“An examination, however, of historical facts abundantly proves that the advance on Tunis is nothing more nor less than an incident in one long- continued and traditional policy of Chauvinistic aggression. Before the dawn of the present century, Citizen Devoize played very effectively at Tunis the rôle of the Roustan of to-day, and let it be noted that M. Devoize’s proceedings were speedily followed by the invasion of Malta, Syria, and Egypt by the French troops. ‘La mission de civilisation’ is no new phrase; it is as old as the time of the First Napoleon. Let us pursue our inquiry into the traditional politics of France. In 1795, M. Devoize, under the veil of coral-fishing, did his best to enable France to annex the Regency, and even then the pretext was an old one, for a quarter of a century before, her consul had endeavoured to purchase Tabarca _and Bizerta_ for the same purpose. France has always coveted Tunis as the political and strategic key of her vast plans for the foundation of a French Carthage. “Hence Bonaparte’s expedition; hence the revolt of Mehemet Ali, the emissary of France in Egypt, Syria, and South Arabia. Did not France encourage Abdul Jelil to excite a rising in Tripoli? The most eloquent testimony as to the ultimate aims of France on the whole African littoral is afforded by the reports of the British Political Agents at Tunis and Tripoli for the past twenty years; but they appear to have been written only to be treated as a sealed book. The famous letter of M. Sabattier (then Consul-General for France in Egypt) addressed to the Parisian paper _L’Union_ should just now be consulted. Lord Salisbury should have remembered at Berlin that the day after the Treaty of Paris Lord Palmerston, Mr. Gladstone, Lord Russell, Mr. Disraeli, and Lord Stratford de Redcliffe all said that _now_ the possibility of a further French advance on Tunis was removed for ever. This opinion was also communicated by England to H.E. Nusret Pasha, Ottoman Commissioner to Tunis, then in Paris, and appeared in all the French newspapers of that date. The memoirs of Captain Carette (_vide_ ‘Bulletin de la Société de la Géographie,” 4ième série, vol. ii. No. 21, 1852), as quoted by M. de la Roquette, affirm that ‘the possession of Tunis would give France _political frontiers_, and enable her to annex a great Oriental empire, at the same time guaranteeing to her supremacy both in Europe and in the Mediterranean, and assuring her a monopoly of African trade.’ Strange to say, the letter of the ill-fated Colonel Flatters, of the 29th January 1881 (reproduced in the St. Petersburg papers two months later), contains the same ideas. This document speaks of positive instructions from the Minister, M. Freycinet, ‘_to form a French party_ at Mourzouk (Fezzan) amongst the Touaregs,’ and adding, ‘_it is absolutely necessary to go to the Soudan_.’