“The firman thus granted is as liberal as it could be consistently with the sovereign rights of the Sultan, and does not much modify the _status quo_ existing in Tunis. The integral administration of the province remains as heretofore, independent, the Government having full power to appoint and dismiss public officers of all ranks and description. He is, moreover, authorised to coin money in the name of the Sultan, and to continue to entertain direct relations with Foreign Powers, but, of course, he cannot treat with such Powers on political matters, make peace or war, dispose of the territory, or do any other act appertaining exclusively to the Sultan. In consideration of the poverty of the country, His Imperial Majesty has been further pleased to dispense with the payment by its inhabitants of all tribute. The firman concludes by reminding His Highness Mahommed Sadyk Pasha that the maintenance of the privilege of the hereditary tenure of the Government of Tunis is essentially conditional on the observance of the Sultan’s rights over the Province, and the good government of its inhabitants.” M. _Draft of a Concession for a Crédit Foncier presented to the Bey of Tunis for signature by M. Léon Renaud, Deputy, in December 1880_:— “It being our desire to ensure to our subjects the advantages of the institution of a bank, to which all persons may have recourse in years of scarcity, as well as to diminish as much as possible the sacrifices to which the possessors of land are exposed by being obliged to contract loans on their property at an exorbitant rate of interest, we have considered it desirable to accord a permission to establish a bank, for the purpose of making cash advances on real estate, and, to which the proprietors of such may address themselves to improve their lands, and to sow, plant, and irrigate them. In consequence we have decreed as follows:— 1st. We authorise M—— to found at Tunis a bank with the above-mentioned object. He is empowered to open branches of the said bank in all parts of the Regency, when he shall deem it expedient. The establishment in Tunis shall begin its operations, at the latest within a year of the date of the present decree, and shall bear the title of the _Banque de Crédit Foncier et Agricole_. 2d. The operations of the said bank are the following:— _a._ To lend money on the mortgage of real property and title-deeds. The latter will be restored on annual payments being made at long or short dates, and simultaneously with the repayment of the capital by instalments. _b._ To advance funds on obligations to towns, villages, _tribes of the interior_, companies, and others, which shall have the power of contracting loans in virtue of a legal and formal authorisation, in accordance with the dispositions of the religious law. _c._ To open accounts current on mortgage. _d._ To make advances on crops.