Chapter VIII: The Beys of the Eighteenth Century

The advent to power of Heussein Ben Ali and his dynasty wrought little or no change for the better in the condition of the country. The piracy of the Deys became the privateering of the Beys, and civil discord continued as rife as ever, with the sole difference that it was more or less confined to one family. Heussein Ben Ali himself was a renegade Greek from Candia, and although he is often styled El Turki, his descendants have very little Turkish or Arab blood in their veins. In 1708 the depredations of Tunisian corsairs caused a temporary suspension of political intercourse with France, which was only resumed after the execution of a favourable treaty two years later. M. Rousseau[24] says that about this time the relations between the French Consul-General and his English colleague became so strained that the former officially ordered the French laundress to refrain from washing Mr. Richard Lawrence’s[25] linen, and the French baker was forbidden to supply him with bread. A fresh treaty with England was negotiated in 1716, and in 1725 an envoy from the Porte obtained a convention for Austria.

Heussein soon began to show an increased disposition to break with France, and his corsairs frequently pursued their prizes to the coast of Provence. A squadron arrived at Goletta in 1728 under M. De Grandpré, and the Bey was compelled to make signal reparation for the behaviour of his captains. Heussein was deposed in 1735 by his nephew Ali Pacha, who in 1740 came to an open rupture with the French Consul-General, M. Gauthier. The French accused the Bey of piracy on their ships, and the Bey retorted by charging the French with sending stores to his nephews. M. Desfontaines and some other historians give a very different version of the _casus belli_. “The rupture between France and Tunis,” writes M. Desfontaines, “was caused by the want of tact of our Consul. This agent was ruled entirely by his mistress, who was jealous of a Maltese woman married to a Frenchman. She induced the Consul to expel the Maltese from Tunis on a charge of bad behaviour. The latter sought the protection of the Khaznadar, but the Consul insisted on arresting her. The Khaznadar rescued her by force, and his doing so being construed into an insult to the French flag, the war broke out.”[26] Whatever was the original cause of the dispute, the Bey seemed to determine to proceed to extremities. He ordered M. Gauthier to kiss his hand. The latter demurred, and was threatened with death if he persisted in his refusal. On the 14th May 1740 he was compelled to submit to the humiliating ceremony. Two French vessels richly laden were captured by the Tunisian corsairs off Cape Bon, and the island of Tabarca[27] was occupied and its Genoese colonists reduced to slavery, on a rumour becoming current that the Lomellini family meditated its cession to France. M. Gauthier managed to escape to Tripoli, whereupon Ali Pacha directed his son to destroy the French commercial establishment at Cape Négre. A M. Saurins, a lieutenant in the French navy, made a romantic but unsuccessful effort to obtain possession of Tabarca by stratagem. He was brought in an apparently dying state to Tunis, but he ultimately recovered and was released. The heads of the French who perished in M. Saurins’ adventure were exposed opposite the house of the French merchants. A war broke out at this juncture between England and France, which M. Rousseau frankly admits rendered a peace with Tunis “une nécessité indispensable.” Under these circumstances the extraordinary insolence of Ali Pacha went almost unpunished, for by the treaty of 1742 the kissing of his hand by the Consul and French merchants was agreed to, although the immunities of French trade were restored and all the French slaves released.

In 1751 Admiral Keppel and Consul-General Gordon signed a fresh convention with the Bey on behalf of George II., but the Bey rejected our proposals for the cession of Tabarca. During the civil war which ensued between the sons of Ali Pacha in the following year, the whole city was given up to pillage, and the French Consul and merchants were obliged to defend their _fonduck_ or residence against the attacks of the populace during several days. The internal dissensions culminated in the death of Ali Pacha and his son in the month of August 1756, and in the subsequent accession of Muhamed Bey, the eldest son of Heussein Ben Ali, who entered Tunis at the head of an Algerian army. On the 2d September the French Consulate was pillaged by the allies of the new Bey, and M. De Sulauze, the Consul, and his subordinates escaped with difficulty over the terraces of the houses to the British Consulate. Muhamed was succeeded in 1759 by his brother Ali.

The British frigate “Windsor” arrived at Goletta in 1762 with an envoy to announce the accession of George III., but the mission nearly ended in an open rupture; Mr. Cleveland declined to kiss the Bey’s hand, and objected to his suite having to leave their shoes at the entrance of the audience chamber. The dispute terminated in a compromise. The Bey excused Mr. Cleveland from the former ceremony, on condition that he brought a number of officers to duly perform it, and obviated all difficulty as to the shoes by receiving the English Mission in a kiosque adjoining the palace. An exchange of presents, as well as a ratification of former conventions, took place. In 1764 M. De Saizieu, the newly appointed French agent, achieved a notable diplomatic success.[28] Venetian and French ships-of-war arrived almost simultaneously at Goletta. The Bey intended to treat both alike, but M. De Saizieu succeeded in forcing the Venetian captain to be content with a salute of seven guns, to kiss the Bey’s hand and to take off his shoes, whereas the French commander got two guns more and was absolved from all kind of humiliating ceremonial. But this satisfactory state of affairs did not last long, and in 1770 France was once more at war with the Bey of Tunis. The immediate cause of hostilities was a refusal on the part of the Bey to liberate Corsican slaves on that island becoming a French possession. An Arab historian, El Haj Hamouda Ben Abd el Aziz, has left in his “Kitab-el-bacha” a graphic account of the circumstances which attended this expedition.[29] The Knights of St. John sent two of their ships to assist the French fleet. Bizerta, Susa, and Porto-Farina had been already bombarded, when a Turkish envoy happened to arrive at Goletta in order to procure the services of a Tunisian contingent to assist the Sultan in his struggle with Russia. “The Turkish agent,” says M. Rousseau, “sought the commander of the French squadron, and did not endeavour to conceal the fact that this war would greatly displease the Sultan, as the French forces had chosen the moment to wage war against _one of his provinces_, when he was himself entangled with Russia.” His offers of mediation were finally accepted and a peace agreed to. The conditions obtained were not particularly favourable:—Corsica was to be treated as part of France; the coral fishery was to be resumed under certain conditions, but the Bey refused to allow the re-establishment of the warehouse at Cape Négre. Presents were to be sent by France to the Tunisian Government on the occasion of the peace.

In 1775 the Maltese fleet burned two Tunisian corsairs off Goletta; and the French and English Consuls had a fierce dispute as to which of them was entitled to the place of honour when they both happened to be together in the Bey’s presence. This quarrel seems to have occupied for some months the attention of the Cabinets of London and Paris. Nothing of importance occurred during the following year, but in 1777 the French opened negotiations for the cession of Tabarca. The English Government became aware of these _pourparlers_, and Lord Weymouth wrote to Consul Traill on the subject.

TO CONSUL TRAILL AT TUNIS.

ST. JAMES 23rd _May_ 1777

SIR,

I am to desire that you will give attention to what may pass with respect to the Negociation of the French with the Bey of Tunis for the island of Tabarca and inform me of anything that may be interesting on that subject.

His majesty does not think proper to make any present to the Bey’s Son on his being invested with the Royal Robe, and His Majesty expects that you will find means to prevent an Ambassador from being sent from Tunis. Yet if contrary to his Majesty’s expectation and your earnest endeavours such a measure should be determined, then, and in that case only, you are permitted to promise that a Present shall be sent.

You will in the meantime make him a proper Compliment as well as to his son.

I am, Sir,

Your most obedient humble servant

WEYMOUTH.

In spite of Mr. Traill’s effort, Ali Bey sent, two years later, an ambassador to England, and as we were at war with France he was very warmly received. The letters of George III. and Lord Hillsborough to their Tunisian ally were scarcely less cordial than those of William III. and Lord Shrewsbury to the pirate Dey Ali Raïs.

KING GEORGE III TO ALI BEY.

George the Third by the Grace of God, King of Great Britain, France and Ireland, Defender of the Christian Faith, Duke of Brunswick and Lunenburg, Arch Treasurer and Prince Elector of the Holy Roman Empire &ca. To the most excellent Lords the Bashaw, Divan, Bey and the Rest of the Soldiers in the Kingdom of Tunis, Our Wellbeloved Friends, Greeting: We have received Your Letter by Sidi Mula Hamet, and it was very satisfactory to Us to find in it the assurances of your friendly Dispositions, and of your Resolution to preserve and cultivate the good Correspondence which has so long subsisted between Our Crown and your Government. You may rest assured that We entertain the same Sentiments towards You, and that We desire to give You on all Occasions Proofs of Our Friendship. With regard to the other particulars contained in your Letter, We refer to what Our Secretary of State has Orders to communicate to you on Our Part. We recommend you to the Protection of Almighty God, and bid you heartily farewell. Given at Our Court at St James’s the 26. Day of April 1781. In the twenty first Year of Our Reign.

Your Loving Friend

GEORGE R.

Hillsborough.

* * * * *

LORD HILLSBOROUGH TO ALI BEY.

To the Most Excellent Lord, the Bashaw of the Kingdom of Tunis, Greeting; and Wishes of most perfect Health, true Happiness and Prosperity. Most High and Excellent Lord. The King my Royal Master has commanded me to answer that part of your Letter to His Majesty in which you claim His favour and Protection for the obtaining Payment of Six hundred Pounds British Money due to you from Lawrence Boyd. His Majesty was pleased to order His Law officers to proceed without Delay in summoning to appear before them the said Lawrence Boyd, who acknowledged the Debt, and therefore would have been sentenced to pay it, if it had been in his Power, but he having made appear his total inability to discharge any part thereof, on account of the miserable state to which he is reduced, and His Majesty being unwilling that You Yourself should be a Sufferer by the Misfortunes of any of His Subjects, has ordered His High Treasurer to pay to Sidi Mula Hamet the entire Sum owing to you by the said Lawrence Boyd, but it is hoped you will think it proper hereafter to avoid such Transactions with Persons you are not sufficiently acquainted with, for it is not to be expected that His Majesty can consider himself as responsible for the conduct of all his subjects. I shall be very glad on all occasions to give proofs of my great Regard to your illustrious Person and Family, and so recommending you to the protection of Almighty God, I remain with the utmost Respect

Most High and Excellent Lord

Your Highness’s

Most obedient and most humble servant

HILLSBOROUGH

ST JAMES’S
26 _April_ 1781.[30]

A few months later Austria was compelled, in self-defence, to sue for a treaty with Tunis through the good offices of the Sublime Porte. The Bey insisted on receiving _an annual tribute_ besides a large sum in ready money, and was with great difficulty persuaded to grant a five months’ respite to Austrian merchant vessels. A regular convention was not concluded before 1784. On the 26th May 1782 Ali Bey died.

Hamouda, his eldest son, succeeded to the throne without any contention, but did not show himself disposed to depart a jot from the traditions of his forefathers. The Danish Government requested permission to hoist the national flag over its Consulate, but the Bey asked 15,000 sequins as the price of the favour, and the Danish admiral was obliged to leave Goletta in despair. Then came a serious and long-lasting rupture with Venice. The Bey demanded an indemnity on account of some Tunisian passengers who had been wrongfully taken to Malta in a ship sailing under the colours of the Republic, and just as this dispute was on the point of being adjusted a fresh quarrel arose concerning the wreck of a Venetian vessel at Goletta, which ended in a declaration of war on the part of the Bey, and the expulsion of all Venetian citizens from the Regency. In September 1784 the squadron of the Republic, commanded by Admiral Emo, arrived at Goletta. All attempts at a settlement proved fruitless, and the ships ultimately returned to the Adriatic. During the following year the Venetian squadron bombarded Susa and Sfax, but did very little damage. Admiral Emo afterwards reached Goletta, and shelled it during the nights of the 30th October and 5th November, but entirely failed to take advantage of his success. No peace was concluded, and in March 1786 Sfax was once more attacked, and finally almost reduced to ruins. The same fate befell in succession Bizerta and Susa. The obstinacy of the Bey seemed to increase with each misfortune, and he now raised his demand for an indemnity from the Venetian Republic. At this juncture Admiral Emo died at Malta, and although a truce was ultimately agreed on, a definite peace was not concluded till 1792. The Republic actually paid 40,000 sequins to Hamouda Bey, besides sending him magnificent presents in the name of the Senate.

At this epoch the Sublime Porte informed the Bey that he had agreed to guarantee all Austrian vessels from the attacks of the Barbary corsairs; and in conformity with the wishes of his suzerain, Hamouda promised that the Tunisian cruisers should never more molest the ships of the Empire. During the stay of the naturalist Desfontaines at Tunis, an event occurred there which serves to illustrate the boundless power of the Beys at that period. A Ragusan captain was detected at the house of a Jew in the company of a Moorish woman. They were all three brought before Hamouda, who sentenced them to death _séance tenante_. The luckless Ragusan was at once beheaded, the woman was smothered in the mud of the Tunis lake, and the Jew was _burned alive_ in the middle of the city. This despotism at home seems to have been reflected in the increase of piracy abroad. Holland and Denmark vied with each other in coming to terms with Tunis, and in 1791 Spain too purchased a treaty from its former dependency at a cost of 100,000 piastres. During our war with France in 1796, an English squadron surprised four French men-of- war at anchor off Goletta. An engagement ensued, in which three of the French ships were taken. This proceeding is very severely commented on by French writers. At this time the French Republic was represented by a Special Commissioner, the citizen Hercules, and a Chargé d’Affaires, M. Devoize. The former accused the latter of a suspicious intimacy with the English Consul, of favouring émigrés, going to mass and singing, _“O Richard, o mon roi,”_ upon which he was ordered to Paris to give an account of his conduct, which was, however, deemed to be satisfactory. M. Devoize returned to his post in 1797. Three years before Hamouda Bey had declared war against the United States, and in 1799 the American Government deemed it expedient to put a stop to the depredations committed on their merchant shipping by a treaty. The following are the curious items of the price paid for it, viz.:—50,000 dollars in cash; 8000 dollars for secret service; 28 cannons of calibre 12, 14, and 8; 10,000 cannon balls; 300 quintals of gunpowder; 400 quintals of cordage, and a quantity of jewels.

While the chief Power in the New World was thus paying tribute with all the forms of diplomacy to the piratical states of the Old, the weaker nations of Europe were reaping the fruits of the system which conventions thus ignobly obtained only served to nourish and support. The American Treaty had hardly been signed, when the Tunisian corsair, Muhamed Raïs Roumali, appeared with twelve ships before the defenceless island of San Pietro, to the west of Sardinia, and carried into slavery nearly the whole of its inhabitants. This occurred in June 1799. Three months afterwards Hamouda Pacha, by order of the Sultan, declared war against France, and in accordance with his directions sent his squadron to join the English fleet off the coast of Egypt.