The Mejba Revolt (1864–65) was a rebellion in Tunisia against the doubling of an unpopular poll tax (the mejba) imposed on his subjects by Sadok Bey. The most extensive revolt against the rule of the Husainid Beys of Tunis, it saw uprisings all over the country and came close to prompting military intervention by Britain and France. The revolt was suppressed with great brutality and the government became ever more seriously indebted to foreign creditors, backed by European governments, until it was finally unable to resist French occupation in 1881.Kevin Shillington, Encyclopedia of African History, Routledge, 2013 p.1597
Background Public debt did not exist in the Regency of Tunis until the end of the reign of Mustapha Bey in 1837, 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.Abi Dhiaf, Présent des hommes de notre temps. Chroniques des rois de Tunis et du pacte fondamental, vol. IV, éd. Maison tunisienne de l'édition, Tunis, 1990, p.41 He sent 15,000 Tunisian soldiers to fight for the Ottoman Empire in the Crimean War, and also established new government offices—the rabta managing state grain silos; the ghaba in charge of olive oil forests; and the ghorfa, the central state procurement office. His successor Muhammad Bey was an ambitious palace-builder.Jacques Revault, Palais et résidences d'été de la région de Tunis (XVI-XIX siècles), éd. Centre national de la recherche scientifique, Paris, 1974, p.74http://classiques.uqac.ca/classiques/estournelles_paul_henri_de_constant/conquete_de_la_tunisie/conquete_de_la_tunisie.pdf p.45 accessed 7 July 2015
To fund these expensive new ventures, the Beys of Tunis relied on tax revenues paid on a customary basis. Most of the country paid the mejba () established in the seventeenth century under the Muradid dynasty. 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. The Beys also imposed monopoly taxes on salt, tobacco, tanned hides and other commodities. accessed 6 May 2017
Muhammad Bey - the mejba and foreign influence In 1856, Muhammad Bey embarked on a major fiscal reform. He gave up most of his taxes on commodities and agricultural goods (except for olive and date trees, oils and cereals) as well as the old mejba levies, and instituted a new capitation tax called the i'ana () which quickly also became known as the mejba, although it was a new tax calculated on a completely different basis—it was levied on individuals rather than on groups. This new mejba was fixed at 36 piastres per adult male per year. For most peasants, this equated to about 45 days' labour. To reduce potential unrest, the five largest towns—Tunis, Sfax, Sousse, Monastir, Tunisia and Kairouan—were exempted. The new tax raised 9.7m piastres out of a total 22.95m piastres of government income. Although burdensome, the new mejba was not sufficient to eliminate the government deficit. The developing economy meant that increasingly gold and silver coin tended to fall into the hands of European merchants, who took it out of the country. When the foreign merchants refused to accept copper coins, Muhammad Bey issued debased currency in 1858.
Since the beginning of the conquest of Algeria in 1830, France had maintained a close interest in the affairs of the Regency, and successive Beys had sought to avoid giving France or any other power reason to intervene further. 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 was sent to La Goulette to insist that he promptly adopt a series of reforms modelled on the Ottoman Tanzimat.Sarah Taieb-Carlen, The Jews of North Africa: From Dido to De Gaulle, University Press of America 2010 p.36 As a result, Muhammad Bey agreed to the Fundamental Pact () ( or Pledge of Security).Peter Y Medding, Sephardic Jewry and Mizrahi Jews, Volume 22, Oxford University Press 2008 The Pact guaranteed equality of taxation (thus implicitly abolishing the discriminatory jizya tax imposed on non-Muslims). It also permitted foreigners to own land, participate in all types of businesses and set up separate commercial courts. A number of concessions were quickly granted to French firms, for example to construct telegraph lines and renovate the Zaghouan aqueduct.Mongi Smida, Histoire générale de la Tunisie, vol. III. « Les Temps Modernes (1247-1881) », éd. Sud Éditions, Tunis, 2007, 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. Both issues were to become points of grievance in the Mejba Revolt.
Sadok Bey - Reform and rising debt
Muhammad Bey was succeeded in 1859 by his brother Sadok Bey, In 1860, Sadok Bey introduced conscription for the first time in Tunisia—military service was now obligatory for a period of eight years. Recruits were selected by lot, and those who could afford it could buy themselves out of the service. Thus it was only the poor who ended up serving.Éric Deroo et Pascal Le Pautremat, Héros de Tunisie : spahis et tirailleurs d'Ahmed Bey 1er à M. Lamine Bey, 1837 - 1957, Tunis, Cérès, 2005,
Following the introduction of the new mejba and military service, on 23 April 1861 Sadok Bey promulgated the first written constitution in the Arab world,Ibn Abi Dhiaf, op. cit., p. 64 separating executive, legislative and judiciary powers, through a new Supreme Council, legislature and court system and thereby limiting his own powers.Mongi Smida, Histoire générale de la Tunisie, vol. III. « Les Temps Modernes (1247-1881) », éd. Sud Éditions, Tunis, 2007, This constitution reaffirmed the equality of rights for Muslims, Christians (effectively, therefore, for Europeans) and for Jews; in particular, concerning the right to own property. This created a new legal environment which encouraged Europeans to set up businesses in Tunisia.Ibn Abi Dhiaf, op. cit., p. 26 The new constitution was not popular. 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.https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-01402235/document p.294 accessed 9 May 2017 The customary links between ruler and ruled were displaced, and it became harder for the sheikhs outside Tunis to gain audience. The costs of the new institutions were regarded as excessive, and resented as a sign of foreign interference.http://classiques.uqac.ca/classiques/estournelles_paul_henri_de_constant/conquete_de_la_tunisie/conquete_de_la_tunisie.pdf p.64 accessed 7 May 2017
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.http://www.shjt.fr/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/etude-Gilles-Boulu-Scemama.pdf p.24 | accessed 6 May 2017Paul d’Estournelles de Constant, La conquête de la Tunisie. Récit contemporain couronné par l'Académie française, éd. Sfar, Paris, 2002, As a result, internal public debt increased by 60% during the first three years of his reign.
The loan secured from Nassim Shamama was not sufficient to restore the Regency to financial health. Indeed, interest payments on the loan absorbed a huge proportion of state revenues. By 1862, the government debt had reached 28m piastres and civil servants were working for months unpaid. As a way out, Mustapha Khaznadar proposed that Sadok Bey take out the country's first ever foreign loan. Accordingly, on 6 May 1863, he concluded a loan with the French banker Erlanger in the amount of 35m francs. However, by the time various intermediaries—including Mustapha Khaznadar himself—had extracted their fees from the gross amount, only 5,640,914 was ultimately paid over to the Bey's Treasury.http://classiques.uqac.ca/classiques/estournelles_paul_henri_de_constant/conquete_de_la_tunisie/conquete_de_la_tunisie.pdf pp.64-5| accessed 7 May 2017 The loan was repayable over fifteen and a half years at a rate of 4,200,000 francs per year (7m piastres). This revenue could not be raised from the existing means of taxation—the new mejba was now raising only 3m piastres a year—so a new, increased tax was required.Jean Ganiage, Les origines du Protectorat français en Tunisie, éd. Maison tunisienne de l’édition, Tunis, 1968, Mongi Smida, Histoire générale de la Tunisie, vol. III. « Les Temps Modernes (1247-1881) », éd. Sud Éditions, Tunis, 2007, .
Outbreak of the revolt
In September 1863 the decision was taken to apply the new mejba (or, properly, the i'ana) to the five towns that had previously been exempted, and to double the rate to 72 piastres per head.Jean Ganiage, op. cit., . This measure was vigorously opposed by the Bey's ex-Minister Kheireddine Pacha, General Hussein and General Farhat Gaied Jbira who served on the Supreme Council and was also the caïd (governor) of El Kef. General Hussein exclaimed: 'the conditions of the country will not allow it to bear any more taxes. The country is in danger!' Kheireddine Pasha said that most of the additional revenue generated by the increase would be taken up by the cost of the army needed to raise it. The notables convened by Sadok Bey to hear his plans made clear that they would not be able to enforce them on their people.Bice Slama, L’insurrection de 1864 en Tunisie, éd. Maison Tunisienne de l’Édition, Tunis, 1967,
Murder of General Farhat As soon as the news spread, trouble broke out in the tribal regions. Caravans were looted and stocks of weapons and powder were built up. In an attempt to calm the growing unrest, a decree of 22 March 1864 modified the new mejba again, making it into a progressive tax. Those eligible to pay were graded into six categories on the basis of their wealth, and the mejba applied to them on a scale of 36 to 108 piastres. It was however stipulated that the average rate paid by the population under each caïd was to remain at 72 piastres. accessed 8 May 2017 To show the government's determination to push ahead with the new tax, the Bey ordered all governors to return to their posts and begin implementing it.Bice Slama op. cit.,
Obeying this order, General Farhat began the journey to his post as governor of El Kef and the Ounifa tribe on 16 April 1864. As the region around El Kef was now in revolt, he asked for an armed escort, but the Bey had no men to spare. Farhat therefore asked his deputy to come out to meet him with 150 spahis from the town. Ignoring his deputy's advice not to proceed because of the danger, he continued to make for his post as ordered. When he reached the pass at Khanguet el Gdim, 21 km from El Kef, he was surrounded by insurgents. The spahis, who came from the same tribe as them, did not want to fight them, and melted away, leaving him only with eight of his attendants. All were slaughtered.Bice Slama op. cit., The olive tree, pockmarked with bullets, where he met his end was venerated for many years until it was cut down and burned in around 1950.Nouri Boudali, Protectorat et indépendance, éd. Imprimerie Al Asria, Tunis, 1992,
Revolt of Ali Ben Ghedhahem