During the spring of 1845 the Duc de Montpensier visited Tunis, and was received by the Bey with marked respect and attention. In the month of December the Bey received the Grand Cordon of the Legion of Honour. The relations of France with the Tunisian government now became ostensibly of the most friendly nature, but Sidi Ahmed never ceased to ask for the aid of England in maintaining his _status quo_ as regards the Porte. Almost at the end of the autumn of 1846 the Bey suddenly resolved to pay a visit to France and England. The latter portion of his programme was subsequently abandoned on difficulties arising as to his reception in the character of an independent sovereign. In the following year the British Government sent the Bey a present consisting of a carriage, harness, and seven Axminster carpets, one of which still decorates the smaller audience-chamber of the Bardo Palace. Although our gifts could not advantageously be compared with the more magnificent offerings of the French, Sir Thomas Reade was determined not to allow any slight to be offered to British prestige in the Regency. On the 1st June 1847 he wrote the following characteristic despatch to Lord Palmerston: “MY LORD,—On the 1st May last the vessels belonging to this Regency having fired a royal salute in honour of the King of the French, I thought it my duty to require that an equal mark of respect should be shown to our most Gracious Sovereign on the 24th ult., being the anniversary of H.M.’s birthday, which was accordingly done. This is the first year that such a practice has been established, and the 30th being St. Ferdinand, the Consul-General of Naples advanced the same demand on behalf of his sovereign, but no salute having been fired, the Consul, I understand, has addressed a report to his Government on the circumstance.” The French representative now redoubled his efforts to induce the Bey to break beyond hope of reconciliation with the Porte; and England, through her ambassador at Stamboul, quite as actively endeavoured to impress upon the Porte the necessity of maintaining the ancient ties of friendship with Tunis. Sir Thomas Reade was fully alive to the importance of the political intrigue then being actively prosecuted, and did not fail to impress his views on the attention of Lord Palmerston. On the 4th August 1847 he thus addressed the Foreign Office:— “The Sultan should understand that the best means of destroying the effects of French policy with regard to Tunis, is that of encouraging and promoting a stricter connection with the Government of his vassal. This, my Lord, I venture to submit, is the only practical remedy against foreign intrigues in this country; and should the Bey see a frank and open policy observed towards him by the Porte, what reason can he possibly have to trust a dangerous neighbour more than a generous and far-placed master?”