entered the passage at full speed and was lost in the darkness. It would have been sheer madness for the “Invincible” to follow, and she returned during the night to her anchorage at Goletta. General Kheir-ed-Din did not only take with him to Constantinople a simple letter of thanks. He received a memorandum containing certain instructions which were to form the basis of a firman defining the Turkish supremacy over Tunis. While Muhamed es Sadek was awaiting with fear and trembling the result of his mission, he was agreeably surprised by the recall of M. De Beauval. The French could never forgive him the failure of his burlesque attempt to capture the Tunisian Envoy- Extraordinary on the high seas, and he was summarily replaced by M. De Bellecourt. At the beginning of the year 1865 the Bey learned that General Kheir-ed- Din’s mission had been completely successful. The conditions which were to govern their future regulations were agreed on, and were embodied in a confidential vizirial letter, which contained a distinct assurance that upon the Bey’s application a regular firman would, be granted.[33] It was, however, decided that the whole matter should be for the present kept a profound secret. Prince Arthur of England arrived at Tunis during the spring, and was, as usual, most hospitably entertained, and in the month of May Earl Russell decided to confer on Muhamed es Sadek the Grand Cross of the Bath. This fact, coupled with the moral support he had doubtless received from England during the campaign of M. De Beauval, made a deep impression upon his mind. “Whenever my people see my breast covered with the ribbon of the Bath,” he said to Mr. Wood, “they will appreciate and understand the fresh protection they have thereby acquired, and to whom they must turn for succour and counsel in their moments of perplexity and embarrassment.”