The position of the Bey of Tunis as regards independence
is we believe, this. For more than 150 years he has been elected by the priests and people of Tunis, but the election must be confirmed by the Khalif, who, moreover, claims a right to remove. the Bey, and to demand from him troops. This claim was ad- mitted by the Bey while Khaireddin Pasha was his Vizier, but it has never been acted on, and the Firman of 1869, defining this position, has never been admitted by France. Practically, we imagine, the Bey is a subject of Constantinople when it suits him, and it suits him whenever he is threatened. It is not pro- bable that the Porte cares seriously about Tunis, but the Sultan cares seriously about his Khalifate; and if Europe interferes with France at all, which is doubtful, as Prince Bismarck approves any misdirection of French energies, it is upon this ill- defined suzerainty that it will base its claim.
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