Such patent tergiversation as this was enough to hopelessly ruin a much better case than M. Roustan’s. In the first place, “the General” had been out of office for four years when M. Roustan’s patronage began to retrieve his lost position. He had already sold his palace, and paid out with difficulty an execution for a petty debt on his furniture, when, at M. Roustan’s urgent and reiterated request, he was re-employed as a second interpreter at the Bardo, and rose to a higher post after the Sancy ultimatum in 1879. Since then fortune has shone in a remarkable manner on General Elias, and if M. Roustan “made no proposal in his favour,” it is very strange that the Bey, who notoriously hated him, never seemed tired of forcing costly presents upon him. M. Roustan should have passed over M. De Billing’s _on-dits_ in silence, but his explanation carried its own condemnation. Pecuniary _pots de vin_, like water poured on sand, leave no trace, but when they take the shape of landed property they are difficult to be concealed, especially when they are subsequently turned into cash. The following is a correct list of the real estate known to have been conveyed to the Musallis by the Tunisian Government since 1875. It affords a good illustration of the manner the _pagoda_ tree has been shaken in this country, and shows that M. Roustan’s “constant want of Musalli’s services” was eminently beneficial to that much-abused individual. _Properties granted to the Musallis as a mark of the pure and disinterested sympathy of the Bey of Tunis._ 1. Three estates known as Elreynin, Elzriga, and Harruri, in the district of the Dehlet Elmanin, and subsequently sold to General Hamida Ben Ayad for 200,000 piastres. 2. The domain of the Emghira at Mahemdia. 3. The _enschir_ Eldaeb at Hammam el Lif. 4. Four houses in Goletta at a nominal ground-rent of £30, and now rented to the French military authorities at 10,000 francs per annum. 5. Eight thousand metres of land on the Marina at a rent of fourpence a metre, and resold at prices varying from 10 to 18 francs a metre. 6. Another 3000 metres obtained from the Bey as a second donation. 7. One third of the _enschir_ Elzin, in partnership with Dr. Mascaro and the Master of the Mint.