Mahmoud Bey

Mahmoud Bey , born the July 10th 1757 with the palate of the Bardo and deceased the March 28th 1824 with Tunis, is Bey de Tunis of 1814 to its death.

Oldest son of Rachid Bey, it is initially drawn aside by his uncle Ali II Bey of the succession to the throne. He manages however to assassinate his cousin Osman Bey and succeeds to him on the throne the December 22nd 1814. One month after its advent, it makes carry out the top dog, Youssef Sahab Ettabaâ, whose body is trailed in the streets of Tunis by crowd and finally thrown in the Christian Cimetière. However, the parents of Sahab Ettabaâ obtain thereafter which its remainders are buried in the tomb that it was made build in the Mosquée hanéfite of Halfaouine.

Gone up on the throne in tragic circumstances, Mahmoud Bey, not very sure of the following day, will know a reign enough animated during which the country knows many vicissitudes without being able to leave economic precariousness. It is true that the bey is especially surrounded by Mamelouks, people little educated and little with the current of the political and economic evolution which is in the train achieving in Europe after the Napoleonean Guerres. Tunis, as the remainder of regency, remains locked up in traditional activities energy of the craft industry to the Pirate laughs always favorable to the large characters of the State. Thus Mahmoud Bey does not hesitate to give to the Corsaire S of Goulette the order to take the sea each time the opportunity or the need arises. Eights of them, under the command of Mustapha Ray, carry out, in October 1815, a Razzia and bring back to Tunis 150 prisoners and important spoils. At this point in time the Congress of Vienna load Lord Exmouth, commander-in-chief of the British Squadron of the Mediterranean, to require of the bey, in the form of Ultimatum, end of piracy and release of all the Neapolitan slaves and Sardinians. Under the threat, the bey promises to put an end to piracy and makes release 800 slaves Italy NS that Lord Exmouth embarks on his ships.

Revolt of the Turkish militia

Surprised by the prohibition to run at sea which deprives them of part of their usual resources and regarding itself as humiliated, Tunisois highly reproach the bey for having accepted the ultimatum of the Christians. The elements Turkish in particular estimate that the bey did not defend with enough strength the prestige of their nation and a deaf person dissatisfaction works the Milice then. Two weeks after the departure of Lord Exmouth, the Janissaire S try a Coup d'etat to seize the capacity. Joined together with the Souk Ettrouk, the April 30th 1816, the dissatisfied janissaries elect two chiefs (Delibachi and Chabane Khodja) and the following day, the small day, carry out the arrest of the principal characters of the State domiciled in the Capitale: the large mufti, the Cadi, the daoulatli , the large customs officer, governors of Sfax and Jerba and well of others. The chief of the beylicaux guards having wanted to resist is massacred. After which, entreated joined together with the palate of the government write a length Manifeste condemning the control of Mahmoud Bey who yielded to the British ultimatum, proclaiming her forfeiture and raising to supreme dignity the prince Ismaïl (brother of the bey). Ismaïl refuses the offer and engages entreated to submit itself to the bey without delaying. Part of the rebels goes, Delibachi and Chabane Khodja is stopped then carried out, but a great number of their comrades, approximately 1200, decide to continue the fight. They move towards Goulette and seize by surprised the Citadelle but decide to leave regency. Making profitable the presence in the arsenal of five boats of corsairs charged with vivres, the rebels embark and take the broad one, not without to have plundered the stores of the State. Some of them are captured and carried out. This episode marks disappearance, as a military unit and a political factor, of the Turkish militia, which during two centuries, had weighed on the destiny of the regency of Tunis.

Vicissitudes and calamities

However, the financial problems resulting from the suppression of piracy put the bey in the obligation to seek new tax resources. He believes to find of it by extending the Monopole S of State that Hammouda Bey and its predecessors had largely practiced. All the intended products with the Exportation are monopolized and resold with the full price, which obstructs much the private individuals little by little reduced to the Misère. For roof of misfortune, in September 1818, terrible a epidemic of Peste appears in the city and lasted nearly two years among a thrown into a panic population and without means of defense against the plague. The epidemic depopulates Tunis and fact, says one, 50.000 victims in spite of the Exode of most of the townsmen in Banlieue and in the Campagne S. In period of growth of the plague, the inhabitants who had moved away, returned on their premises to deal with their business but contracted the evil in their turn and succumbed.

In same time, and in spite of the promises of Mahmoud Bey, the Tunisian corsairs continue to practice piracy against the European ships and of many Christian slaves amenable to countries which did not conclude from peace treaty with regency are still retained in Tunis. The September 21st 1819, the buildings of a Franco-British squadron arrive at Tunis and their chiefs, the admirals Jurien and Freemanthe, present to the bey, during an official audience with the palate of Bardo, the decision of the congress of Aachen, on November 20th 1818, inviting regencies of North Africa to completely abolish maritime piracy and the slavery of the Christians. The bey must then incline and make firm promises.

Abolition of piracy and its consequences

With the suppression of piracy, the economy of regency is subjected to major disturbances. Because it made enter to Tunis European goods and currencies in considerable quantity, these last coming mainly from the repurchase of the prisoners. “Since the abolition of the race”, written in 1819 the general consul of France Jacques Devoize, “the government of regency studied all the means of being compensated for the loss of the advantages that it got to him, by creating new rights which present mainly on the Christians. It subjected to a Forty 10 days and to a tax 18 piastres all the foreign buildings. ” The government had prohibited very left foreign currencies which were used for the transactions, which has as a consequence a catastrophic fall of the Tunisian piastre. A private Correspondance dated from the June 26th 1820 indicates that “the difficulties to take drafts on the place did not make that to worsen considering the ruinous exchange on Marseilles and Leghorn '' prohibition to extract all kinds of monnoyes, including ingots of Or and Argent, always exists. Notwithstanding, there are people who risk and are exposed to the confiscation. The captains who sell their cargo in goods stipulate by contract which it to them will be given made it possible to embark the monnoyes that they receive and that they get the amount of their sale and nothing more. As at the time of the loading as of these monnoyes they is provided with an order specifying as the quantity is that checked and counted with the customs. ”

At the end of her life, Mahmoud Bey leaves more and more the management of the administrative tasks to her son to devote itself to the Philosophie, the Cuisine and the Parfumerie.

Random links:

Seedorf (Bern) | Eguelshardt | Pascale Hummel | Automatic Acoustic Management | Lash the Street | Rami