Chapter XLV: 1882 and the Future

On the morning of New Year’s Day the French residents as usual paid their official visit to M. Roustan, who addressed them in the following words:—

GENTLEMEN,—I am deeply touched by the expressions of sympathy I have received since yesterday from the French colony, and which you have just renewed. For my part, gentlemen, I was very anxious to see you at the commencement of this year, and to speak to you once again, as I have been in the habit of doing for the last seven years. Each of these seven years which we have spent together has marked a stage in the progress of French policy in Tunis by an increase of our influence in this country. On each of these anniversaries I came before you, you will remember, and spoke to you of the ground already got over, and of what yet remained to be traversed; and I continued my way, strong in your confidence and support, which I am happy to declare have never failed me in decisive hours and moments of crises. Indeed, crises have not been wanting; they have followed each step of our progress. Every step forwards has been greeted by an outcry against the policy which gave, or restored, something to France. I wish to recall to your minds the dates of these attacks; they are those of our successes. They commenced after the concession of the railway, were repeated after its junction with Algeria, were renewed later on, after the concession of the 14th August 1880, and were had recourse to after the success of numerous other French enterprises. You have not forgotten the character of that malevolent policy. After this seventh year, which has marked the last stage, and which has led us to a result which is more complete than we claimed or even desired, I expected that those attacks would be renewed with redoubled vigour. Strong in my own conscience, sure of the support of Government and of yours, I prepared to meet them with the same contempt as on former occasions, without any idea of refusing our adversaries that sad consolation for so many disappointed hopes. But what I was not prepared for, what I could not foresee, was that, at that moment, our foreign adversaries would be joined by adversaries at home, who, more relentless, and, above all, more disloyal than the former, would unblushingly employ calumnies which foreigners in the heat of anger and in the midst of disappointments had shrunk from using. The trial has been severe; you know the result. It has not shaken the confidence which the Government of the Republic had placed in me, neither has it shaken yours, of which I have just received such precious testimony. That is why, surmounting very legitimate repugnance, I have returned to resume my place among you. I am come back, first, as the honest man who has the right and perhaps the duty to present himself again before honest people. I am come back also because my return is a sign of the firm intention of Government to maintain the result attained, because my name, by an honour dearly purchased, has become synonymous with the continuation of the French work in Tunisia. Gentlemen, you will permit me to speak of my good name. You are aware that calumnies of all sorts have been employed to damage it; but before you, who have seen me at work during seven years, before you who judge me with full knowledge of the circumstances, I have the right to reassert that this good name has been placed by me sufficiently high to be out of the reach of all the filth that is flung at it. It is necessary that Frenchmen here and elsewhere should know that the agents of the Republic will not abandon the care of the interests of their fellow-countrymen, but will do their duty whatever it may cost them; in a word, that they will have the courage to surmount all their disgust and disregard all calumnies so long as they find themselves surrounded by worthy people like you, who encourage them, and find behind them a just and strong Government which supports them.

This extraordinary manifesto at once made M. Gambetta’s fatal mistake apparent to all the world; M. Roustan considered his return a purely personal triumph, and both he and his friends acted accordingly. Not a care was bestowed to the increasingly pressing difficulties of the situation; not an attempt was made to smooth down those international asperities which became every day more frequent, nobody thought of anything else but the best way of paying off old debts as regards M. Roustan’s real or fancied enemies. The news which reached Tunis on the afternoon of the 1st January, that no sooner was General Logerot’s back turned, than the Ouerghama and Ouerdna tribes had again revolted, and that a flying column consisting of 2000 infantry, one battery of artillery, and two squadrons of cavalry, had been sent against them, was almost overlooked amongst the matters of more local interest which now occupied the Residency. Madame Musalli’s brother challenged the lawyer Pelletier to mortal combat; the French Consular Court solemnly disbarred him. Taib Bey’s medical adviser prudently put the Mediterranean between himself and M. Roustan, and Taib Bey himself was selected for signal vengeance. As early as the 5th January his arrest was asked for. His brother hesitated, and to please the French issued a notice that any one talking about the possible arrival of Turkish troops would be punished with the bastinado. The troubles in the south still continued. Ali Ben Hlifa now (January 9) sent a letter to the _Jowaib_ by way of Tripoli in which he stated that thirteen of the Tunisian tribes would take the field in the spring, viz.: the Nefet, Zlass, Mitelit, Sondasen, Ouled Said, Ouled Ayar, Ouled Yacoob, Ouerghama, Ouerdna, and Beni Zid, and that as he could count on 170,000 fighting men, all he wanted from his friends abroad was arms. A sort of visible paralysis seemed now to fall over the French plans in Tunis; nobody appeared to know what would come next, and it became evident that the state of affairs in France prevented the adoption of any definite programme for the future. M. Gambetta became more and more unpopular. The same spirit which in an evil hour prompted him to restore M. Roustan to Tunis, became evident in every act of his official life. The hero of 1870 was now denounced as “Cæsar,” “Vitellius,” “dictateur,” “tyran,” “le Louis XIV. de Cahors,” “le Coupeau de Cahors,” “bandit,” “dictateur dégommé,” “l’alcoholisé,” “le fou furieux,” and “le Napoléon d’opportunisme,” and all this in a single issue of the Parisian newspapers, on a single day in January 1882. M. Gambetta resolved to join issue with his foes. Meanwhile he told his friends that “he had other things to think of than Tunis and the Tunisians, and must postpone his African scheme until he knew his own fate and that of the grand ministry.” So the chaos was left undisturbed, and M. Roustan had nothing else to think of but his personal grievance.

Taib Bey’s fate was soon sealed. Although some of his true friends implored M. Roustan to hesitate before taking the final step, he still relentlessly pressed on Muhamed es Sadek the absolute necessity of his brother’s arrest. This demand was all the more impolitic, as M. Roustan admitted on the Rochefort trial that he had himself given Taib a French passport and helped his doctor to get a present of 30,000 francs as a broker in the transaction. The Bey refused to consent, in spite of the constant persuasions of Mustapha, until on the 16th of January M. Roustan assured him, that the orders of the French Government on the subject were explicit and would brook of no delay. During the night his pleasant palace at the Marsa was surrounded by Tunisian soldiers commanded by the titular Minister of War, and on the following morning he was conveyed under a strong escort to the Bardo, in the very carriage in which he had hoped eight months before to come there as M. Roustan’s nominee to the Beylical throne. He was confined as a state prisoner in the lattice-windowed seraglio. The Bey, however, sent an aide-de-camp to assure his brother that he felt no personal ill-will towards him, and that his imprisonment was due to _Kismet_ and M. Roustan. Taib answered, “I am as you say a prisoner by God’s will; but I hope that both my brother and myself will live to see justice done by the same God to the man who is responsible for our common misfortunes.” Three months have passed since then, and Taib Bey is still a prisoner. He has even been removed to a more secure locality than the old seraglio, and in case he might suffer from the cold several of the windows have considerately been walled up. A friend of mine happened to be at the Bardo when this was being done, and noticed the zealous M. Sumaripa benevolently engaged in superintending the task. Thanks to the good offices of M. Paul Cambon, Taib Bey has now been released, and very probably will soon be one of the lions of the Parisian _salons_. He is not likely again to cast his eyes inopportunely on his brother’s honours.

The main body of General Logerot’s column now reached Susa after a short stay at Sfax. The action of the Arabs was now confined to raids and _razzias_, which inevitably occurred as soon as the French troops passed northwards. For the moment no energetic measures could be taken, as the worn-out soldiers required some rest after their two months’ weary march.

February opened with the fall of Gambetta amidst the triumphant acclamations of nine-tenths of the French press. The Tunisian question, and notably the return of M. Roustan, now aggravated by the universally reprobated arrest of Taib Bey, were appreciable elements in his unpopularity and discomfiture. Great things were hoped for from his successor. It was noticed that M. De Freycinet had not been called as a witness in the Rochefort trial, and it was asserted that he would recall M. Roustan at any cost. Under all circumstances it was evident that some time must elapse before M. De Freycinet could present a Tunisian programme, and so the chaos still remained unremedied. A very strong anti-French feeling now showed itself amongst the Italian colonists, which materially added to the embarrassments of the situation. On the 18th February two French gendarmes arrested a Sicilian at Goletta and conveyed him to the military prison. The Italian Consul demanded his release, but before his request could be complied with, an angry and threatening mob assembled. Tunis now seemed to be entering on an era of Franco-Italian affrays in the capital and _razzias_ in the interior.

The neighbourhood of Sfax now again became unsafe. On the 27th February a band of insurgents defeated the “submitted” tribes, _who had been deprived of their arms_, in the immediate vicinity of that town, and once more cut the Gabes telegraph line. Four days later they looted an esparto caravan, killing several persons and carrying off 100 camels. Two small columns were now ordered to enter the disturbed district from Susa and Kairwán, but they proved to be inadequate to crush out the mischief rife there.

On the 4th March, Tunis was _en fête_ to receive General Forgemol. The streets were lined with soldiers, the military band played their most cheerful music, and salutes were fired from the forts. M. Saint- Hilaire’s fiction, however, still survived. The effect of General Forgemol’s triumphal procession was somewhat marred by its being led by a Tunisian officer carrying a large umbrella, apparently for the purpose of denoting that everything was being done by the Bey’s invitation and consent. Two hours later M. Roustan quitted Tunis for ever. The icy coldness which signalised his exit contrasted strangely with the brilliant reception of General Forgemol. M. Roustan’s departure marks an era in the annals of the last Punic War. The Bey sent a special messenger to see that he was really gone, and when he at length learned that the matter no longer admitted of any doubt, gave way to almost childish transports of delight. A week previously M. Roustan had gone to the Bardo to take leave of him, and I afterwards received an account of what had passed at the audience from an eye-witness. It was the most amusing description I ever listened to, and I wrote an account of it at the time, which afterwards appeared in _Vanity Fair_. I cannot expect my readers to regard it in any other light than that of a burlesque, but those who understand the peculiarities of Arab character will at once understand how much of it is really serious:—

_Scene: The Kasr-es-Said Palace at Tunis. Time: The 26th February. Dramatis Personæ: The_ BEY OF TUNIS _and his Councillors. Both the Bey and his favourite_, MUSTAPHA, _wear their Grand Cordons of the Legion of Honour. An interpreter announces that_ M. ROUSTAN _is in attendance with_ GENERAL MUSALLI _to take leave. Handkerchiefs are distributed. An order to weep is given_.

MUHAMED ES SADIK _loq._—We must be very careful. This is the third time he has gone away, but he always comes back. Roustan is a cat. Roustan has nine lives. (_All begin to weep._ ROUSTAN _enters with his friend_.)

BEY _loq._—Good-bye, my dearest friend. (_Here he pauses from agitation, and both he and_ MUSTAPHA _repeatedly embrace the Minister to Washington after the Oriental usage._ BEY _continues, in a voice broken by sobs_)—Allah has sent me many misfortunes, but your going is undoubtedly the greatest of them all. What shall I and poor Mustapha do without you? What will become of my country in your absence? Alas! alas! Tunis is undone! The Almighty is indeed too cruel when He deprives me of my friend and guide. (_The_ BEY _weeps on_ ROUSTAN’S _neck;_ ROUSTAN _and_ MUSALLI _weep in chorus._ ROUSTAN _is conveyed from the room deeply affected_.)

ROUSTAN (_aside to_ MUSALLI _on the staircase_) _loq._—Why, he has not even given me a parting present! At least I expected a diamond snuff- box, or another order. Can it be that even with me it is a case of _le roi est mort, vive le roi?_

(_The_ BEY _watches_ ROUSTAN’S _carriage disappear from the window. He turns to his courtiers. He laughs, he cries, at last he dances_.)

BEY _loq._—_Now_ I am Bey again! Roustan is gone at last, and I breathe once more! No more _frais de voyage_ for the woman Elias! No more estates for her husband! May Allah convey his soul expeditiously to the bottomless pit! May the Angels of Death be his guards and keepers! May the curses of a ruined and desolated country rest upon his head! May the Prophet cause the dark waves of the Atlantic to overwhelm him! May . . . . (_curse, curse, curse_). . . .

Two hours later General Musalli returns. He tenders to the Prime Minister the draft of an order for the sale of three Government estates. Old Muhamed Khaznadar, who has served five Beys and knew Tunis in its palmier days, plucks up courage and tears the paper up before his face.

On the night of the 26th of February there was high festival held in the halls of Kasr-es-Said. The reign of the dynasty of Musalli-Roustan had ended for ever.

I am now reluctantly compelled to return to the dark and sad side of the Tunisian difficulty. On the 6th March a band of several hundred mounted Arabs passed in the early morning the gate of Kairwán, and it is even said they obtained a supply of bread there. Moving rapidly northwards to the Enfida they came across a convoy under the care of six unfortunate Italians. One only escaped wounded to Tunis to tell the tale: his companions were all murdered and mutilated. Their assailants pillaged their carts and then turned in the direction of Sidi el Háni. _En route_ some Maltese cart drivers were also met with and killed, one man alone escaping, covered with sword cuts, to Kairwán. It was now raining hard and nearly dusk, but the Arabs had a sharp encounter with the French troops stationed round the _marabout_ I myself had passed in November. Twenty-seven Arabs payed for their temerity with their life, but the rest made good their retreat with all their booty, and finally succeeded in traversing the _chott_ and rejoining Ali Ben Hlifa. In addition to the plunder of the convoys, they had executed several _razzias_ on their compatriots who had come to terms with the French, and I believe their loot of camels, cattle, and goods was ultimately sold in Tripoli for at least £5000. This unhappy occurrence at length convinced the military authorities of the gravity of the situation. The acting Italian Consul- General again went through the now familiar form of protesting against the Tunisian Government, which was day by day becoming more powerless and disorganised. A plan for a forty days’ campaign was agreed upon, but its execution was somehow or other delayed to the end of the month. A column commanded by General Philibert was to leave Gafsa and cross the marsh-lakes in the direction of the Nefzaoua, while a second column under General Jamais marched from Gabes on Matmata and the Tripolitan frontier. This simultaneous movement was to be supported by a third column with Colonel Le Noble approaching the Tunisian frontier from Oued in Algeria, and preventing the insurgents retreating before the other forces from attacking the Algerian Arabs. At the present moment (April 10th) these three bodies of troops are carrying out the above plan, but unexpected and unprecedented rains have as yet proved a serious obstacle to their progress.

On the 2d April M. Paul Cambon, _ex-Préfet du Nord_, arrived in Tunis as M. Roustan’s successor, and was greeted with the same military honours as General Forgemol. Two days later he received the official visit of the French residents, to whom, after a complimentary allusion to his predecessor, he spoke as follows:—“As regards the improvements which may be effected in the present state of things, I have come here to study them. I shall do this without having formed any preconceived ideas on the subject, with an earnest desire to assist the Beylical Government, and to prove that France has not lost her old fame as a civilising power. But this is not the work of a day. Nothing good or durable was ever done in a day. One must proceed methodically, patiently, and prudently. I shall hope to derive information from every available source. We have, I feel sure, all of us a common object—the good of the Regency and the honour of the French Republic.” These words are words of wisdom and promise well. M. Cambon has everything before him. As the reorganiser of the shattered Tunisian Executive, as the pioneer of financial and municipal reforms, as the healer of old wounds, and as the reconciler of conflicting interests, M. Paul Cambon may gain that fame and earn those laurels which the justice of posterity will assuredly deny to the contrivers and authors of the Last Punic War.

APPENDIX.