Chapter X

THE REIGNS OF AHMED BEY AND HIS COUSIN MUHAMED BEY.

After the accession of Ahmed Bey in 1839, the French party in Tunis used every means to obtain the ascendency. They decorated and redecorated the Bey’s secretary, and brought a zealous ecclesiastic from Algiers to obtain a preponderating influence in the Roman Catholic Mission. The turn matters took in Egypt and Syria two years later seems, however, to have seriously interfered with their plans. During the spring of 1841 the purport of the secret article in the treaty of 1830 transpired, and the French began to build the St. Louis Memorial Chapel on the Carthage Hill. As the walls gradually assumed the shape of a strongly fortified _enceinte_, the Bey became thoroughly alarmed. Sketches and plans were transmitted to England; Sidi Ahmed protested and threatened to construct a martello tower to command the sacred edifice, and finally sent for Sir Thomas Reade to tell him that “the French were the greatest thorn in his side, and that he threw himself entirely upon the good offices and protection of England.” A month later, with the view of further conciliating Lord Palmerston, Ahmed Bey took the first step towards the abolition of negro slavery in his dominions. He issued a decree forbidding the exportation of slaves from Tunis, and liberated all the negroes belonging to his own establishment. Unfortunately for the Bey’s peace of mind, Tahir Pacha at this juncture became Grand Vizier at Constantinople. Tahir was, rightly or wrongly, supposed to have a long standing grudge against the Beys of Tunis on account of having been (through the diplomatic skill of the French Chargé d’Affaires) refused permission to land there after the capture of Algiers. Be this as it may, the Bey soon received a letter disclosing a scheme of the Porte to reduce the Regency to the status of a simple province. Ahmed Pacha immediately addressed several letters to Lord Palmerston, requesting the mediation of the English Government. “Only one thing,” he wrote, “can be worse for Tunis than its extinction by the Porte, and that is its absorption by France.” French ships now remained at Goletta almost permanently, and care was taken to turn the coolness with the Porte to the best possible advantage. England reassured the Bey by sending him a sword and six field-pieces; and France, not to be outdone, lost no time by offering him a gilded coach and four horses. On the 27th October 1841 “it was driven to the Bardo with great pomp, in the presence of the French Consul and the officers of the steamer, by the coachman and footman in the King’s full-dress livery.” Ahmed Bey sent Louis Philippe “in return” an Arabian horse, a lion and lioness, two ostriches, and four antelopes. On the advice of Lord Aberdeen, the Bey decided to conciliate the Porte by sending an envoy to Constantinople as the bearer of a more than usually magnificent offering. The list of the presents thus forwarded fills several pages, beginning with “a new corvette, a remarkably fine one, carrying 26 guns, and fitted with stores of every description,” and ending with four snuff-boxes for the _Signori della Camera del Grand Signor_. In April 1842 slavery was finally abolished. In a letter to the English Government, the Bey declared that his action in this matter was entirely due to the representations of Sir Thomas Reade.

The Sultan does not appear to have been altogether satisfied with the Bey’s munificence, and sent an agent to Tunis with instructions to insist on “the establishment of _ever so little regular tribute_, which might easily be remitted, but which would prove to some European Powers that the Bey and the Regency were not independent.” Turkish bearers of vizirial letters were always a serious matter at Tunis, and Ahmed Bey made an almost pathetic appeal to England to help him out of his difficulty. “It is not an easy matter,” he told Sir Thomas Reade, “to satisfy my suzerain’s envoys. When the last came to take leave I offered him 4000 dollars, but he disdainfully refused them in my presence, and I was obliged to give him six.” This particular envoy proved to be exceedingly difficult to manage, and when the Bey did not comply with his demands, he did his best to excite an insurrection. He had the pictures in his room pulled down as an insult to the faith of Islam, and spoke in all public places of the Bey’s undue partiality for infidels. To such an extent was this anti-christian _propaganda_ carried, that the Turkish emissary had hardly left Tunis, before a riot occurred at Goletta, which was quelled with considerable difficulty. The British Ambassador at Constantinople appears, however, to have succeeded in inducing the Porte to take a more favourable view of the conduct of his vassal.

Nothing of any moment occurred till July 1843, when much excitement was caused by the invasion of the Tunisian territory by a French force in the direction of La Calle. Just at the same time an attempt was made to absorb the whole of the Citadel Hill at Carthage, in the limits of the St. Louis memorial buildings, and a French squadron appeared before Goletta. The Bey became very much frightened, and as usual sent for Sir Thomas Reade. At his request a letter was at once written to Lord Aberdeen. “It appears to me,” wrote Sir Thomas Reade, “that the actual proceedings of the French, in regard to this Regency at the present moment, cannot be viewed without a certain degree of suspicion, for at the same time they violate the territory in so open and outrageous a manner, and send a squadron to countenance by its presence the additional demands of the French Consul with respect to the monument at Carthage, they despatch an armed vessel commanded by a very intelligent Algerine decorated with the Legion of Honour to visit the various ports of the Regency, and his object appears to be to mix with the Moors at the cafés and other spots frequented by them, and harangue them upon the advantages Algiers possesses in being occupied by the French.” The storm, however, blew over, but the Bey issued a decree forbidding the export of corn, which involved the Regency in an open rupture of diplomatic relations with Sardinia. The details of the quarrel are very uninteresting, and the difference was after much delay adjusted by the intervention of England. About the same time the Bey managed to pick a personal quarrel with the French Consul-General, whom he accused of belabouring the coachman of one of the princes, and applying the unparliamentary _bestia_ to the prince himself. In the following year a Maltese miller murdered a servant of the British Consul-General, together with one of his Tunisian police officers. Sir Thomas Reade insisted on the criminal being tried by the Bey in person according to the international conventions, and M. De Lagau, the French Chargé d’Affaires, adroitly managed to take advantage of the general unpopularity of the proceeding amongst the Europeans to form a strong cabal against English interests. All the European representatives seem to have joined in this association except Mr. John Howard Payne, the American Consul, well known in Europe as the accomplished author of “Home, Sweet Home.” Sir Thomas Reade carried his point, and the Maltese murderer was condemned and executed by the Tunisian authorities. Mr. Nyssen, the Dutch Consul, had gone so far as to intimidate the witnesses in the case, and was summoned in consequence to appear before the Bey. Prince Henry of the Netherlands happened to arrive at the time, and insisted on the charge being abandoned. The Bey refused compliance with the request, whereupon the Prince returned the rich presents he had received from Sidi Ahmed, and left Tunis somewhat abruptly.

During the spring of 1845 the Duc de Montpensier visited Tunis, and was received by the Bey with marked respect and attention. In the month of December the Bey received the Grand Cordon of the Legion of Honour. The relations of France with the Tunisian government now became ostensibly of the most friendly nature, but Sidi Ahmed never ceased to ask for the aid of England in maintaining his _status quo_ as regards the Porte. Almost at the end of the autumn of 1846 the Bey suddenly resolved to pay a visit to France and England. The latter portion of his programme was subsequently abandoned on difficulties arising as to his reception in the character of an independent sovereign. In the following year the British Government sent the Bey a present consisting of a carriage, harness, and seven Axminster carpets, one of which still decorates the smaller audience-chamber of the Bardo Palace. Although our gifts could not advantageously be compared with the more magnificent offerings of the French, Sir Thomas Reade was determined not to allow any slight to be offered to British prestige in the Regency. On the 1st June 1847 he wrote the following characteristic despatch to Lord Palmerston:

“MY LORD,—On the 1st May last the vessels belonging to this Regency having fired a royal salute in honour of the King of the French, I thought it my duty to require that an equal mark of respect should be shown to our most Gracious Sovereign on the 24th ult., being the anniversary of H.M.’s birthday, which was accordingly done. This is the first year that such a practice has been established, and the 30th being St. Ferdinand, the Consul-General of Naples advanced the same demand on behalf of his sovereign, but no salute having been fired, the Consul, I understand, has addressed a report to his Government on the circumstance.”

The French representative now redoubled his efforts to induce the Bey to break beyond hope of reconciliation with the Porte; and England, through her ambassador at Stamboul, quite as actively endeavoured to impress upon the Porte the necessity of maintaining the ancient ties of friendship with Tunis. Sir Thomas Reade was fully alive to the importance of the political intrigue then being actively prosecuted, and did not fail to impress his views on the attention of Lord Palmerston. On the 4th August 1847 he thus addressed the Foreign Office:—

“The Sultan should understand that the best means of destroying the effects of French policy with regard to Tunis, is that of encouraging and promoting a stricter connection with the Government of his vassal. This, my Lord, I venture to submit, is the only practical remedy against foreign intrigues in this country; and should the Bey see a frank and open policy observed towards him by the Porte, what reason can he possibly have to trust a dangerous neighbour more than a generous and far-placed master?”

On the 20th December 1847 Her Majesty’s steam frigate “Avenger” was wrecked on the Tunisian coast. Lieutenant Francis Rooke and three other persons were the sole survivors of the catastrophe. Mahmoud Ben Ayad, one of the Bey’s ministers, now acquired complete influence over his mind, and in the short space of two years succeeded in reducing the finances of the Regency to a state of hopeless confusion. Under the pretence of raising a loan for the Government he obtained permission to quit the country, to which he never returned. About one year previously his father and nephew had been obliged to seek refuge in the British Consulate from his persecution, and Lord Palmerston ordered Sir Thomas Reade to give them protection and inform the Bey that the Queen would not “allow a hair of their heads to be touched.” The Ben Ayads were once hereditary rulers of Jerba, and belong to one of the few remaining families of the ancient Arab nobility. They have ever since been considered British subjects, and the nephew, General Sy Hamida, is still alive, and prior to the crisis of the 12th May was one of the most trusted councillors of Muhamed es Sadek Bey.

The fall of Louis Philippe seems to have brought about a lull in the constant interference of France in the destinies of the country. Sir Stratford Canning succeeded in placing the relations between Turkey and Tunis on a more friendly footing, and by a judicious explanation of the real interests of suzerain and vassal, counteracted the distrust sown in the minds of both by parties interested in promoting discord. In the summer of 1849 Sidi Muhamed, Governor of the Sahel, was sent as an envoy to offer to the Sultan presents of the value of £66,000. Sir Thomas Reade was then on his deathbed, but the jewels and other articles of value were brought to his house to satisfy him that Sidi Ahmed was once more acting in accordance with his advice. Three weeks later Sir Thomas Reade died. By the especial desire of Ahmed Bey his remains were honoured with as splendid a public funeral as the resources of the Regency permitted. General Kheir-ed-Din, now an ex-Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire, commanded the guard of honour which escorted the coffin from the Manonba to Tunis. No British representative ever understood the important questions bound up in the future of Tunis more thoroughly than he did, nor have any before or since striven more manfully to support what he conceived to be the English view of the case. Thirty-three years later, his son and successor, Thomas Fellowes Reade, saw the realisation of his father’s misgivings, as to what would inevitably happen, whenever England came to view with indifference the fate of her once faithful ally the Bey of Tunis.

Sir Thomas Reade’s successor, Sir Edward Baynes, K.C.M.G., did not arrive in Tunis till the 14th March 1850. No event of public importance occurred till the close of the reign of Sidi Ahmed, who died in May 1855. Two years before he had improved his position as regards the Sultan by cordial offers of support in case of the outbreak of a war with Russia; and when this actually occurred, men and money were at once despatched from Tunis to Constantinople.

Ahmed was the last of the Beys of Tunis who enjoyed a shadow of the old power and prestige. In the formation and direction of an army altogether out of proportion to the wants of the country, he endeavoured to forget the perplexities of his constant diplomatic complications. He employed both French and English military instructors, some of whom have published more or less interesting narratives of their stay at his court. The English words of command brought into use by General Considine, still survive amongst the few remaining regiments of Tunisian soldiers, and I last heard them on the day they were drawn up to conduct the French troops into the Tunis citadel. The only memorial which still remains of the once rich and popular Ahmed Bey, is the dismantled palace of the Mahamedia, of which I have already spoken in a former chapter.

Ahmed was succeeded by his cousin Muhamed, the eldest of the sons of Hossein Bey. He at once wrote a dutiful letter to his suzerain demanding the caftan, sending at the same time £40,000 instead of presents, and a further contingent of 1800 men with horses and arms to assist the Turks in the Crimea. Muhamed Khaznadar, the Vizier of Ahmed, retained his post, but most of the favourites of the late Bey were either arrested or dismissed. Many wholesome reforms were suggested and planned by Sidi Muhamed, but their execution was impeded by the cares and anxieties entailed by his enormous seraglio, which literally surpassed in extent anything known in history since the time of King Solomon. The fall of Sebastopol seems to have awakened considerable enthusiasm at Tunis, and a Te Deum was celebrated in the Cathedral, which was hung with French, English, and Turkish flags. On the 9th October the Sultan’s envoy arrived, and presented the Bey with his patent of investiture, the Grand Cordon of the Medjidieh, and a jewelled sword, in the presence of the civil and religious officials and the _corps consulaire_. Sir Edward Baynes died in July 1855.

His successor, Mr. Richard Wood, did not arrive in Tunis till the 26th June in the following year. The mantle of Sir Thomas Reade could hardly have fallen on a more able or energetic successor, and he managed to gain in a short space of time the entire confidence of the Bey. In August 1856 Sidi Muhamed sent to the French Prince Imperial, a cradle in silver Moorish work and the Tunisian decoration (which had been instituted by Sidi Ahmed Bey), set in brilliants. The value of this magnificent gift was not less than £10,000. In September, however, the Bey took no notice of the Emperor’s fête, and M. Roches, the French Chargé d’Affaires, viewed this omission in so serious a light that he suspended diplomatic relations. The Bey, after forty hours’ reflection, decided to apologise. The language used in Count Walewski’s despatch was very severe, and if satisfaction had not been at once accorded, M. Roches was prepared to embark on a French frigate. Shortly afterwards, the Emperor declined the Nishan for his son, on the ground that the _Porte disputed the Bey’s right to confer decorations_. Mr. Wood was now admitted to long interviews with the Bey, the result of which soon became apparent. Sidi Muhamed resolved to preserve intact his status as regards the Porte, to strengthen as much as possible his alliance with England, and to grant a constitution to his subjects. On the 17th June 1857 an event occurred which seemed to belie Sidi Muhamed’s assurances and promises of reform. An Israelite carter named Samuel Sfez, being ill-treated by some Moors, cursed the Moslem faith and roundly abused the Bey and his Government. He was at once dragged before the Bey in person, who referred the case to the Cadi. After hearing some native witnesses he was condemned to death by having _molten lead poured down his throat, and his body burned_. His distracted wife appealed to the Consuls, who hastened to remonstrate with the Bey. It was, however, too late. To hasten matters the unfortunate blasphemer had been beheaded. “The head of the wretched man,” wrote Mr. Wood, “was kicked about by the boys, while men were endeavouring to smash it with stones. A large number of Moors went to meet the corpse in order to drag it through the town, in which design they failed, owing to the interference of the police, but the Moorish women, who repaired to the Jewish cemetery, assisted at its burial with songs and exclamations of joy.”

It is impossible to describe the general panic which ensued. Christians and Israelites alike demanded the protection of the European Powers, and several ships of war, including the French squadron, were sent to Goletta. Both Mr. Wood and M. Roches, as well as the French Admiral, had several audiences with the Bey, and the necessity of his at once granting a constitution, of which religious equality was to be one of the fundamental portions, was strongly pressed upon him. On the 9th September, Sidi Muhamed consented to act in compliance with their wishes, and a liberal constitution, embodying many reforms and creating regular tribunals, was forthwith promulgated. The following are the heads of the Bey’s decree, which was certainly the most important innovation achieved since Ahmed Bey abolished slavery:—1st, Perfect security of life and property; 2d, Equality of taxation; 3d, Equality of all classes and denominations before the law; 4th, Religious freedom; 5th, Limitation of the period of military service; 6th, Admission of Israelite assessors in criminal cases; 7th, Abolition of immunities enjoyed exclusively by Moslems; 8th, Establishment of a mixed commercial court; 9th, Liberty of commerce and abolition of monopolies; 10th, Permission to foreigners to exercise all trades and professions and introduce foreign industries; 11th, Right of foreigners to hold and possess landed property. As a recognition of his conduct, the French Emperor conferred on Sidi Muhamed the Grand Cordon of the Legion of Honour. The English fleet visited Tunis during the spring of 1858, but the Bey was unable to return the visit of Lord Lyons, as an agreement could not be come to regarding the salute he was to receive.

The English Government, after much deliberation, rewarded the enlightened behaviour of the Bey by a present of cotton seed, which was duly delivered to him by Mr. Wood with some statistics concerning the growth of that useful product. In the month of January 1859 Prince Alfred (the Duke of Edinburgh) visited Tunis, and was entertained by Sidi Muhamed. The arrival of the Prince undoubtedly awakened a very unusual amount of enthusiasm at the Tunisian Court, and the Bey himself placed round the neck of his guest the diamond medal worn only by members of the Husseinite family. “I hail the arrival of your Royal Highness,” said Sidi Muhamed, “with a delight which words cannot possibly express. That the son of the Queen of England should be with us, that I should have been afforded the pleasure of beholding him in my own palace is more than I ever hoped to realise. Myself, my family, and my whole people feel highly flattered by your visit, and consider it as being in harmony with the unbounded respect with which your Royal Mother, her Government, and the British nation are looked upon in this country.” Sidi Muhamed, whose state of health had been long very unsatisfactory, died on the 22d September, and two days later his brother Muhamed es Sadek took the oath prescribed by the new constitution in the presence of the whole of his ministers, the civil and ecclesiastical functionaries, and the foreign representatives.