[3] Public debt did not exist in the Regency of Tunis until the end of the reign of Mustapha Bey in 1837,[4] but his successors found themselves in increasingly difficult financial circumstances.

They wanted to modernise the country and its institutions: Ahmed Bey had set up a military academy at Le Bardo and begun training a larger army.

There is much scholarly debate about exactly what this constituted and how it was levied, but it appears that before 1856, the term mejba signified a tax paid by a tribe, clan or other social group, based on a collective assessment.

However the Batto Sfez Affair in 1857 did give France an excuse to put more pressure on Muhammad Bey, and a naval squadron of nine ships and seven hundred cannon[12] was sent to La Goulette to insist that he promptly adopt a series of reforms modelled on the Ottoman Tanzimat.

[16] The Fundamental Pact thus further undermined the shaky finances of the Regency by abolishing traditional taxes, and opened the door to commercial penetration of the country by foreign business.

The new Supreme Council was filled with placemen of the Prime Minister Mustapha Khaznadar, mamluks, and others of Turkish and non-native descent, with few of the traditional Arab tribal leaders of the interior.

[22] Sadok Bey tried to resolve the country's chronic financial problems in May 1862 by borrowing 10m piastres at 12% interest from Nassim Shamama, his Jewish Receiver-General of Finances.

[34] The dead governor's secretary, Ali Ben Ghedhahem (Arabic: علي بن غذاهم), born in 1814 in Sbeïtla,[35] quickly established himself as the leader of the revolt in the west of the country.

When the Bey's soldiers came to his region to collect the mejba, he told people to disobey, and was obliged to flee for safety to the mountains near Oueslatia and Bargou.

[36] The unorganised revolt of the Mthélith, the Zlass, the Majer and the Fraichiche who camped near the Algerian frontier coalesced into a definite movement as tribal notables came together to swear solemn oaths and began to unite around specific demands—a return to traditional justice and taxation.

The French government instructed its consul Charles de Beauval not to involve himself in the internal politics of the Regency, but despite this, he did not hesitate to advise Sadok Bey to revoke his reforms, suspend the constitution, and send Khaznadar away.

[49] The British government had likewise given its consul Richard Wood instructions to keep out of the dispute,[50] but he nevertheless offered the Bey the opposite advice— to support Khaznadar and maintain the new constitution, while cancelling the doubling of the mejba.

He proposed that Sadok Bey sign an agreement undertaking not to enter into any treaty with another power without the Sultan's consent, pay 3m piastres a year in tribute, and present himself in Istanbul to receive an Imperial investiture.

He made contact with Ben Gedhahem and assured him that the aim of the French warships was to support his demands and that he was seeking to secure the dismissal of the Prime Minister.

[60] Meanwhile, the Italian government planned to land an expeditionary force of 10,000 in Tunis in June 1864 to take control of the capital and the main coastal towns.

Not only did he make a show of force to deter the European powers, he also brought desperately-needed financial support in the amount of 0.5m francs in gold coin.

[64] At the same time the government was able to raise further funds by selling the coming olive harvest to European traders in advance, with Khaznadar once again profiting from the transaction.

In the countryside, people wanted to return to their fields in time for the harvest; in the coastal towns, fear of brigandage by the nomadic tribes led by Ali Ben Ghedhahem made them wary of throwing their lot in with the insurgents of the interior.

[66] On 29 June 1864 a military column headed by General Ismail Es-Sunni Saheb at-Taba'a marched out from Tunis to meet Ben Ghedhahem and offer him an amnesty (aman).

The rebels' other demands were: On 19 July Sadok Bey agreed to give Ben Ghedhahem an amnesty, making sure that his requests for personal rewards were widely publicised to undermine him among his followers.

Condemned to the bastinado, they were beaten under the balconies of the Bey, in front of the steps leading up to the Hall of Justice, so that all could see their punishment and hear their pleas for mercy.

[80] In January 1865 Ali Ben Ghedhahem and his brother Abd En Nebi were taken under watch to Constantine while his men were disarmed and interned by the French.

Finally, missing his homeland, Ali Ben Ghedhahem took flight on 17 November 1865 and returned to Tunisia, hiding out in the Regba massif near the border at Ghardimaou.

Some tribal leaders tried to persuade him to resume armed resistance in order to end the reprisals and extortions the army was inflicting on their region, but he refused.

Already, when there was only famine to contend with, Europeans did not dare leave their houses, for fear of encountering people wandering in the street, emaciated, whom despair might push to commit some awful crime.

The admirable soil of the Sahel itself was not spared: owners cut down their olive trees, their future fortune, to sell as firewood, rather than pay the endless taxes which were laid upon them.

[83] 'The famine of 1867 all but emptied Thala, Kalaat Senan, Zouarine and Ebba and reduced the population of towns like El Kef and Téboursouk significantly.

Zouarine, said by Victor Guérin to have 250-300 souls, was abandoned after the attacks of Fraichiche bedouin driven by hunger, and not repopulated until the eve of the Protectorate on the initiative of the governor of El Kef, Si Rachid.

As Nassim Shamama had fled in June 1864, the following month a loan of 5m francs was arranged with a Jewish financier named Morpurgo from Alexandria, of which only 0.5m found their way to the treasury.

Among those ordered to be strangled were Si Rachid, who had commanded the Tunisian forces in the Crimean War, and Ismail Es-Sunni Ismaïl Sahib Et-Tabaâ, his brother in law, who had negotiated with Ali Ben Ghedhahem in 1864.