Excerpt from Operations of the French Navy: During the Recent War With Tunis
So far as regards the expedition to Tunis, our task concerns only the assistance given by the Navy to the land forces. The diplomatic side of the question has given rise to so many debates, not only in Parliament but also in the newspapers, that it seems superfluous to treat of it here in detail.
The cabinet of September 23, 1880 (as mentioned by M. Barthelemy Saint-Hilaire, minister of foreign affairs, in a circular addressed June 20, 1881, to the representatives of France abroad), "had found, on assuming the reins of government, that the Tunisian question had become much entangled, and that the situation was becoming more complicated every day by a succession of events, detrimental to French influence in the Regency, and likely even to compromise our dominion in Algiers."
France had two grievances: One of them was of long standing; the Other was more recent and of much greater moment. For many years our frontier was in a state of continual disturbance; our tribes bordering upon Tunis could not enjoy a moment of repose. Depredations of territory by Tunisian troops or by unsubdued tribes, burning of forests, contraband of war, refuge given to malefactors, pillaging of vessels, robberies of all kinds, murders and assassinations - all these offences and all these crimes increased beyond endurance. In ten years the outrages that could be officially stated, alone, "amounted to 2,379; that is, to about 250 per annum." The Government of the Bey was utterly powerless to prevent this inveterate evil even when it wished to do so, which was not always the case; and the damages, when obtained, were out of all proportion to the injuries sustained, not to mention the blows constantly inflicted upon oar prestige through the impurity of the offenders, who sometimes even profited by the connivance of the local authorities.
Another grievance of an altogether different nature required on our part, according to M. Barthelemy Saint-Hilaire, still more serious attention.
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