In July 1879, the Bey took a bold step in direct opposition to M. Roustan’s views. In spite of the various difficulties he had to encounter, he established a Council of State, and announced that from henceforth he should submit all matters of importance for its consideration. As nearly all the members of the council have taken a more or less prominent part in the events which preceded the Kasr-es- Said Treaty, I think it best to mention their names. Muhamed es Sadek’s last Cabinet was composed as follows, viz.: President—Sy Mustapha Ben Ismael. Ordinary members—Sy Muhamed Khaznadar, ex-Prime Minister; General Sy Hussein, Minister of the Interior; General Sy Selim, Minister of War; General Sy Ahmed Zerouck, Minister of Marine; Sy El Aziz, the Bey’s Secretary; General Sy Muhamed Baccouch, Director of the Foreign Office; Sy Mustapha Raduan, Secretary of the Financial Commission; Sheikh Bokhris, Under-Secretary to the Bey; General Sy Mourabet, Governor of Kairwán; General Sy Arbi Zerouck, President of the Municipal Council; and Sheikh Muhamed Beïram, Administrator of the Oukf or Charitable Trusts. The necessity of discussing all proposals made in the council afforded the Bey an excellent excuse when either M. Roustan or Signor Maccio urged him to take some imprudent step; but in August the Prime Minister was induced to obtain a concession for a state _Monte de Pieté_, which put into the hands of a French subject the virtual monopoly of pawnbroking operations in the Regency. The Italian Consul- General protested, and the scheme, although since confirmed, has never yet been carried into effect. In September Mr. Thomas Fellowes Reade arrived in Tunis, after thirty years’ distinguished service in the consular department, to succeed Sir Richard Wood as the British political agent. Born in the Abdellia Palace at the Tunisian watering-place of the Marsa fifty years before, Mr. Reade’s appointment was naturally popular with all classes of the Arabs, and especially so with the Bey. His dream in life had always been to return to Tunis, and there gain the same power and good name as his father possessed before him; inheriting the political creed and strong sympathies of Sir Thomas Reade, he hoped to maintain and increase the English influence already fostered by Sir Richard Wood. Mr. Reade, however, only came to see the end alike of Tunisian independence and British prestige, but while keenly sharing the sorrow of the Tunisians themselves, he has faithfully obeyed the orders of his superiors.