DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
453 
 
His efforts have been more effectual for his personal aggrandizement than
for 
the prosperity and well being of the state. He has become rich, while the
country 
has become poor; his tactics, however, have of late been particularly serviceable

to the Bey. Without suffering his temper to be ruffled by officious consuls,
he 
has wearied the rebels with delays, amused them with promises, bribed them

with money, and frightened them with the show of arms, and especially with

the fear of foreign intervention, so that they have become weakened and divided.

It is due to say that there is a question in some minds in regard to the-

genuineness and permanence of the peace proclaimed. The French and the 
Italians are unbelieving, and their ships-of-war continue to guard the harbor;

yet I am persuaded that the report of the peace is substantially true, and
that 
the rebel leaders have acted from a regard to their tr intest in yielding
sub- 
mission to the Bey. 
With great respect, your obedient servant, 
AIOS PERRY 
Hon. WILLIAM HI. SEWARD, 
Secretary of State, Washington, D. C. 
Mr. Perry to M1r. Seward. 
No. 47.]                              UNITED STATES CONSULATE, 
Tunis, August 20, 1864. 
SIR: In my last despatch I referred to demonstrations of joy made on one

side at the announcement of peace in this regency, and to expressions of
coolness 
and incyedulity elicited on the other side on the same occasion.  Each party

attempted to convict the other of folly, and to show its own wisdom by a
state- 
ment of facts in conformity with its own views and line of conduct. The official

Arab journal contained a letter from the general of the camp, with the names
of 
fourteen of the principal tribes that had submitted to the Bey and received
his 
pardon. The chiefs of some other tribes were reported as having come to the

Bardo on the same errand. Grain and provisions, for the want of which the

city was suffering, began to pour in, and petty skirmishes are reported among

the tribes in the interior. These facts, and many others of minor importance,
were 
represented in glowing terms by the Anglo-Ottoman-Mameluke party. 
On the other hand, the French anti-Mlameluke party disparaged the repre-

sentations received from the Bardo, affirming that though gold had bought
over 
some chiefs, the spirit of opposition to the Mameluke government was unchanged.

The concessions were shown to be rather on the side of the Bey than of the

rebels. The Bey had demanded of his loyal subjects nine dollars poll-tax,
but 
had treated with his rebellious subjects to receive two and a half dollars,
and to 
diminish other taxes in a similar ratio.  After this degradation he was far
from 
having peace. Susa was blockaded by hostile Arabs, and the whole coast was

in a state of revolution. The government was represented to be without credit,

if not bankrupt, and the opinion was confidently pronounced that Sidi Mustafa

must quit his post as chief minister before any substantial peace could be
wit- 
nessed in the kingdom. 
Still, indications of a better state of feeling were not to be denied. Robberies

ceased, notwithstanding the people of the city ventured to make excursions
into 
the country. The steamers were no longer crowded with persons fleeing for

their lives. On the other hand, some who had left the country fbr personal

security began to return. Congratulations and felicitations were not only
received 
from most of the consuls, but from several of the European cabinets; and
the Bey 
issued a circular to the consuls, which I gi-v in eneloure A.