Muhammad VIII al-Amin

Muhammad VIII
Bey of Tunisia
Reign 15 May 1943 – 25 July 1957
Predecessor Muhammad VII
Successor Husain Bey
as Pretender 30 September 1962 And Habib Bourguiba As President of Tunisia
Born (1881-09-04)September 4, 1881
Carthage, French Protectorate
Tunisia
Died September 30, 1962(1962-09-30) (aged 81)
Tunis, Tunis Governorate
Tunisia
Burial Tomb of King Muhammad al-Amin, Sidi Abdulaziz, La Marsa
Spouse Lalla Janina Beya
Full name
Muhammad al-Amin
Name in Arabic الأمين باي بن محمد الحبيب
Dynasty Husainid Dynasty
Father Muhammad VI al-Habib
Mother Lalla Fatima bint Muhammad
Religion Sunni Islam

Muhammad VIII al-Amin known as Lamine Bey (4 September 1881 in Carthage – 30 September 1962 in Tunis) (Arabic: الأمين باي بن محمد الحبيب‎‎ al-Amīn Bāy bin Muḥammad al-Ḥabīb) was the last Bey of Tunisia (15 May 1943 and 20 March 1956).[1][2]

He was enthroned in unusual circumstances following the removal of his predecessor Moncef Bey by the French Resident General Henri Giraud in 1943. It was not until the latter's death in 1948 that his legitimacy was recognised by the people of Tunisia. He took steps to align himself with the Tunisian national movement against the French protectorate and became in effect its highest representative, not hesitating to face down successive French Residents General. Sidelined by the Neo Destour after he accepted French-initiated reforms in 1954 while leading nationalist activists like Habib Bourguiba were still in prison, he took no part in the negotiations for internal autonomy ratified in 1955, or for independence in 1956. After a short period in which a constitutional monarchy was considered, the new government decided to establish a republic on 25 July 1957. Lamine Bey was turned out of his palace along with his family. Their property was seized and several family members were imprisoned. He ended his days living in a small apartment.

Bey al-Mahalla

On 19 June 1942 Ahmed Bey died and was succeeded by Moncef Bey. In accordance with tradition on 25 June Moncef Bey named Lamine Bey Bey al-Mahalla, or heir apparent, decorated him with the Ahd El-Amane and made him a Divisional General.[3] A month later he had an opportunity to display his loyalty to his sovereign when he was contacted by one of the court counsellors, General M'hammed Belkhodja. Belkhodja, fearing for his own political future, was trying to persuade the French Resident General Jean-Pierre Esteva to depose Moncef Bey. Lamine Bey however warned the ruler of this conspiracy and Belkhodja was expelled from the palace on 30 July.[4]

Replacement of Moncef Bey

Mohamed Lamine Bey as a young man

Towards the end of the Tunisian Campaign in May 1943 General Alphonse Juin, Commander in Chief of French forces in North Africa, arrived in Tunis with orders to depose Moncef Bey for alleged attempts to collaborate with Axis forces during the occupation and for an indulgent attitude to the actions of the militant nationalist Destour party.[5] After investigating the Bey's conduct, Juin could find no grounds for condemning him, but his orders were explicit. He tried to persuade Moncef to abdicate, but he refused.[6] Juin therefore visited Lamine in his villa in La Marsa to make sure that he would not refuse the throne if it was offered, but Lamine at first refused to give this undertaking. Eventually Juin prevailed on him to agree, largely because of the benefits to his family.[7] As Moncef Bey refused to abdicate, General Giraud removed him on 14 May 1943.[8]

Lamine was installed on 15 May 1943 at the Bardo palace by General Juin, who invested him at the same time with the Légion d’honneur. He then received the homage of other princes of the royal family, ministers, court officials and members of the consular corps. For this occasion he reinstated the kissing of the hand, which his predecessor had abolished. That same day, M'hamed Chenik presented the resignation of his government and was replaced by Slaheddine Baccouche.[9] As was the norm under the French protectorate, the Bey was not consulted on the choice of ministers (the Chenik government appointed by Moncef Bey had been an exception to this rule). It was only on 6 July that Moncef Bey eventually abdicated, thereby rendering Lamine Bey's accession legitimate. For most Tunisians however, Lamine Bey was still considered to be a usurper.[10]

Early reign (1943-1948)

General De Gaulle welcomed by Lamine Bey and Resident General Mast.

Lamine Bey kept a low profile in the face of demands from loyalists for the return of Moncef Bey. His rare appearances showed that his subjects were indifferent to him, or indeed hostile.[11] To rebuild his standing, he supported the teachers of the University of Ez-Zitouna who were striking in December 1943 and chose Neo Destourians as ministers. Nevertheless the general opinion was that he wanted to abdicate and restore the throne to Moncef Bey. When these rumours were denied, his popularity fell again.[12]

On 7 May 1944 Charles de Gaulle visited Tunis on the first anniversary of its liberation from the Axis. Tunisians hoped that he would reverse the injustice of his old rival Giraud and restore Moncef Bey, but the Moncefists were disappointed in this hope.[13] Instead De Gaulle presented Lamine Bey a Cross of Lorraine in gold, having learned that during the Axis occupation he used to listen secretly to De Gaulle's broadcasts from London. The Bey wore this on his uniform next to his decorations for a long time afterwards.[14]

Hostility towards the Bey showed no signs of decreasing. He was boycotted by the other Husainid princes when he went to the mosque for Eid al-Fitr.[15] To raise his prestige, he was invited to Paris where he attended the military parades on 14 July 1945, standing next to De Gaulle. He then went on to visit Germany.[16] For Tunisians however, he remained 'The Bey of the French'.[17] In August 1946 when the capital was at a standstill during a general strike to protest the arrest of several nationalists, he feigned ill-health to cancel the ceremony of kissing hands which he was due to hold for Eid al-Fitr,[18] but when he passed through the streets of Tunis in February 1947 on the Mawlid festival, he could readily see his subjects' indifference.[19] The anniversary of his accession was regarded by shopkeepers as a good occasion to close their premises and put up portraits of his predecessor. People even spat on his car.[20] His health deteriorated in the face of this hatred and in 1947 an x-ray revealed a lesion in his left lung. Dr. Mohamed Ben Salem (1915-2001), husband of his daughter Princess Zakia, became his doctor and later his political advisor as well.[21]

On 3 March 1947, the new French Resident General Jean Mons arrived in Tunis. The political situation had remained unchanged since the end of the war- the Destour and Neo Destour could agree on nothing except the demand to remove Lamine Bey and reinstate his predecessor. The court was consumed by a morbid obsession with his restoration.[22] Indeed the mood was so pervasive that Mons suggested to the French government that they proceed to restore Moncef Bey. Prime Minister Paul Ramadier refused, fearing the adverse reaction of French settlers in North Africa.[23] On 19 July 1947 a new Grand Vizier, Mustapha Kaak, was appointed by the Resident General. For the first time, there was parity between Tunisians and French in the government.[24]

Moncef Bey died in exile on 1 September 1948. His remains were brought to Tunis on 5 September for burial, and thousands of Tunisians turned out to pay their respects to him. His family threatened to boycott the ceremony if Lamine Bey attended, and he made no effort to present his condolences to them.[25] However this was a turning point for his reign, as the possibility of Moncef Bey's restoration was now removed, and for the first time, his people began to regard him as their legitimate ruler.[26]

Rapprochement with the nationalists (1948-1951)

After the funeral of Moncef Bey the nationalists of the Neo Destour were more willing to work with Lamine Bey. Salah Ben Youssef met him several times, encouraging him to refuse to apply his seal to laws drafted by the Resident General. Delays in the passing of legislation ensued, and indeed on 1 October 1948 Lamine Bey formally protested when he learned that French residents in Tunisia had been elected to the French National Assembly. Jean Mons was obliged to recognise that once the threat of being deposed had been removed from him, Lamine Bey was determined to win the acclaim of his people and therefore worked willingly with the nationalists.[27] The change of mood was evident on 15 May 1949 on the anniversary of his accession, during a demonstration headed jointly by Ben Youssef and Lamine Bey's own son Chedly.[28] On 4 June, despite Mons' protestations, the Bey received a delegation from the Neo Destour although the party remained under ban following the violent demonstrations of 9 April 1938.[29] In September 1949 the Neo Destourian leader Habib Bourguiba returned to Tunis from exile in Egypt, and one of his first visits was to the Bey.[30]

The following year, seeing that nothing was coming of efforts for reform, the Bey sent a messenger to Mons in March 1950 asking for a reponse to the proposals he had made eight months previously. Mons warned the French government that if he was unable to give a substantial response, the Bey would withhold his seal from the decree confirming the budget for the protectorate.[31] In April, after a meeting with Bourguiba, the Bey wrote directly to French President Vincent Auriol pressing him to agree reforms admitting Tunisians to a substantially larger share of self-government.[32] The Bey's popularity rose. The first Bey since 1881 to leave Tunis, on 14 April he visited Kairouan and on 30 April Sousse, and he was given a rapturous welcome in both towns.[33] On 19 June a new Resident General, Louis Périllier, was appointed[34] with an explicit mission from the French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman to prepare Tunisia for internal autonomy.[35]

the Chenik ministry

A new government was formed under M'hamed Chenik, the former Grand Vizier under Moncef Bey, on 17 August 1950.[36] For the first time the Resident General was not able to impose Tunisian ministers of his own choosing. His nomination of Abdelkader Belkhodja was rejected by Chenik, who was supported by the Bey. Chenik was however successful in imposing his own son-in-law Mohamed Ben Salem, as Minister of Health. Mahmoud El Materi, whom the Resident General had put forward for the post, became instead Minister of the Interior.[37][38]

After five months of negotiations, an initial package of reforms was approved by the Bey on 8 February 1951. Although limited in scope, it was welcomed by Tunisians as a token of future progress. The Bey invested Périllier with the Nichan ad-Dam (Order of the Blood) as a gesture of thanks.[39] However his gratitude was premature as no further negotiations on reforms took place beyond this point. In retaliation Chenik refused to present a budget to the consultative Council, bringing government to an effective standstill.[40] The Bey was able to add his own protest on the occasion of his address from the throne on 15 May 1951. In this speech, read by Hamadi Badra, he set out an unequivocally nationalist direction and expressed strong support for his government in pursuing nationalist goals.[41][42] Contrary to custom, the speech was not sent in advance to the Resident General. This caused an outcry among the French colonists who regarded it as an affront to French dignity. On 19 May Périllier, in full uniform, accompanied by a military escort, went for an audience with the Bey to make an official protest at this snub, and to ask for the dismissal of Chenik and Ben Youssef.[43] The following day, the Bey responded with a telegram to President Vincent Auriol, vigorously protesting against the actions and the tone of the Resident General.[44] Faced with this show of determination, Périllier backed down.

To break this impasse, Tunisian ministers were invited to Paris to present their demands. On 16 October 1951 Chenik arrived in Paris and submitted a memorandum to Robert Schuman summarising key Tunisian demands for internal autonomy.[45] The French government responded on 15 December with a flat refusal.[46] With neither the Bey nor the Grand Vizier willing to give ground, Périllier resigned on 24 December.

Confrontations with De Hautecloque (1952-1953)

Tunisian delegation to the UN, 1952

On 13 January 1952, the new Resident General Jean de Hauteclocque arrived in Tunis on board the cruiser Le Mercure.[47] He asked for his first audience with the Bey to take place without his ministers present, but Lamine Bey refused this request and it took place with the full Chenik cabinet in attendance.[48]. Hautecloque was back again the following day, to demand the withdrawal of a memorandum outlining Tunisian protests about French rule which he had discovered Chenik's cabinet had sent to the United Nations, and the dismissal of the two ministers responsible for delivering it. He obtained no satisfaction in respect of either demand.[49]

The UN memorandum had been drafted following discussions between Chenik and Chedly Bey, who had insisted that his father not be involved in any way. When Chenik approached Lamine Bey directly seeking his support, he responded that it 'was a matter for the government and for ministers' but raised no objections.[50] The memorandum was therefore signed by all Chenik's ministers but did not carry the Bey's seal. Having disclaimed involvement in the memorandum itself, the Bey took no responsibility for its consequences when the two ministers who submitted it, Salah Ben Youssef and Hamadi Badra were eventually forced to resign under French pressure.[51]

Ministers in the Chenik cabinet exiled in March 1952 (left to right) Mohamed Salah Mzali, M’hamed Chenik, Mahmoud El Materi and Mohamed Ben Salem.

Following this, the congress of the Neo Destour Party was banned and large numbers of nationalists were arrested. Unrest spread and on 24 January De Hauteclocque was obliged to ask the Bey to issue an appeal for calm, agreeing to withdraw his insistence on the resignation of the Chenik government. Lamine Bey refused to oblige him for as long as Bourguiba and his companions remained in prison.[52] The Bey refused to give way even under direct pressure from the French Prime Minister Edgar Faure.[53] On 25 March, unsuccessful in his requests to meet the Bey in private, De Hauteclocque agreed to an audience with Tunisian ministers present. He once again demanded the resignation of the Chenik government, and the Bey responded with another angry telegram to President Vincent Auriol complaining of De Hauteclocque's discourteous and threatening tone.[54] Within a few hours, every minister had been arrested and interned. Deprived of the support of his ministers, on 28 March the Bey eventually gave way and signed the decree naming De Hauteclocque's nominee Slaheddine Baccouche as his Grand Vizier.[55]

Train sabotaged by militant nationalists

Faced with the imposition of a government they regarded has having no legitimacy, Tunisians protested and demonstrated ever more vigorously. The opposition was so intense that on 14 April Baccouche attempted to present his resignation to the Bey. The Bey responded 'You should not address your resignation to me since I did not appoint you. Address yourself to him who has imposed you on me.'[56] Baccouche remained in office, with the confidence of neither the Bey nor the people. Disturbances continued and there were outbreaks of sabotage. Lamine Bey continued to refuse to issue any appeal for calm for as long as thousands of his subjects remained interned. To increase the pressure on him, his daughter Princess Zakia was arrested on 29 April and accused of plotting sabotage with her friend Rafia Bornaz.[57] The Bey's doctor, Mohamed Ben Salem, was prevented from visiting him despite his suffering from a lung infection. To show his defiance, the Bey went in person to the house of his daughter and her husband, and gave a thousand-franc note to each of the policemen guarding the house in ironic thanks for their valuable 'protection'.[58]

On 7 June, an individual named Mohamed Achouri, one of the entourage of the future Bey al-Mahalla Essadok Bey, surrendered a sachet of poison to the palace doctor Abderrahmen Mami, claiming that he had been ordered to give it to the cook. When questioned, he implicated the Resident General's Chief of Staff Jacques Grellet and a second man known as Jacobson. Despite the matter being the subject of a criminal complaint, Achouri disappeared and the matter was covered up.[59][60]

The Assembly of Forty with Lamine Bey

The ministers who had been interned were gradually released, and some gathered around Lamine Bey to offer him support. Determined to boycott the Baccouche government, the Bey relied more and more on his son Chedly and surrounded himself with counsellors he felt he could trust, including Mzali, Farhat Hached, Hédi Nouira and Sadok Mokaddem.[61] Without a properly-functioning government, proposals for reform were unilaterally issued from Paris and presented to the Bey for his signature on 28 July. To the chagrin of De Hauteclocque, Lamine Bey refused to sign them straight away and said he would take two or three months to consider them. On 1 August he brought together in his palace in Carthage forty leading Tunisian figures representing a range of views to seek their opinions on the proposals from France.[62][63] After a month of debates and consultations, the Assembly of Forty rejected the French proposals as unsatisfactory. According to Ahmed Mestiri the minute outlining the rejection was drafted in secret by the underground leadership of the Neo Destour before being passed to the Assembly through Hached and Mokaddem and approved by them.[64] On 9 September 1952 the Bey sent a letter to the Resident General, addressed to President Auriol, declaring his refusal to sign the reform proposals. Soon after Lamine Bey confided his despondency about the future to Ben Salem: 'There is nothing to hope for from different French governments. I am old and tired. It may be that I will never see our country independent, but never mind..... when one plants a tree, one must not hope at the same time to eat its fruits.'[65]

Assassinations and terror (1952-1953)

Farhat Hached

The Resident General persisted in his attempts to pressure the Bey into signing the French reforms. On 30 November he surrounded the palace with troops, on the pretext of protecting the Bey from the large demonstrations expected for the Mawlid festival.[66] With all his nationalist advisers either in prison or in exile, the Bey had no-one to support him apart from Farhat Hached, the trade union leader, who visited him every day, encouraging him to stand firm.[67] On 5 December 1952, Hached was assassinated by 'La Main Rouge' (The Red Hand), a terrorist unit operated by the French state to eliminate nationalists in North Africa.[68] Anyone else who might advise or support the Bey was kept out of the way: Mohamed Salah Mzali was obliged to leave Tunis and remain in Monastir and when he tried to telephone the palace he found that all the lines had been cut.[69] Completely cut off from the outside world, the ailing Bey wrote to the French government once again asking to restart negotiations about internal autonomy.[70] With France's negative response on 20 December, he was able to resist no longer, and signed the decrees formulated months previously in Paris, which allowed for new municipal elections.[71][72]

Bourguiba, in exile on the Galite Islands, understood all too well the extreme pressure which the Bey had withstood for so long. When he learned that he had finally given way and authorised the French proposals, he remarked 'I don't think we need to throw stones at this venerable old man who struggles alone in almost desperate conditions against an enemy who has no conscience and can exert such pressure. He may have thought... that it was better to bend once again than to be broken.'[73] In any case, the reforms imposed by the French, on which they set such great store, remained a dead letter - the nationalists launched a campaign of terror against both candidates and voters. This extended as far as the ruling family itself - on 1 July 1953 the Bey al-Mahalla Azzedine Bey was assassinated inside his own palace, accused of weakening the position of the Bey by conducting discussions of his own with the Resident General. Arrested on the spot, the assassin was tried before a military tribunal, condemned to death on 28 September 1953 and shot on 14 April 1954.[74]. Essadok Bey, son of Mustapha Bey, became the new Bey al-Mahalla. He was not regarded sympathetic to the Neo Destour. On 2 September 1953, Jean de Hauteclocque was finally recalled to Paris.[75]

The Mzali government (1953-1954)

Tensions eased somewhat with the arrival of the new Resident General, Pierre Voizard. As soon as he arrived, Lamine Bey issued a call for calm - something he had always refused to do with De Hauteclocque.[76] Thousands of prisoners were freed and censorship was scaled back. However Voizard's instructions from the French government made the relative calm only temporary - he was to pursue a reform policy with the Bey only, but not with the Neo Destour. France hoped by this means to drive a wedge between the ruler and the militant nationalists.[77] Lamine Bey was too wily to be deceived by the apparently pleasant demeanour of the new Resident General. On 16 October 1953 he refused to preside at the opening of the Tunis-Carthage Fair because some repressive measures were still in place.[78] More efforts were made to appease him - on 1 January 1954 a number of nationalist leaders were freed and promptly received by the Bey. Bourguiba however, regarded by France as highly dangerous, remained confined on La Galite, despite Voizard's requests for his release.[79]

Mohamed Salah Mzali

On 24 November 1953 the Bey appointed Mzali to negotiate a new reform package with the Resident General. On 18 January 1954, sufficient progress had been made that the Bey asked him to form a new government.[80] The key elements in the newly-agreed structure of government were - the majority of ministers were to be Tunisians; the Grand Vizier was to act as head of the government; the assent of the Resident General was no longer to be required to give effect to governmental decrees; local governors and mayors were to be appointed by and responsible to the Grand Vizier and not to the Resident General; and a national assembly was to be created.[81] A number of nationalists, including Hédi Nouira, were willing to give these reforms a chance,[82] but the refusal to free Bourguiba remained a stumbling block for many Tunisians, and indeed, for Bourguiba himself. 'The failure of an old man terrorised by the fear of deposition and exile, combined with the vile ambition of an unscrupulous adventurer risk depriving Tunisia of the only asset that remains to it: it standing as a nation state; its legal character, recognised internationally by treaty and confirmed by the General Assembly of the United Nations. Suddenly my release has been postponed indefinitely' he commented.[83] On 27 May Bourguiba, who had recently been transferred from La Gailte to custody in France, returned to the Bey the Grand Cross of the Nichan Iftikhar which he had received in 1950.[84]

Mzali's cabinet resigned on 17 June 1954 and no successor was appointed. Bitter at the defeat of his efforts, the Bey confided to Voizard 'For a year, since I have been asking for Bourguiba to be released or transferred to a spa, I have received nothing but threats. Then you transfer him to a remote island without seeking my opinion. Now you are transferring him close to Paris, depriving me of the goodwill I might have earned by securing this move for him. I am ready to take up my rifle and become a fellagha to rebuild my contact with my people, for you have done everything possible to separate me from them.'[85]

Independence talks (1954-1956)

welcoming Mendès France, 31 July 1954

On 31 July 1954 the new French Prime Minister Pierre Mendès France arrived in Tunis. He was received by Lamine Bey in the palace of Carthage, where he announced internal autonomy for Tunisia. This was a welcome surprise for the Bey, who had been kept at arms length from the negotiations between Mendès France and the Neo Destourians before his visit. Shortly afterwards, the Bey addressed his subjects: 'A new phase has just begun in the life of our beloved country. It is hard for us to recall the painful days that all of Tunisia has lived through.... before this decisive step in our national life, we must stand equal to our destiny in offering to the world the spectacle of a united people marching serenely towards progress. This great constructive effort to which we are summoned can only bear fruit for us through order, peace and security, which all the inhabitants of this country have the right to enjoy.'[86] There was no doubt however that the balance of forces had shifted decisively away from the Bey. For France, the experience of the failed Mzali government highlighted the futility of hoping to evolve political institutions by means of negotiating only with the Bey. The new Resident General, Pierre Boyer de Latour was quick to understand this[87] and it was now the Neo Destour who were the sole interlocutors for the Tunisian people.

Tahar Ben Ammar, Lamine Bey and Habib Bourguiba in 1955

Despite the repeated efforts of the Bey, a new government was formed without consulting the palace. To recover some semblance of his former influence, on 10 August he proposed to the French government that the institution of the beylicate should be replaced with a full monarchy, which would give him the authority he felt was appropriate. He was willing, in return, to sign supplementary agreements to the Treaty of Bardo necessary to maintain Franco-Tunisian cooperation and preserve the French presence in Tunisia. At the same time, he opened communications with Salah ben Youssef, in exile in Geneva. None of these approaches led to anything.[88]

After six months of negotiation, the autonomy accords were signed on 3 June 1955. Bourguiba had returned to Tunis on 1 June, welcomed as he came down the gangplank by the Bey's three sons,[89] and by a giant demonstration of Tunisians. Having crossed the capital in triumph, Bourguiba visited the Bey in Carthage, apparently unmindful of having returned his decoration only a few months before,[90] and made a stirring declaration of the deep attachment felt by the Tunisian people towards beylical rule.[91] On 7 August the Bey applied his seal to the conventions agreed with France[92] and on 1 September, for the first time since the protectorate was established in 1881, he applied his seal to decrees that had not been authorised by the Resident General. On 29 December 1955 his seal confirmed a decree establishing a Constituent Assembly for the country, with elections to be held on 8 April 1956. Tunisia appeared to be evolving into a constitutional monarchy.[93]

Salah Ben Youssef arrives in Tunis, 13 September 1955

In fact, power continued to ebb rapidly away from Lamine Bey as independence approached. Salah Ben Youssef returned from exile on 13 September 1955, giving the Bey hopes that his political power would start to be restored. He was close to Ben Youssef, who had been one of the few politicians to pay his respects to him at the time of his installation in 1943. However violence quickly erupted between followers of Ben Youssef and those of Bourguiba, leaving the Bey to vainly attempt to act as arbiter between them. The French had already transferred authority over the police force from the Resident General to the Tunisian government, whose ministers had been chosen by Bourguiba, so Ben Youssef's representations to the Bey had no effect. On 2 December the Bey summoned the Resident General (now known as the High Commissioner) Roger Seydoux to remind him of France's responsibility for public order - which in fact it no longer had. In effect, the Bey was appealing for a restoration of colonial powers from the nationalist government.[94] As his appeals had no effect he made use of the only power remaining to him and refused to apply his seal to the decrees authorising the forthcoming elections and the appointment of local governors and mayors. This move was welcomed by Ben Youssef, who demanded a ministerial reshuffle, but naturally alienated the Bey further from Bourguiba and his followers. He backed down and signed them the following day.[95] Ben Youssef fled the country on 28 January and a crackdown followed on his followers in Tunisia, in which Bourguiba relied on the army, with its French officers, the airforce and heavy artillery. Horrified at this brutality, Lamine Bey renewed his ineffective protestations to Seydoux in April 1956. The only effect was to enrage Bourguiba, who hastened to the palace to accuse the Bey and his family of seeking to hinder the transfer of power from France to the Tunisian government.[96]

On 20 March 1956 the Franco-Tunisian protocol was signed by the Grand Vizier Tahar Ben Ammar and the French Foreign Minister Christian Pineau. The new Tunisian government, led by Bourguiba, deemed the country to be independent by virtue of this protocol, and therefore refused to enter into the subsequent bilateral negotiations it provided for. Independence was regarded as a fait accompli, and for this reason the independence protocol was never ratified either by the Bey, or indeed by France, although this is what the protocol on internal autonomy required.[97]

Deposition (1956-1957)

Lamine Bey and Bourguiba receiving the first French ambassador after independence, March 1956

The Constituent Assembly held its formal opening ceremony on 8 April 1956. It was a sign of the changing times that the Bey presided over the session dressed in the uniform of a marshal of the Ottoman Empire, whose subject he had been when he was born, but which had ceased to exist in 1922. He expected to be present during the debates leading to the election of a speaker of the Assembly, and Tahar Ben Ammar had to intervene to persuade him to leave. The Bey withdrew with ill grace.[98]

Lamine Bey and Prime Minister Habib Bourguiba

This was merely the beginning. On 31 May a decree from the Constituent Assembly abolished all privileges, exemptions and immunities which had previously been accorded to the ruling family. They were now simply ordinary citizens.[99] Although this abruptly ended the civil list payments to members of his family and placed the crown estate under government control, the Bey signed the decree without protest. Another decree on 21 June modified the national emblems and removed any reference to the Husainid dynasty;[100] another still, on 31 August, removed the Bey's prerogative to pass regulations, transferring this to the Prime Minister.[101]

Further decrees followed, compelling the Bey to turn over various properties he had acquired to the state, against the backdrop of a hostile press campaign highlighting the questionable, and perhaps even criminal, circumstances under which they had been acquired. These measures served to greatly reduce the remaining prestige of the Bey.[102] Nonetheless Lamine Bey was the first person to be honoured, on 19 December 1956, with the decoration of the new Order of Independence. He reciprocated on the same day by awarding Bourguiba the Nichan Iftikhar (for the second time).[103] Bourguiba clearly had little remaining respect for the ruling family however. On 19 July, at Eid al-Fitr he made a protocol visit with his ministers to the Bey's wife, but refused to approach the throne. 'I have not come here as I did before, but as head of the government. You should step forward to meet me and not remain seated in your throne,' he declared.[104]

On 15 July 1957 the Tunisian army replaced they beylical guard around the palace, and thereafter the Bey effectively lost his freedom of movement. On 18 July his younger son Salah Eddine Bey was arrested on charges falsified by the police[105] and on 25 July the National Assembly voted on a show of hands to abolish the monarchy, declare a Republic and make Bourguiba President.[106]

Straight away, a delegation headed by deputy speaker Ali Belhouane Interior Minister Taïeb Mehiri and Justice Minister Ahmed Mestiri went to the palace of Carthage to make the Bey aware of the decree and ask him to leave the palace along with his wife, their three sons, seven daughters and grandchildren.

'We went into the throne room right away, and without being announced, as we were already expected. Lamine Bey, wearing a jebba and with his hair undressed, stood there, dignified, without saying a word. Belhouane called out in his theatrical voice As-Salamou Alaikum and then read out the resolution of the Constituent Assembly. A photographer had come with us, and wanted to start working, but straight away Lamine Bey broke his silence. Ah no, not that! he said, making a gesture of refusal, the last reflex of his authority. We did not want to deny the wishes of the old man,or humiliate him further. Then Ali Belhaouane made a gesture of salute with his hand, repeated As-Salamou Alaikum in his stentorian voice, and turned on his heels. As we withdrew, police commissioner Driss Guiga presented himself and advised the fallen ruler of an order from the Minister of the Interior placing him in isolation. In the course of this, hearing the name of his father spoken, the Bey reacted again, saying Allah Yarhamou (May God save his soul) clearly out loud as he left the room. It was over. The whole thing had not even lasted three minutes.'[107]

Confinement and death

The 75-year old Lamine left his palace wearing a simple jebba of white linen and a pair of yellow Moroccan slippers, which he lost along the way.[108] He was taken to the Hidaya palace in Manouba, an old abandoned beylical palace without water or electricity, which was assigned to him and several members of his family: his wife Lalla Djeneïna, their sons princes Chedly, M’hamed and Salah Eddine, princess Soufia, his son in law Mohamed Ben Salem and the Bey al-Mahalla Hassine Bey.[109] The furniture of their new dwelling was no more than a mattress on the floor, with no sheets or covers. Food was provided for the first three days, after which the family was left to fend for itself.

Chedly and Ben Salem were transferred to the prison of Kairouan on 11 August.[110] Hassine, M’hamed and princess Soufia were freed several days later. The last son, Salah Eddine, was transferred to the civil prison in Tunis three months after his house arrest.[111] Alone in the ruined palace, the old couple were not allowed to leave until October 1958, as Lamine's health had deteriorated very badly. They were then transferred to a small villa in La Soukra with a kitchen, a bathroom and two other rooms and given a monthly allowance of 80 dinars, roughly the same as the salary of a secondary school teacher. They remained under house arrest and were forbidden even to go into the garden outside - indeed a policeman remained on duty actually inside the villa. Their daughter princess Soufia was allowed to visit them whenever she wished however.[112] On 8 September the trial of Tahar Ben Ammar came to an end, having worked up the public mood with accusations made, and later withdrawn, about the who possessed the jewels which had belonged to the Bey's wife, which had still not been found.

Two years later, the search for the jewels was renewed and both the Bey and is wife were summoned for interrogation. It may have been at this point that Salah Eddine, still confined in the civil prison of Tunis, was taken to his father, imprisoned in the same building, to say farewell to him.[113] Summoned to the national security headquarters Lamine's wife was interrogated relentlessly for three days to the point where she could no longer speak and suffered an apoplexy[114] as her son Salah Eddine recalled years later. 'As for mother, she never recovered from her arrest and most of all from the three days of interrogation on the fourth floor of the Ministry of the Interior, where the security forces questioned her endlessly about what happened to the family jewels. Whether she was maltreated or not, she came back with blood coming from her mouth and her lower abdomen. Internal hemorrhages. She died later in my father's arms, still in shock, and without ever telling us what she had undergone during her interrogation.'[113] Taken back to La Soukra in agony, she died two days later. She was buried in the cemetery of Sidi Abdelaziz in La Marsa, with her sons Salah Eddine and M’hamed present. Lamine was not allowed to leave his villa for the occasion. The public was also kept away from the burial by the police. Sidi Ali Ben Khodja, the Sheikh El Islam, was however allowed to enter the cemetery to pronounce the prayer for the dead.[114]

Several days later, the Bey's house arrest was lifted. Lamine was allowed to go out into his own garden, and to visit the tomb of his wife. He left the villa in La Soukra and moved into the apartment of a Jewish friend in the Rue de Yougoslavie, who had already taken in Ahmed El Kassar, husband of princess Soufia as well as the family of prince Salah Eddine when they were expelled from the palace. When prince Chedly was freed in 1961, he joined them in Tunis in the Rue Fénelon in Lafayette,[114] in a two-room apartment which was placed under constant surveillance.

Lamine Bey died on 30 September 1962 at the age of 81. He was buried in the cemetery of Sidi Abdelaziz next to his wife, unlike most rulers of his family who were interred in the mausoleum of Tourbet el Bey in the medina of Tunis.[115] Sheikh Mohamed Tahar Ben Achour said the prayers over his body and a single photographer, Victor Sebag, recorded the event, and was held overnight in a police cell for doing so.[116] He was succeeded as head of the Husainid Dynasty and heir to the throne and titular king by Husain Bey.

Family life

He married Princess Djeneïna Beya in 1902.[117] He had twelve children, including three princes:

Ancestry

References

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  117. ↑ Hugh Montgomery-Massingberd, Burke's Royal Families of the World: Africa & the Middle East, éd. Burke's Peerage, 1980, p.228

Bibliography

Preceded by
Muhammad VII al-Munsif		 Bey of Tunis
1943–1956 		Succeeded by
Himself as King of Tunisia
Preceded by
Himself as Bey of Tunis		 King of Tunisia
1956–1957 		Succeeded by
Post abolished
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