It is possible that England will be involved in this
Tunis scandal. The " Compagnie Marseillaise," a financing company, bought Khaireddin Pasha's estate, the Enfida—" bigger than Middlesex "—for £100,000. Thereupon, M. Levy, a Maltese Jew, acting as agent for another knot of speculators, claimed the property at that price, alleging, what is, we believe, true, that by Mahommedan law, a next-door neighbour has always a right of pre-emption at the price offered. M. Levy was placed by the Government in possession. The Compagnie Marseillaise never, however, yielded its claim ; it convinced M. Roustan, and M. Levy was on Thursday dispossessed by armed force. It is quite conceivable that the Maltese is in the wrong, and quite certain that • the French Government desires no injury to British subjects, but still the incident is most unpleasant. It will not only force Lord Granville to write a polite despatch, sure to hurt somebody, but it reveals the impossibility of tolerating the existing state of affairs in Tunis. Mussulmau injustice is there aggravated by French efficiency and logic. Under the native regime, the litigants would have used bribes ; under the present one, they use bayonets.
