The French have occupied Biserta, and thus assumed control of
the whole Tunisian coast from Bona to the M.edierdah. The Bay protests, but lie does not fight, and the Sultan has with- drawn all but formal opposition. The Tunisian populace is somewhat cowed by the French approach, and the arrival of English and French irouclads in the port is supposed to prevent the possibility of a massacre of Christians. The French Government has not as yet shown its hand completely, but informs Europe, through its usual organ, the Paris correspondent of the Times, that it does not seek either annexation or a pro- tectorate, but does seek to compel the Bey to " regulate his finances "—in other words, to pay French bondholders—to dismiss his Ministers and appoint friends of the French party, and to accept garrisons at strategic points, who will "teach the Arabs to respect France." As we have explained else- where, ire trust that account is not true, as its total meaning is that France will inflict all the penalties of conquest, in- cluding social disorganisation, and incur all its disadvantages, including Italian jealousy, without restoring any territory tl . order and civilisation. We are bound to say, although we should. welcome a French annexation of Tunis, that the French Foreign Office is displaying most discreditable want of frankness, if not hypocrisy. It affirms twice a day that it has occupied Tabarca, which is an island, and taken Biserta, which has a great (though as yet undredged) harbour, in order to defeat the Kroumirs, who live in the interior, and either run away, or fight in small groups of riflemen. That is not true.
