The situation in Tunis is still strained. The French con-
tention is that France does not wish to annex Tunis, bat that she must and will punish the Kroamire, the raiding tribe, and compel the Bey to give guarantees against their disorders. The Bey, for his part, refuses to assist in chastising the Kromnirs, but declares that he has no quarrel with France, and that his troops shall fall back as the French advance. The diplomatists are endeavouring to arrange matters, but the French are irri- ated by the attitude of the Italians, they are assured that Prince Bismarck cares nothing about Tunis, and they are moved by the military persuasion that the frontier of Algeria is not safe. There is, moreover, it is obvious, something behind, though what it is, whether a plan for reducing the Boy to vassalage, or a secret agreement with the Porte, after the fashion adopted in Cyprus, or a desire to acquire some cheap glory just before the elections, is not clear. What is clear, is that the Italians are provoked almost beyond endurance, that the Italian Government is not prepared for war, and that the net result will be to alienate France and Italy most seriously. The part taken by the British Government in the affair is far from clear. Frenchmen will have it that they are thwarted by grasping Albion, while the Italians say that " perfidious. qk Albion" has deserted them.
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