I gratefully acknowledge the assistance provided by the Canada Council in making possible the opportunity to undertake research on this subject in Tunis, Paris, and London. The Canada Council is not, however, responsible for the views put forth in this study. An earlier version of this article was presented to the 7th Annual Middle East Studies Association meeting, Milwaukee, November 1973.

¹ Significant contributions to understanding the changes from classical to modern Islamic cities include L. Abu-Lughod, Janet, Cairo: 1001 Years of the City Victorious (Princeton, 1971);Google ScholarBrown's, Kenneth superb study, People of Salé: Tradition and Change in a Moroccan City, 1830–1930 (Cambridge, Mass., 1976);Google ScholarLe Tourneau, Roger, Fès avant le protectorat (Casablanca, 1949);Google Scholar and those studies which treat particular institutions of state as they interact with the city, such as Loutfi, Afaf el Sayed, ‘The Role of the ‘ulamā’ in Egypt during the Early Nineteenth Century’, in Holt, P. M., ed., Political and Social Change in Modern Egypt (London, 1968), pp. 264–280;Google ScholarH. Green, Arnold, ‘Political Attitudes and Activities of the Ulema in the Liberal Age: Tunisia as an Exceptional Case’, International Journal of Middle East Studies, 7, 2 (1976), 209–241;CrossRefGoogle ScholarValensi, Lucette, ‘Islam et capitalisme: production et commerce des chechias en Tunisie et en France au XVIIIe siècle et XIXe siècle’, Revue d'histoire moderne et contemporaine, 16 (1969), 376–400;CrossRefGoogle Scholar and certain of the works of Baer, Gabriel, especially ‘Urbanization of Egypt, 1820–1907’, in R. Polk, William and L. Chambers, Richard, eds., Beginnings of Modernization in the Middle East (Chicago, 1968), pp. 155–169,Google Scholar and ‘The Beginnings of Municipal Government’, in Baer's, Studies in the Social History of Modern Egypt (Chicago, 1969).Google Scholar Additional studies that investigate a broad range of topics related to the Islamic city include Brown, L. Carl, ed., From Madina to Metropolis: Heritage and Change in the Near Eastern City (Princeton, 1973);Google ScholarM. Lapidus, Ira, ed., Middle Eastern Cities (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1969);Google ScholarHourani, A. H. and Stern, S. M., eds., The Islamic City (Oxford, 1970).Google Scholar A recent state-of-the-art survey reviewing the various approaches to the study of Islamic cities is Bonine, Michael, ‘Urban Studies in the Middle East’, Middle East Studies Association Bulletin, 9, 3 (1976), 1–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

² A sensitive and comprehensive examination of Tunisian society in transition is L. Carl Brown's study, The Tunisia of Ahmad Bey, 1837–1855 (Princeton, 1974),Google Scholar which amends some of the perspectives held by Ganiage, Jean, Les Origins du protectorat français en Tunisie, 1861–1881 (Paris, 1959);Google Scholar a detailed presentation of Khayr al-DĪn and the Tunisia of the 1870s is found in Smida, Mongi, Khéreddine, Ministre réformateur, 1873–1877 (Tunis, 1970);Google Scholar this statesman's principal work has been translated, with an introduction, by Brown, L. Carl as The Surest Path (Cambridge, Mass., 1967);Google Scholar relationships between external pressures and internal programs are well drawn in Raymond, André, ‘La France, la Grande-Bretagne et le problème de la réforme à Tunis (1855–57)’, in Etudes Maghrebines: Mékrnges Charles-André Julien (Paris, 1964), pp. 137–164.Google Scholar

³ For Ḥafṣid institutions in the city, see Brunschvig, Robert, La Berbérie orientale sous les Hafsids (Paris, 1940–1947), I, 338–357, II, 112–113 and 143–150;Google Scholar and idem., ‘Tunis’, El ¹.

⁴ A vigorous assertion of the lack of corporate structures in Islamic cities is made by S. M. Stern, ‘The Constitution of the Islamic City’, in Hourani, and Stern, , The Islamic City, pp. 24–50;Google Scholar on this point, see also, Le Tourneau, Roger, Les villes musulmanes de L'Afrique du Nord (Algiers, 1957), pp. 20–21, 45–46;Google ScholarPlanhol, Xavier de, The World of Islam (Ithaca, 1959),Google Scholar chap. I; and Dale F. Eickelmann's exploration of potentially distinct forms of Islamic urban associations, ‘Is There an Islamic City? The Making of a Quarter in a Moroccan Town’, International Journal of Middle East Studies, 5, 3 (1974), 274–294.Google Scholar An intelligent summary of various population estimates is given by Brown, Ahmad Bey, Appendix III. His own conservative estimate is 85,000. A somewhat higher figure is reached by Alexandrẹ Lézine on the basis of calculating population density in specifically delimited areas and then relating population per area to the larger spatial whole. See his Deux villes d'lfriqiya (Paris, 1971), pp. 164–171.Google Scholar

⁵ For a good discussion of the baldi, see Marty, Germaine, ‘A Tunis: éléments allogènes et activités professionnelles’, Institut des belles lettres arabes, 2 (1948), 159–188;Google Scholar on p. 160 the author notes that those who lived outside the walls of the city were regarded with disdain, sometimes even contempt. See also the discussion of baldi attitudes in Brown, , Ahmad Bey, pp. 192–197;Google Scholar and Smida, , Khéreddine, pp. 21–22.Google Scholar For a fascinating account of baldĪ survival during the protectorate, see the report treating the year 1939 by de Montety, Henri, ‘Old Families and New Elites in Tunisia’, in Zartman, I. William, ed., Man, State and Society in the Contemporary Maghrib (New York, 1973), pp. 171–180, esp. pp. 173–174.Google Scholar

⁶ The two suburbs, with their own ramparts branching off from the central madĪna, date from the eleventh century and developed around the principal roads that led to Tunis from different parts of the countryside. They housed newcomers and the floating population of the city, and never had the prestige as dwelling places that the central madina possessed. See Marty, , ‘A Tunis’, p. 163.Google Scholar

⁷ The works mentioned in note 2 provide general treatment of the role of amĪns; for a specific occupational analysis, see Ferchiou, Sophie, Techniques et Societés: Exemple de la fabrication des chechias en Tunisie (Paris, 1971), Part I, chap. iii.Google Scholar

⁸ Marty, , ‘A Tunis’, p. 164;Google ScholarLe Tourneau, Les Villes musulmanes, pp. 20–21;Google Scholar on the role of Islamic urban quarters, see also Planhol, de, World of Islam, pp. 13–14;Google Scholar and the clear analysis of Ira M. Lapidus, ‘Muslim Urban Society in Mamluk Syria’, in Hourani, and Stern, , The Islamic City, pp. 195–205.Google Scholar

⁹ On the possible Ḥafṣid origins of the shaykh al-madĪna, see Brunschvig, , La Berbérie orientale, II, 148–149;Google Scholar on the office's nineteenth-century responsibilities, see idem, ‘Tunis’, El ¹; and Brown, L. C., Ahmad Bey, pp. 123–127. Of course, parallel to thissystem of secular justice relating to crimes and misdemeanors was the system of high Islamic justice with its courts and officials to which the citizen of Tunis was also held accountable.Google Scholar

¹⁰ This office is discussed in more detail below.

¹¹ Monchicourt, Charles, Documents historiques sur la Tunisie. Relations inédites de Nyssen, Filippi et Calligaris (1788, 1829, 1834) (Paris, 1929), p. 330.Google Scholar J.-Henry Dunant, the founder of the International Red Cross, noted in the account of his visit to Tunis the magnificent receptions which made the winter season of 1856–1857 ‘fort brilliant’ and indicated his pleasure at the cultivated resources of the European circle of the city. See his Notice sur la régence de Tunis (Geneva, 1858), p. 250.Google Scholar See also Gandoiphe, Marcel, ‘La Vie à Tunis, 1840–81’, in Roger-Dessort, Charles, ed., Histoire de la ville de Tunis (Algiers, 1924), pp. 171–172.Google Scholar

¹² His account of the conditions of the Europeans with an attempt to estimate their numbers using parish records is La population européene a Tunis au milieu du XIXe siècle (Paris, 1960),Google Scholar passim, esp. chap. i. The Italian community is discussed in terms of its cultural and intellectual influence by Triulzi, A., ‘Italian-Speaking Communities in Early Nineteenth-Century Tunis’, Revue de l'Occident musulman et de la Méditerranée, 9 (1971), 153–184.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

¹³ Raymond, , ‘Le problème de la réforme à Tunis’, pp. 148–150;Google Scholar see also Brown, , The Surest Path, pp. 27–28.Google Scholar

¹⁴ Great Britain, Foreign Office (F.O.) 102/55, Wood to Malmesbury, 17 July 1858, no. 22. Arthur Pellegrin's claim for a vital, sole role on the part of French consul Léon Roches is contradicted by the documentation. Roches was on vacation at the time and all French consular correspondence on the subject was carried out by acting consul Rousseau (Pellegrin, Arthur, Histoire illustrée de Tunis et de sa banlieue [Tunis, 1955], pp. 114–115).Google Scholar

¹⁵ F.O. 102/55, Wood to Malmesbury, 3 September 1858, no. 25.

¹⁶ France, Ministère des Affaires Etrangères (A.E.), Tunis (Commerciale), 57. Rousseau, to Walewski, , 4 09 1858, no. 13.Google Scholar

¹⁷ The contingencies of this last point were dealt with at great length, possibly reflecting the congested nature of the streets and the ruined condition of many buildings in a city which did not demolish its collapsing structures. I have used a copy of the decree found in Tunis, Archives Générales Tunisiennes (A.G.T.), Carton 55, Dossier, 605; it was also published in the official Tunisian gazette, al-Rā'id, 2, no. 27 (1278/1861– 1862) under the explanation that since the gazette had not existed at the time of the creation of the municipality, the president (who was also the editor of al-Rā'id) felt its laws should be printed for the information of the people of the capital. Much of the original decree may also be found in the protectorate's municipal regulations for 1883 in Bompard, M., Legislation de la Tunisie (Paris, 1888), pp. 331–332; and in Richard Wood's dispat h on the subject, F.O. 102/55, Wood to Malmesbury, 3 September 1858, no. 25.Google Scholar

¹⁸ The contemporaneous council of Istanbul (created 7 July 1858) was an experimental body for the European quarter of Pera, the ineffectual Alexandrian copy of it was initiated and managed by Europeans, and the Casablanca municipal statute of 1878 was elaborated by foreign consuls and merchants – and rejected as impinging on its sovereignty by the Moroccan government. See, respectively, Lewis, Bernard, The Emergence of Modern Turkey (2nd ed.; London, 1969), pp. 395–398;Google ScholarBaer, , Studies in the Social History of Modern Egypt, chap. 11;Google Scholar and Adam, André, Histoire de Casablanca (Des Origines à 1914) (Aix-en-Provence, 1968), p. 96.Google Scholar A detailed study of the Istanbul municipality is being done by Steven Rosenthal, who presented an interesting account of his work in a paper at the tenth annual meeting of the Middle East Studies Association (1976), ‘Reform at the Center: The Effectiveness of Municipal Reform in Istanbul, 1855–1870’.

¹⁹ A suggestive statement concerning the pitfalls of studying change in terms on institutions alone is made by Roger Owen in his review of Baer's, Studies in the Social History of Modern Egypt, in Middle Eastern Studies, 9, 1 (1973), 115–118.Google Scholar

²⁰ For biographical sketches of Ḥusayn, see Muḥammad, al-Fāḍil ibn ‘Ashūr, Tar…jim al-A'läm (Tunis, 1970), pp. 23–31;Google ScholarGaniage, , Origines, p. 83;Google Scholar and the highly, laudatory assessment of Smida, Khéreddine, pp. 114–115.Google Scholar

²¹ Ibid., p. 114. In recognition of his patronage of literature as well as his position of political power, Ḥusayn was made the first editor of the official Tunisian gazette, alRā'id al-TūnisĪ, in 1860.

²² See, for example, F.O. 102/55, Wood to Malmesbury, 17 07 1858, no. 22; F.O. 102/99, Wood to Derby, 9 November 1874, no. 55; F.O. 102/108, Wood to Derby, 25 June 1877, no. 27. Wood's private letter to Lord Tenterden, recommending usayn and commenting on their ‘intimate and confidential’ relations for nearly twenty years, is in F.O. 102/111, 21 May 1878. The British consul would not have been pleased at the results: Tenterden scribbled that he had met this ‘fat and distinguished person’ who ‘had nothing particular to say’. The view from Whitehall was different than the one from the consulate.

²³ A. E. Tunis (Politique), 19, Roches to Walewski, 26 October 1859, no. 25.

²⁴ This disillusion is documented in A.E. Tunis (Politique), 21, Roches to Thouvenal, 22 March 1862, no. 5; 31 May 1862, Confidential.

²⁵ Bercher, L., ‘En marge du pacte ‘fondamental’’, Revue Tunisienne, n.5. (1939), 68.Google Scholar

²⁶ A.G.T., 55–606, 12 RabĪ' al-Thān, 1275 (1858).

²⁷ Ibn ‘Ashūr, Tarājim, p. 25.Google Scholar

²⁸ Smida, , Khéreddine, pp. 314–315, claims Zarrūq was known for his ‘liberal ideas and the sincerity of his patriotic sentiments’.Google Scholar

²⁹ Smida, , Khéreddine, pp. 340–341; see also the biography in Ibn ‘Ashür, Taräjim, pp. 221–233.Google Scholar

³⁰ Demeersman, A., ‘Catégories sociales en Tunisie au XIXe siècle’, Institut des belles lettres arabes, 30 (1967), 1–12, and 32 (1969), 17–36.Google Scholar

³¹ Ibid., 30 (1967), 5. Further evidence for the high standing of those engaged in shashiya commerce is found in Ferchiou, La fabrication des chechias, pp. 119–120.Google Scholar See also the more avowedly comparative work of Valensi, ‘Islam et capitalisme’, pp. 387–389. Filippi, the Sardinian consul general to Tunis in the late 1820s, felt that thw shāshiya makers were the most distinguished corporation of the city, calling them the true and only nobility of Tunis (Monchicourt, Documents historiques, p. 124).Google Scholar

³² The membership of the first municipal council has been determined on the basis of A.G.T., 56–621, 27 Jumādā al-Ulā, 1275 (1858). The names in my analysis are presented in order of their appearance on the documents.

³³ See A.G.T., 55–607, 19 Mubarram, 1278 (1861). Nevertheless, it is certain that the members had in common a status as a'yān which overrode any local residential particularisms.

³⁴ 'Umar, Thābit's biography is found in Aḥmad ibn Abi Diyāf, Itḥāf Ahl al-Zamān bi Akhbār Mulūk Tūnis wa 'Ahd al-Amān, vol. VIII, (Tunis, 1966),Google Scholar no. 391, that of his father in Ibid., no. 308 (hereafter cited as Bin Ḍiyāf). The amĪn al-umanā', or head of all the amĪns, supplied the corporate identity of the guilds vis-à-vis the central government. The position became the prerogative of the amĪn of the shāshiyas, and made its holder automatically president of the council of commerce. See Ferchiou, , La fabrication des chechias, 110–111, and 119–120.Google Scholar On the famous chronicler, Bin Ḍiyaf, see Brown, L. Carl, ‘The Religious Establishment in Husainid Tunisia’, in R. Keddie, Nikki, ed., Scholars, Saints and Sufis (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1972), p. 47. The last two volumes of Bin Ḍiyāf's work contain 407 biographies of individuals who died between 1783 and 1872. Since the biographies are numbered consecutively, the biography number, rather than the page number, has been used in the notes.Google Scholar

³⁵ Bin Ḍiyāf, VIII, no. 267.

³⁶ Muḥammad Ḥassūna al-Ḥaddād held the joint role, just before ‘Umar Thābit, of head of the councils of commerce and shāshiyas (Ibid., no. 326). This Ḥassūna may have been his son. See also Ibid., no. 305.

³⁷ Ibid., no. 375.

³⁸ No information has been found on al-Rizāq except that he did become a member of the grand council (the advisory body created by the constitution in, 1861); of the alMistĪrĪ (sometimes spelt al-MunastĪrĪ) family, see the not always enthusiastic comments of Bin Ḍiyāf, VII, no. 132, and VIII, no. 224; the distinguished ‘ArĪf family background is found in Ibid., VII, no. 13; VIII, no. 203. Although often regarded as one of the poorer sections of Tunis, Bāb Suwayqa, from the seventeenth into the nineteenth century, received two major mosques, Sidi Maḥrez and Yūsuf Ṣāib al-Ṭābi’, became a center of commerce and, accordingly, was chosen by several of the a'yān and ministers as the site of new mansions. See Revault, Jacques, Palais et demenres de Tunis, vol. II, XVIIIe et XIXe siècles (Paris, 1971), p. 435.Google Scholar

³⁹ On Thābit's father, and for mention of him, see Bin Ḍiyāf, VIII, no. 308. On the positions of the other two council members, see A.G.T., 45–513; and al-Rā'id, I, no. 5, 1277 (1860), in which al-TünisĪ is listed as the shaykh of Bāb al-JazĪra.

⁴⁰ These changes in council membership can be traced in President Ḥusayn's letters, A.G.T. 55–607, 19 Muḥarram, 1278 (1861), and RabĪ' al-Awwal, 1278 (1861). The seven replacements were confirmed by a beylical decree appearing in al-Rā'id, II, no. 11, 1278 (1861). The names of two men listed as being replaced, Muḥammad ibn ‘Abd al-KarĪm and al-Ṭāhir al-Qaṣṣār, did not appear on the document cited in note 32. They were most likely appointed after that meeting.Google Scholar

⁴¹ The al-TūmĪ family was one of those that had located in Bāb Suwayqa in the eighteenth century, and Muḥammad was identified as a representative of that suburb (Bin Ḍiyaf, VIII, no. 242; Revault, Palais, II, 435). Like the al-Ḥaddāds, the al-WazĪr family, which had a continuous representation on the municipality from 1861 to 1882, was of Andalusian origin and, from the middle of the nineteenth century, provided the president of the prestigious councils of commerce and of shāshiyas. Bakār al-WazĪr was a representative from 1861 to 1882, and Ḥassūna al-WazĪr, who joined the council in the mid-1870s, held, in addition to the posts of amĪn of shāshiyas and president of a reorganized council of commerce, the vice-presidency of the municipality until 1882 when he served as president for a year. On this distinguished member of the family, see Smida, , Khéreddine, p. 161.Google Scholar Bin Ḍiyāf's biographies provide further evidence of the prestige accorded the al-WazĪrs. See, for example, VIII, nos. 209, 326, 390, 392. On al-Sattār, whose brother was the famous QāḍĪ of the capital, Muḥammad al-BaḤrĪ, see Ibid., no. 362.

⁴² This is illustrated in the following reconstruction of the 1865 municipality: President, Qāra Muḥammad; Vice-President, al-'ArbĪ Zarrūq; Secretary, Sālim bū Ḥājib; ‘Umar Thābit, Ibrāhim Mu'ālā, Maḥmūd Bālma, Ḥamdih ibn al-QādĪ, Muḥammad, Dā'ūd, al-Ṭāhir ibn al-Ḥamūda, Muḥammad al-Mustāwi, Amad al-MunkabĪ IbrāhĪm alQiyāsh, and Bakār al-WazĪr. The basis for this reconstruction is found in A.G.T., 55–609, 21 Sha'bān, 1280 (1864), 10 Shuwwāl, 1280, 8 Dhū al-Qa'da 1280, 23 Dhū al-Ḥijja, 1280; 56–610, RabĪ’ al-ThānĪ, 1282 (1865), 33 Jumādā al-ūlā, 1282, and 16 Jumādā al-ākhira, 1282.

⁴³ For example, seven of the twelve a'yān who served on the council in the years 1858 to 1861 were also appointed to the grand council, five of them to the council of Mashār, while ‘Umar Thābit, lbrāhĪm Mu'ālā, and al-Ṭayyib al-ṬūnisĪ, in their capacities as shaykhs of the three administrative units of the city, served on the new council of ḍabṭiyyas which was created in 1860. See Ḍiyāf, Bin, V, pp. 35–36; al-Rā'id, I, no. 5, 1277 (1860), and II, no. 31, 1278 (1861).Google Scholar

⁴⁴ For example, V, p. 33, p. 42.

⁴⁵ L. Carl Brown defines the Tunisian religious establishment as composed of individuals who were professionally concerned, in several different capacities, as spokesmen for religion. See his ‘Religious Establishment’, pp. 47–91.

⁴⁶ A.G.T.,55–609, 21 Sha'bān, 1280 (1864).

⁴⁷ See Brunschvig, R., ‘Justice religieuse et justice laïque dans la Tunisie des Deys et des Beys jusqu'au milieu du XIXe siècle’, Studia Islamica, 23 (1965), esp. pp. 34–56, for a clear analysis of the role of the dey. The quotations are from pp. 38 and 6. The municipal council did not directly concern itself with religious law and, in the civil sphere, my analysis is less concerned with actual justice than with apprehension.Google Scholar

⁴⁸ Wood's account of the incident is found in F.O. 102/55 Wood to Malmesbury, 28 May 1858, no. 19, Rousseau's in A.E. Tunis (Politique), 18, Rousseau to Walewski, 29 May 1858, no. 7.

⁴⁹ A.G.T., 55–606, 18 Dhū al-Ḥijja, 1276 (1860); the requests for uniforms reached a high of 37 in 1862 and a low of 25 in 1864. A.G.T., 55–608, 1279 (1862–1863) and A.G.T. 56–610, 17 RabĪ' al-ThānĪ, 1281 (1864).

⁵⁰ A.G.T., 55–608, 17 Dhū al-Ḥijja, I279 (1863); 55–609, 2 Muḥarram, 1280(1863); 55–609, Rajab, 1280 (1863); 15 Sha'bān, 1280 (1863–1864).

⁵¹ A.G.T., 56–620, 12 August 1857. Wood's distrust carried to the very heart of the judicial system, and he could state that ‘the time is not yet come when the lives and the personal liberty and honor of Foreigners and Christians can safely be entrusted to the action of Mahometan courts’. F.O. 102/60, Wood to Russell, 15 November 1860, no. 36.

⁵² A.E., Tunis (Politique), 20, Roches to Thouvenal, 7 December 1861, no.1. In his dispatch, Roches blamed the deteriorating situation on the constant increase in the Italian population.

⁵³ The quotation is from A.G.T., 56–620, letter from the consuls in Tunis to Muḥammad al-Ṣādiq Bey, 5 July 1861. The continuity of concern, threats, and pledges in this sphere of activity can be traced in A.E., Tunis (Commerciale), 55, de Theis to de Rayneval, 4 December 1849, no. 20; and in several communications in A.G.T., 56–620, among them, ‘Projet de Reglement’., 23 February 1863; letter from the consular corps to Khayr al-DĪn, 20 January 1876; letter from consular corps to Muṣṭā bin Ismā'Īl, 29 October 1880.

⁵⁴ A.G.T., 56–620, ‘Projet de Reglement’, 23 February 1863. Even successful collection of the suggested fine of 10 piasters from the owners of open establishments would have gained the council nothing – the consuls recommended it go to the upkeep of the European hospital in Tunis.

⁵⁵ Sardinian consul Mathieu replied to one of Council President Ḥusayn's inquiries about a disturbance involving the consul's nationals with the observation that it was a ‘superficial turbulence’ resulting from the year-end celebrations (A.G.T., 56–620, 21 December 1860).

⁵⁶ A.G.T., 56–620, ‘Projet de Reglement’, 23 February 1863. U.S. Consul W. L. Nicholson insisted with a marked lack of diplomacy in a note to the Bey on this subject, that all arrested Americans be brought directly to the U.S. consulate ‘as the public prison of Tunis is more fit to incarcerate pigs than human beings’ (A.G.T., 56–620, 19 August 1861).

⁵⁷ As cited in Smida, Khéreddine, p. 151, n. 195ff.Google Scholar

⁵⁸ Bin Ḍiyāf, V, p.40.

⁵⁹ A1-Rā'id, no. 24, 1278 (1861/1862).Google Scholar

⁶⁰ Ḍabṭiyya salary specifications may be found in Ibid., II, no. 33, 1278 (1862). Ḥusayn felt that the ḍabṭiyya received preferential treatment not only in the amount of their salaries, but in the regularity of their payment. He made his views known in A.G.T., 55–608, 17 Dhū al-Ḥijja, 1279 (1863); 55–609, 2 Mu;ḥarram, 1280 (1863).

⁶¹ F.O. 102/88, Wood to Clarendon, 10 March 1870, no. 7. Wood was aware that the latent violence was not one-sided, and wrote in the same dispatch that the Italians threatened to burn down the consulates if the consuls did not arrange for the young Muslim to be hanged on the gate of the Christian quarter.

⁶² A.G.T., 58–643, Jumāda al-ūlā, 1275 (1858/59). The traditional inspector of the market in Islamic cities, the muḥtasib, derived his authority from the religious injunction ‘to promote good and forbid evil’ (ḥisba). When the religious role as guardian of morality shifted to the qāḍĪ, the muḥtasib's competence became more secular in scope, involving the general supervision of the market place. Brunschvig claims there was still a muḥtasib in fifteenth-century Tunis, but the office disappeared later, possibly becoming divided among the duties of the dawlatlĪ, the powerful amĪns, and even the shaykh al-madĪna. See Brunschvig, , La Berbérie orientate, 2, 149–150;Google ScholarPayre, Gabriel, Les Amines en Tunisie (Paris, 1940), pp. 4–5;Google Scholar and ‘hisba’, E1². Tunis was possibly unique among larger North African cities in its loss of a muḥtasib. The office still existed in Morocco in the twentieth century. See Tourneau, Le, Fès avant le protectorat, pp. 293–294.Google Scholar

⁶³ A.G.T., 58–643, 9 Ṣafr, 1278 (1861). The council could not reach a unanimous decision on who the new amĪn should be, but the majority favored al-Ḥajj Muḥammad al-Zahhār, who had, in fact, been chosen three years earlier as the amĪn from the madĪna.

⁶⁴ A.G.T., 58–643, 16 Jumādā al-Akhira, 1279 (1862).

⁶⁵ A.G.T., 55–608, 17 Jumādā al-Akhira, 1279 (1862).

⁶⁶ When complaints increased about cheating on the scales and a lack of cleanliness in the shops, Council President Ḥusayn stated his belief that the existing punishments, a small fine and a brief jail term, were insufficient deterrents to this activity and, in this case, the mamlūk reformer called for the restoration of an earlier custom when offenders were subjected to a beating by the amĪns (A.G.T., 55–608, 9 RabĪ' al-ThānĪ, 1281 [1864]).

⁶⁷ A.G.T., 58–643, 7 Rajab, 1276 (1860).

⁶⁸ A.G.T., 58–643, 16 Ṣafr, 1278 (1861).

⁶⁹ A.G.T., 56–610, 14 Ramaḍān, 1282 (1866).

⁷⁰ For Richard Wood's belief in the liberating effects which an infusion of competitive British capital would have on the Tunisian system, see Raymond, André, ‘Les Tentatives anglaises de pénétration économique en Tunisie (1856–1877)’, Revue Historique, 214, 1 (1955), 48–67.Google Scholar

⁷¹ Pellegrn, Arthur, ‘Le vieux Tunis: les noms de rues de la ville arabe’, Extrait du Bulletin Economique et social de la Tunisie (Tunis, 1951–1952), p. 36.Google Scholar

⁷² Lallemand, Charles, Tunis et ses environs (Paris, 1890), p. 135. When the Mozabites renewed their concession in 1871, it was worth 30,000 piasters (A.G.T., 58–643, ‘Extract of the Minutes of the French Consulate General’).Google Scholar

⁷³ A.G.T., 58–643, 11 Shuwwāl, 1276 (1860); 22 RabĪ'al-ThānĪ, 1280 (1863). A naṣr was the 52nd part of the basic currency unit, riyāl or, as the Europeans called it, piaster. One raṭl was equal to 16 ounces. Pellegrin, Histoire illustrée, p. 208 n. 1; F.O. 102/29,Google ScholarRichardson, James, ‘An Account of the Present State of Tunis’, (1845), 1847.Google Scholar

⁷⁴ A.G.T., 58–643, 13 Shuwwāl, 1282 (1866). The French came to the support of their protégés when, later, the Tunisian authorities tried to reduce the value of the concession in midterm.

⁷⁵ Examples of this activity are described in A.G.T., 58–643, Muḥarram, 1279 (1862–1863); letter of Roustan, T., 23 11 1877; letters of Richard Wood, 7 and 29 November 1878.Google Scholar

⁷⁶ Descriptions can be found in Gandolphe, , ‘La Vie à Tunis’, p. 170;Google Scholar Pellegrin, Histoire illustrée, p. 113Google Scholar and de Flaux, A., La Régence de Tunis au dix-neuviè;me siècle (Paris, 1865), p. 36.Google Scholar

⁷⁷ Frank, Louis, ‘Tunis’, in Marcel, J. J., ed., L'Univers pittoresque (Paris, 1850), VII, 10.Google Scholar

⁷⁸ A.E. Tunis (Commerciale), 56, de Theis to de Turgot, 12 February, 1852, no. 69; F.O. 102/50, Wood to Clarendon, 23 September 1856, no. 28. Corroborative observations appear in Pellissier de Reynaud, E., Description de la Régence de Tunisie (Paris, 1853), p. 50;Google Scholar F.O. 102/29, 1847, Richardson's Report; T. Temple, Grenville, Excursions in the Mediterranean: Algiers and Tunis (London, 1835), I, 170;Google Scholar and in the chilling comment by Flaux, de, La Régence de Tunis, p. 36,Google Scholar that the external canal could become blocked with sewage and thus inundate an entire quarter of the city. For another premodern refuse situation, see Abu-Lughod, , Cairo, p. 86.Google Scholar

⁷⁹ Wood observed of his most numerous charges, ‘Numbers of the Maltese have built for themselves hovels on the very brink of the common sewer… where the noxious atmosphere causes frightful diseases and great mortality among the children’ (F.O. 102/50, Wood to Clarendon, 9 September 1856, no. 25). See also Ganiage, , Les Européens à Tunis, pp. 29–30.Google Scholar The mud swamp of winter could be navigated by a special boot, called a trampini, which elevated the wearer above the slime. Gandolphe, , ‘La Vie à Tunis’, p. 170.Google Scholar

⁸⁰ A.G.T., 620–56, 23 February 1863.

⁸¹ Tourneau, Le, Les Villes musulmanes, p. 41,Google Scholar gives a general brief statement on street cleaning; and Gandolphe, ‘La Vie à Tunis’, p. 170, provides some specific examples for Tunis. Gandolphe also states that there was a guild of workers from the Djerid, under the authority of three amĪns, who cleaned out the sewer system itself. I have not found any evidence that the municipality dealt directly with this group.

⁸² A.G.T., 56–621, 28 Jumāda al-ūlā, 1275 (1858–1859).

⁸³ Ibid.

⁸⁴ Ibid. Carts and men were set to work in the suburb of Bāb al-JazĪra, which served as the model for the refuse removal experiment.

⁸⁵ A.G.T., 56–621, 17 Ramaḍān, 1276 (1860).

⁸⁶ The list accompanies the document cited in n. 86. Dwellings were listed at 8,245 with Bāb Suwayqa having the most – 3,483.

⁸⁷ These developments may be traced in A.G.T., 56–621, 8 Shuwwāl, 1276 (1860); 25 Dhū al-Ḥijja, 1276 (1860); Rabi' al-ThānĪ, 1278 (1861).

⁸⁸ A.G.T., 56–621, RabĪ' al-ThānĪ, 1278 (1861).

⁸⁹ For the continued failure to resolve the administrative problem, see A.G.T., 56ဓ621, Consular statements of July 1872M, May 1875, July 1876, and November 1877.

⁹⁰ This development occurred in other Near Eastern cities where Europeans settled in large numbers. See, for example, Lewis, , Emergence, pp. 395–396;Google ScholarAbu-Lughod, , Cairo, pp. 95–96.Google Scholar

⁹¹ The most ubiquitous of the vehicles at this time was the karrūsa, a two-wheeled chariot type of cart which was used to carry passengers. Wood called them public carriages, the municipality, karāris al-karā'. Also numerous was the karṭān, a small cart used for transporting goods.

⁹² These problems are singled out and solutions proposed in A.G.T., 57–623, 15 RabĪ' al-ThānĪ, 1278 (1861); and 27 RabĪ' al-ThānĪ, 1278 (1861). The payments were to be 5 riyāls per month on each karūn and karṭūsa with one animal; 6 riyāls for those with four wheels or two animals. Even beasts of burden were taxed by the revenue-hungry council for using the public streets to the amount of one riyāl for all horses, mules and camels, and 1/2 riyāl for each donkey.

⁹³ A.G.T., 57–623, 15 RabĪ' al-ThānĪ, 1278 (1861). It will be recalled that the municipality's detailed plan for cleaning the streets had been stalled by requiring that it await the decision of the grand council.

⁹⁴ The decrees are found in al-Rā'id, II, no. 26, 1278 (1862).Google Scholar

⁹⁵ A.G.T., 57–623, Wood to Muḥammad al-Ṣādiq Bey, 15 January 1862.

⁹⁶ A.G.T., 57–623, 15 Jumādā al-ākhira, 1280 (1863/64). Later reports point to the continued traffic congestion caused by European vehicles and to the lack of support received by the municipality from the foreign consuls. For example, A.G.T., 56–610, 24 Dhū al-Qa'da, 1282 (1866).

⁹⁷ A.G.T., 57–623, 25 Jamādā al-ākhira, 1282 (1865).

⁹⁸ A.G.T., 57–623, letter from Richard Wood as doyen of the consular corps, to Muḥammad al-Ṣādiq Bey reporting the decisions of the consuls, 2 November 1878.

⁹⁹ A.G.T., 55–606, 14 Dhū al-Ḥijja, 1276 (1860); 30 RabĪ' al-ThānĪ, 1277 (1860). The tax on wines and spirits which Brunschvig suggests as a major source of municipal revenues does not appear to have been nearly as important as kharrūba and jibs. See ‘Tunis’, El¹.

¹⁰⁰ A.G.T., 55–606, 14 Dhū al-Ḥijja, 1276 (1860).

¹⁰¹ Examples are Ibid.; A.G.T., 55–606, 23 Muḥarram, 1277 (1860); 55–607, 14 Muḥarram, 1278 (1861); 55–608, 12 Jumādā al-ākhira, 1279 (1862–1863).

¹⁰² A.G.T., 55–608, I RabĪ' aI-ThānĪ, 1279 (1862); 56–622, Jumādā al-Akhira, 1279 (1862–1863).

¹⁰³ A.G.T., 55–603, Muḥarram, 1278 (1861); see also, al-Rā'id, II, no. 3, 1278 (1861), and II, no. 4, 1278 (1861),Google Scholar for the beylical decrees. A discussion of the decrees and their results may be found in Smida, , Khéreddine, pp. 259–262.Google Scholar

¹⁰⁴ The municipality's regulations for hubus agents are found in al-Rā'id, III, no. 9, 1279 (1862).Google Scholar While more study remains to be done on hubus and its relationship to municipal organization, my analysis concludes that little substantive change was made in hubus administration by the municipal council of Tunis. The major reorganization of 1873 was initiated by the state.

¹⁰⁵ A.G.T., 55–606, 15 Ramaḍān, 1276 (1860); and 22 Shuwwāl, 1277 (1861).