officers and French civilians now in Tunis, and I recollect that the first time I was alone with poor Le Faure he said to me, ‘Our impresions are the same. We must make revelations when we return to Paris; I shall not mince matters, and mean to speak out.’ You all know why he can no longer speak to you. I am here alone to reveal the facts and explain the details of the Tunisian Question. I am forced to throw light on M. Roustan’s position, as it presented itself to me. This is the first circumstance which struck me painfully: I expected to come to a place where Frenchmen and Italians were at variance, and to find M. Roustan surrounded by the French colony. I was surprised to observe that M. Roustan saw very few French people, and was exclusively surrounded by Levantines, or Orientalised Italians who had become Levantines. I can name the whole _entourage_ of M. Roustan: General Musalli, Volterra, an Italian Jew, and Forti, a naturalised Frenchman. There is not a true Frenchman amongst them. We endeavoured to unravel the mystery, and this is the solution. M. Roustan is wholly under the domination of the Elias Musalli family, and his carriage is before their house for hours every day. Every one at Tunis knows that persons in need of French official support must address themselves to that house. Let me explain the character of M. Roustan’s habitual intermediaries. The first is General Musalli; he may be a General of interpreters, but he has nothing military about him. A decoration he wears alone gives him this title. Elias Musalli is a simple dragoman. He was a servant for ten years in the house of Sidi Mustapha Khaznadar, who married him to the Signora Traverso. General Elias did not by any means commence his career under M. Roustan. He was in favour with many persons, and especially with Kheir-ed-Din. He was dismissed from the Bey’s service by the Khaznadar himself on account of some accidents of a very Tunisian character (laughter), the most known of which was an abnormal manner of performing a commission involving the negotiation of some Tunisian bonds at Paris. There is also a story of a donation to a charitable fête. The Bey sent a certain contribution, but only half of it found its way into the _tronc_. Be this as it may, Elias Musalli was disgraced, and Kheir-ed- Din would never reinstate him. Reduced to a pension of £150 per annum, he was miserably poor, when he got into the good graces of M. Roustan. Then a magnificent plot of ground was granted him to build a new palace, but Kheir-ed-Din still declined to re-employ him, saying that he would have nothing to do with a thief. Kheir-ed-Din compromised himself, by giving to France the concession for the line from Bone to Tunis. All the foreign consuls leagued themselves against him. He still refused to take back Elias. The French representative deserted him, and he fell. The rest we all know. This is the history of Elias Musalli, but there is a