France’s Tunisia: Installing the Framework of the Protectorate

ʿAli Bey well knew that retention of his office hinged on his rapport with the French resident general Cambon. The new bey had initially condemned the French invasion, but, once the antibeylical character of the resistance had come to light, he took command of Tunisian forces serving with the French army in Khmir territory. Mindful of rumors that some French officials responsible for planning the 1881 operation had advocated deposing Muhammad al-Sadiq in favor of his brother Taieb, despite his own designation as heir apparent, ʿAli had no reason to doubt that installing Taieb on the throne remained an option. For Cambon, the beylical transition afforded the opportunity to underscore the right of diplomatic supervision that France had secured through the Bardo Treaty, as well as to prepare for the extension of France’s role to the much broader administrative and political oversight endorsed at the Congress of Berlin. Such oversight might, if properly managed, also help to put paid to Ottoman political claims in Tunisia. Toward these ends, and without objection from the insecure ʿAli, Cambon orchestrated the October 28, 1882, accession ceremony of the new ruler. The resident general accompanied ʿAli from his seaside residence in La Marsa to the Bardo Palace, where Cambon invested him as bey in the name of France, bestowing on him the grand cordon of the Légion d’Honneur. The adroit prior intervention of the French ambassador in Istanbul ensured that this usurpation of the sultan’s customary practice of issuing an investiture decree passed without incident in the Ottoman capital. In the evening, the resident general, acting as the senior diplomat in Tunis, gathered the foreign consuls together for an audience with the bey.