Dutch slaves.” The French burned the Algerian fleet in the Goletta roads, and succeeded in concluding a more favourable treaty with the Bey later in the year, and a second convention in 1672. During the reign of Muhamed Tabak, in