The land of the Bey

by T. Wemyss Reid

This was the first act of the comedy. It was followed by an interval, during which there was apparent peace in the Regency. Mustapha, the barber’s boy who had become Prime Minister, was shipped off to Europe, and M. Roustan installed himself as master of the land. All manner of concessions were granted to French companies. Railways, harbours, agricultural banks, public works of every description were projected. The Italians found themselves driven to the wall. Even English subjects, like Mr. Levy, saw their rights rudely interfered with; for M. Roustan was master, and all others had to submit. But presently there came a change. The French troops were returning to their own country. It did not suit the purpose of the Ministry to allow the people of France to imagine that anything like a war was in progress. So it was announced in the Chambers that the Treaty of the Bardo had settled everything, and that it was no longer necessary to keep any large army of occupation in Tunis. It was at this moment that the insurrection broke out at Sfax. The Arabs there proclaimed themselves independent of the Bey, who had sold them to the infidel, and invited their countrymen to join them. The first news of this insurrection was sent up to Tunis by Mr. Gallia, our Vice-Consul at Susa, who happens to have also a residence and place of business at Sfax. Mr. Gallia’s reward was to have his house plundered by the French troops when they entered Sfax. Of the bombardment of that place by the French, and of its capture, and the loot by the victorious troops, I need only say here that it resulted in the spread of the insurrectionary feeling throughout the Regency. The whole Arab race boiled over with indignation; and outrages, and murders as horrible as that which occurred at the railway station at Oued Zergha, became common. The French troops were hurried back to the Regency; three columns were formed for the advance of an army against Kairwan, the sacred city, which was suspected of being the centre of disaffection, and Tunis itself was occupied by a large force of Republican troops. It was at this moment that I arrived in the Regency, and from this point the following extracts from my letters will afford some idea of the political situation.

Tunis, October 18th.—It is difficult to convey to the mind of the English reader an idea of the state of things now prevailing in Tunis, at a distance of barely four days from London; and it would probably be still more difficult to make any man of ordinary honesty understand the full meaning of that drama—half comic half tragic, and wholly disreputable—which is now being played out by the most cynical of actors under the eyes of the entire world. The visitor to Tunis at this moment finds himself in a country in which a state of war prevails. At Goletta immense French transports may be seen, disembarking troops and stores sufficient for a campaign against Germany. All along the short line of railway between the port and the capital, French camps are scattered; trains of artillery may be seen in slow progress towards the front, and ambulances provided with all the appliances which modern surgery has invented are also visible. Here, in Tunis, French sentries are mounted upon the crumbling white walls of the Kasbah, the great citadel of the place; French camps are pitched in the open spaces within the forts; French patrols pass through the streets at regular intervals, and the Grand Hotel, where a French general is installed, is the real headquarters of the Government of the city. Yesterday three columns of French troops, numbering in all some 30,000 men, began their march—two from the neighbourhood of Tunis, one from Susa—towards the sacred city of Kairwan, which has been selected as the special place to be honoured by a demonstration of French valour. If ever there was a country in a state of war, it is Tunis at the present moment. And yet no war has been declared; no pretext for military operations has been discovered, and a portion at least of the Parisian press maintains that no war exists. Even more startling than the contrast between the state of things visible here, and that in the existence of which official France pretends to believe, is the contrast between the condition of Tunis now and its condition twelve months ago, or even more recently.

At the beginning of the present year there was no European country which could vie in peacefulness, in security of life and property, with Tunis. There were of course certain tracts of wild mountainous country in the north-west portion of the Bey’s territory, where it would have been unsafe for any European to venture. But apart from these very limited districts, there was no part of Tunis where life was not perfectly safe. So recently as last April, Lord and Lady Bective visited Kairwan; and they not only did so in perfect safety, but they were received as honoured and welcome guests by the Arabs of that famous city. Here in Tunis no one thought for a moment of any danger from the native population. The tourist could wander at his will among the interesting ruins which abound in the neighbouring country, not only without dread of being subjected to violence, but with a feeling of absolute security which he could hardly entertain in London or Paris. Now, all this is changed. No man would dare to travel half a dozen miles from the city—to do so would be to court almost certain death. It would be almost as dangerous to venture into any of the villages which lie under the very shadow of the walls of Tunis. And even within the city itself, Europeans are warned on no account to venture out after dark. If you walk through the Arab quarter, averted faces and muttered curses meet you on every side; while the air is filled with rumours of an impending catastrophe. Twice during the present week the French troops in the city have been roused in the dead of night, and marched hurriedly to a central point, in order to resist a general rising of the Arabs, which everybody expected, and which it was believed had already begun. The imaginations of the non-Mussulman population, stimulated by all that they see around them, are still further excited by the horrible and, alas! true stories of tortures perpetrated upon unhappy Christians who have fallen into the hands of the Arabs; and everywhere a feeling not only of insecurity but of positive dread, has replaced that which prevailed last year. And these are the first results of that famous treaty which M. Roustan wrung from the Bey less than six months since, and by which France, or rather her Consular Agent, was made absolute master of the properties and the destinies of the Tunisian Government and people. It is obvious to everybody now that a fatal blunder was made by the French Cabinet when it placed itself in the hands of M. Roustan. It is a blunder which has already cost an enormous sum of money, and a serious expenditure of life, and it is one which may yet have consequences of the gravest kind, affecting not merely France but other European countries whose interests are still dearer to the Englishman.

It is not my business, however, to enter into a political disquisition on the origin and objects of the Tunisian expedition. I have done my duty when, as an eye-witness, I point out the extraordinary results of the Roustan policy up to the present moment. That policy has, in the first place, compelled France to enter upon a war on a large scale against a nation with whom it professedly has no quarrel; and, in the second place, it has entirely destroyed the security of life and property in Tunis, and has made one of the most peaceful and harmless races in the world, the bitter enemies not merely of France, but of all the powers and peoples of Europe. With more than 50,000 French soldiers in Tunis, and yet with the very streets of the capital itself in such a state that Europeans dare not move about them freely, it can hardly be contended that the civilizing and pacifying mission of the French Consular Agent has been altogether as successful as might have been desired. As to the secret history of that mission—the history which is upon the lips of everybody in Tunis—it is not for me to tell it here; but there is some probability that the revelation of the truth will not be long delayed. M. Camille Pelletan and other French deputies have come to Tunis for the special purpose of learning the truth on the subject; and some startling revelations may be expected when the debates begin in the Chambers.

Within the next fortnight it is believed that decisive military operations will have been carried out against Kairwan. Yesterday, as I have stated already, three French columns started for that place. The first column, under the command of General Saussier, to whom the command in chief is entrusted, has started from Tunis, and advances by way of the famous Enfida estate. The suggestion made here is, that this column will accomplish a double purpose; it will not only aid in the conquest of Kairwan, but will put the French in possession of that particular piece of property the name of which was mixed up so prominently with the early history of the Tunisian question. The second column, under General Logerot, has marched from Zaghouan, and will make a slight détour to the west, on its way to the sacred city. The third has the port of Susa as its point of departure; and it is to advance by means of a temporary railway which is to be constructed to Kairwan. The distance from Susa to Kairwan is barely thirty miles, so that there ought to be no difficulty in the construction of this line. Another column, intended for the pacification of the country as well as the conquest of Kairwan, is now moving across the Bey’s territory from Tebessa. The distance it has to traverse is, however, so great that it can hardly take part in the operations against the city itself, unless those operations should be unexpectedly delayed.

No one, of course, can entertain any doubt as to the result of the operations against Kairwan. The famous city is doomed. Optimists now can only pray that its captors will show respect for the feelings not merely of the Mussulman, but of the whole civilized world. The “loot” of a place like Kairwan would be a disgrace and a disaster. The world as it watches this great expedition against Kairwan, undertaken, as I have shown, upon a scale of such magnitude, ought to bear in mind the fact that Kairwan itself has been guilty of no offence. It has offered, and is offering, no resistance to the French army, although naturally enough the Arabs of Kairwan, like the rest of the world, fail to see what special reason can be alleged for the course now being pursued by France in a country with which it does not pretend to be at war, and which it professes that it has no desire to annex. No plea of military necessity can therefore be put in on behalf of the expedition to which the French are now committed. It is an expedition undertaken for the purpose of giving the Gambettist Republic a new dose of “glory,” and of putting an end, if possible, to awkward discussions in the French Chambers. That is the plain truth about this march upon the sacred city—a march which is regarded by all the Arabs, I need hardly say, as being in itself an act of sacrilege. That it will not result in the pacification of the country is firmly believed by competent military authorities here. The Arabs, save a few of the more fanatical, will in all probability escape into the mountainous districts of the interior, or—and this is an eventuality which it is necessary that English statesmen should seriously consider—they will make their way across the frontier into Tripoli, and throw themselves into the arms of the great Mussulman force already assembled there, where they will nurse their indignation against the assailants of their brethren in race and religion.

Tunis, October 25th.—The truth about Tunis has not yet been told to the world. Part of it has, it is true, been revealed in the columns of certain of the ultra-Radical journals of Paris; but, partly because of the quarter in which the revelations have been made, and partly, also, because of the evident bias of the writers, those stories have not attracted so much attention as they might reasonably have been expected to do. It will not, however, be from any want of zeal on the part of inquirers after it, if the whole truth regarding the Tunisian question is not made known to the world at no distant date. This city is now swarming, I shall not say with spies, but with investigators of all descriptions, bent upon learning everything regarding the proceedings of M. Roustan and his wonderful entourage. We have here, among others, M. Camille Pelletan, the lieutenant of Dr. Clémenceau, and M. Pelletan does not even affect to conceal the fact that he is preparing the materials for a savage indictment, not merely of M. Roustan and the French Ministry, but of M. Gambetta himself, when the Chambers meet. That he is satisfied with the success that has attended his efforts to unravel all the mysteries of the Tunisian question, I have the best authority for saying; and there can be no doubt that when he makes his promised statement to the Chamber of Deputies he will have a tale to tell which must produce a very lively sensation. It is not only, however, among French Deputies and Special Correspondents that the inquiries after the truth are to be found. Strange as it may seem, at least one other country besides that immediately concerned in the Tunisian expedition is interesting itself in what is passing or has passed here. Tunis has lately witnessed a remarkable influx of mysterious Germans—gentlemen, for the most part, of a decidedly military bearing, whose sauerkrautish French would alone suffice to betray their nationality to the observant. These gentlemen are by no means obtrusive in their demeanour. They frequent none of the hotels; they might even seem to be anxious to escape the observation of the French authorities. They are chiefly to be found in certain small cafés in the European quarter which do not appear to have been discovered as yet by the officers of the French army. Here they are, however, and for what purpose? They are not bent on seeking pleasure. It is only a mad Englishman who will come to Tunis for pleasure at a time like the present. They are not engaged in commercial pursuits; they are not even the correspondents of German newspapers. All that can be said about them is that they show a most unwearied assiduity in collecting facts, both political and military, with regard to the past and the present of French rule in Tunis. They also will aid the world, it may be assumed, in arriving at a full knowledge of the truth regarding one of the most remarkable episodes in modern history.

And what is that truth? For obvious reasons my pen is restrained from writing of it. It will be better to wait till the debate in the French Chambers for the full chronicle of the scandals that surround this question; yet even now not a little may be said. I see it still repeated in certain newspapers in England, that after all the French have only done in Tunis what we did in Afghanistan. More amazing ignorance of actual facts than that which is shown by this assertion, it would be difficult to conceive. Granting for the moment that our policy in Afghanistan was as bad as these papers believe it to have been, there would still be not even the faintest similarity between the two cases. I have never seen it hinted that we entered Afghanistan in order to advance the pecuniary interest of a coterie of adventurers at Calcutta or London; nor has it ever been suggested that a fair and frail Helen was closely connected with the origin of our expedition to Cabul. It is said here, however, upon authority which is unimpeachable, that the violent seizure of Tunis by the French, and all the misery, loss of life, and confusion that have resulted from that step, can be traced directly to the visit of a certain Tunisian lady to Paris, and to the acquaintances she there formed amongst a band of well-known financiers. This lady had exceptional influence over a very powerful person in Tunis. She had exercised similar influence over other powerful persons in the place before she made the acquaintance of this particular gentleman, and altogether she occupied a very extraordinary and important place in Tunisian affairs. On the particular visit to Paris to which I refer, her sympathies were enlisted on behalf of the speculators in question. She returned to Tunis resolved to procure for them a most important concession from the Bey—a concession which would practically have placed the greater part of the country in pawn to them. By means of the gentleman whose movements she controlled, she brought the matter under the notice of the Bey. His Highness, however, refused to grant the concession, pleading the perfectly accurate reason that he could not do so without violating his treaty engagements with England and other countries. Thereupon he was bluntly told that he would live to repent his decision; and that the concession he had been asked to make voluntarily was trifling compared to that which would within twelve months be wrung from him by force. In fact, it was by no means obscurely hinted that the days of his rule and of Tunisian independence were numbered. Little more than six months afterwards the “ravages” of the Kroumirs were discovered; French journalists declared it to be intolerable that their country should be exposed to insults and injuries at the hands of a horde of savages; and one of the gentlemen who had been most urgent in seeking the concession of which I have spoken from the Bey, himself proposed in the Chamber of Deputies that an expedition should be undertaken for the purpose of vindicating the dignity of France, and chastising the aggressors. From that expedition came, I need hardly say, the Treaty with M. Roustan, the cession of Bizerta and a considerable tract of territory, the submission of the Bey’s Government to that of France, and now the occupation of Tunis itself and the practical conversion of the Regency into a French dependency.

All these facts have been hinted at, if they have not been clearly stated before; but it is well that they should be stated again. Connected with them are numberless scandals, some of so flagrant a character that I cannot even hint at their nature. But, as I have said, the searchers after truth are abroad, and we shall have a highly spiced dish of Tunisian facts served up in the French Chambers at no distant date. The Enfida case, which is one of the side issues connected with the affair, is in itself a very remarkable instance of the manner in which those who represent France in this country are trifling with the national honour. A few months ago, before the great blow had been struck, and when Tunis was still independent, the French authorities, after much correspondence, professed themselves anxious to submit Mr. Levy’s claim to arbitration. England saw then no reason for withdrawing it from the ordinary tribunals. Suddenly, however, the attitude of France has undergone a curious change. Now that Tunisian independence is completely at an end—now that the Bey is little more than a prisoner in his own palace—now that the French flag floats above the Tunisian one on the towers of the Kasbah, and now that French soldiers and policemen are patrolling the streets of Tunis itself—now, in fact, that France is omnipotent and can control or crush any Tunisian institution, M. Roustan has turned round upon himself, refuses to submit the Enfida dispute to arbitration, and has actually sent it before one of those local tribunals the integrity and competency of which he stoutly denied so long as there was the remotest chance of their acting in an independent manner. I am glad to say that the English Government seem to be inclined to insist upon arbitration by some wholly independent party as the only satisfactory solution of the question, and in this resolve it may be hoped that the French Government will eventually acquiesce.

The diplomatic struggles and rivalries of places like Tunis are proverbial, and there is no need to say that the hottest warfare has been waged here between the representatives of the different European powers. I am glad to say that amid the strife Mr. Reade, the English representative, has been able to keep himself entirely aloof from all personal jealousies or local scandals; and that, whilst maintaining with firmness and dignity the interests and honour of his country, he has not given offence even to the most arrogant of his colleagues. On the other hand, M. Roustan is now being denounced by everybody, and particularly by Frenchmen themselves. Except in his own immediate circle nobody seems to have a good word for him, and his early downfall is freely predicted. Among the offences laid to his charge are the contradictory promises he is said to have made to many of the prominent actors in this Tunisian question. He is believed to have intrigued not merely with the Bey, but with his Prime Minister, the ex-barber’s-apprentice Mustapha, with Ali Bey, the Bey’s elder, and with Taib Bey his younger, brother. It follows from all that has happened, and from all that is now being brought to light, that Frenchmen themselves are most anxious to secure his removal. The misfortune is, that his removal will now exercise but small appreciable influence upon the future of Tunis. It is in the possession of France at this moment. The noble Gulf of Tunis, the trade of the country, all its strategical points, are in the keeping of the French; and though the latter will have to pay a heavy price in blood, money, and reputation for the prize they have thus secured, they are not likely to relinquish it merely because M. Roustan has been exposed and punished.