supported, as they conceive, by the most satisfactory documentary evidence, do not consider it necessary to enlarge; as it must be evident that the Jewish converts have been the subjects of a cruel persecution, and that for some reasons, yet unexplained, they have not received that protection from the British Consulate which was so urgently requested, and which the Memorialists respectfully think they were entitled to expect. Nor do the Memorialists consider it necessary to impress on your Lordship the importance and necessity of some decided steps being taken to put a stop to the persecutions against the converts in Tunis, and to grant protection to the proceedings of the mission there; and they trust that the present appeal will no be made in vain.

Having already referred, as to Mr. Davis' character and conduct, to the different functionaries in Tunis, the Memorialists are equally willing, if your Lordship think such a reference necessary, to appeal, as to the accuracy of the statement now given, to the same parties, and especially to Mr. Ferriere, her Majesty's Vice-Consul, who, from his situation, had the most ample opportunity of seeing and knowing everything that occurred.

The Memorialists feel deeply that, while it is of the greatest importance to their own mission to have this matter immediately and satisfactorily adjusted, they cannot but also feel that this is a question of far more general importance than as merely connected with this mission; and that if the appeal now made should be unsuccessful, it must be held throughout the world as a declaration that missionaries and converts are not to have the protection necessary for carrying on their work; and that, in fact, Christian missions must be, to a great extent, abandoned. Such a result, after the noble struggle of Lord Cowley and

Sir Stratford Canning, and such decided expressions of opinion by your Lordship's predecessors, as have been already alluded to, the Memorialists will not for a moment anticipate. Nor can they suppose, that while political liberty is spreading over every civilized country, religious liberty should be checked or depressed with the sanction or countenance of the British Government.

On the contrary, the Memorialists confidently trust that your Lordship will either at once send instructions to her Majesty's representative at Tunis, to remove the false impressions against Mr. Davis, which the Bey seems at present to entertain, and secure protection to our mission, and to the converts made by our missionary; or if your Lordship is not satisfied with the evidence already given as to the facts, forming the groundwork of the present application, the Memorialists trust that your Lordship will make a reference to the parties on the spot, and direct protection to be given till the inquiry is completed.

(Signed) JOHN HUNTER, D.D.,

Convener of the Committee of the Assembly of the Church of Scotland for Conversion of the Jews.

I think this will give you a surfeit of letters from me. Yours faithfully, &c.

LETTER XXXII.

TO LADY MARY LINDSAY, GLASNEVIN HOUSE.

My dear Lady Mary,

Tunis, January 1848.

I regret to be obliged to inform you that my health suffered considerably within the last month, and I fear that I shall be obliged to leave this regency sooner than I intended. The journey to Biserta, and my subsequent ten sleepless nights at the death-bedside of the American Consul's daughter, completely shattered my constitution, and I feel so enervated that I can scarcely do anything. However, I will not quit Tunis without writing another letter to you; though there are letters in my portfolio already written to you and yours-whilst I was at Biserta-which should have gone long since, were there an opportunity of despatching them. So will receive them all at once. you

I became acquainted with one of the Bey's life guards, who was originally a native of Germany, At the age of twenty he entered the army of his native country; after serving his King faithfully for two years, he was enticed by French agents to enter a foreign legion, and to proceed to Algiers, where he was told great wealth awaited him as his reward. He listened to the delusive promises, believed in them, and entered into the service of the French. Arriving at Algiers, he found out, what many more have done, that no French promise is to be depended upon. The poor fellow deserted the French army from Bugia, and for five years rambled through the deserts of Africa, mixed with the various wandering tribes, was forced to abjure his creed and embrace Islamism, in order to save his life, and experienced many remarkable deliverances from almost

inevitable destruction. He found his way to Gereed whilst the Bey's cousin was there. The Prince took him under his protection, brought him hither, and he ultimately became the Bey's life preserver. Amongst his fellow soldiers in his new service, he met with many fellow apostates, who encountered similar reverses with himself. They began to comfort each other, and to scheme plans for escape, in order to throw off the hypocritical garb, and to profess once more the religion of their fathers. Some succeeded, but others—and he amongst the latter-failed in effecting thir emancipation. He married a Mohammedan girl; and he had thus an opportunity of being wearied of the tedious nuptial ceremony, which he described to me at full length. His wife turned out a shrew; he had thus an opportunity of studying a Mohammedan Xantippe. Not having been able to act Petruchio of Verona, he was obliged to have recourse to the alternative, and divorced her; and described to me the ceremony of the divorce. Not having had at command the needful to pay the necessary expenses, he borrowed the money from a Greek Christian usurer. Being unable to pay, Anastatius threw Mr. Davis interfered in his behalf and he was set free. The poor fellow is now extremely uneasy, being bent upon taking advantage of the very first opportunity to quit Barbary and barbarism.

him into prison.

I never read or heard anything to equal in thrilling interest the accounts of that individual. I prevailed upon him to write out for me his whole life during the last twenty years, with every particular that he could remember, which he did, and the following is a literal translation of his own title-page: "The autobiography of John Gottlieb Krüger, alias Mohammed ben Abdallah, with a full and particular account of the treatments he experienced in the African desert from the Arabs, Bedouins, Kabyls, &c.,

during his peregrinations since he deserted the French Foreign Legion stationed at Bugia in the year 1834, till he arrived at Tunis in the year 1839; where he now resides, and serves in the life guards of Ahmed Basha, the reigning Bey of Tunis. Tunis, January 8, 1848."

Your Ladyship may look in vain for equally graphic descriptions of Arab desert life. The political, civil, literary, and religious conditions of the wandering tribes are described with a charming simplicity, in which all travellers have hitherto failed. If there ever was a romance in real life which could eclipse the most fascinating novels of the English savans, this is one. When I asked Abdallah to write out his adventures for me, I did it with the intent of translating them for you, and calculated upon surprising you with a voluminous letter; but on beholding the two folio volumes of MS., I confess I shrank from the task, and must for the present content myself with the above laconic epitome. I purpose, nevertheless, some day or other, to translate the whole into the English language for the benefit of English readers, and I venture to say that the English public will thank me for the boon."*

It appears that Tunis is particularly favoured in adding members to the Mohammedan creed. In a letter I lately addressed to our friend Mr. Herbert, which you may have seen, I mentioned the case of a Roman Catholic priest, who, about three hundred years ago, renounced Romanism in lieu of Islamism. In the archives of the Sardinian and Austrian Consulate of this city, is found a German letter addressed to Chevalier Truqui, the late Consul. The following is a literal translation of the same:

* Mr. Davis and Mrs. London give a brief sketch of the same individual, but on comparing the German MS. with their accounts, I must confess that they have failed to give an adequate idea of the adventures of that individual, and therefore of Bedouin life.