Théodore Roustan

Théodore Roustan, complete name Justin Théodore Dominique Roustan, (8 August 1833 – 8 August 1906) was a diplomat and official of the French colonial empire.

Debut in the diplomatic career

Born in Nîmes, in an academic environment, Roustan prepared a licenciate in law at Aix-en-Provence, then choose a diplomatic career. A student consul since 1860, he was successively appointed to Beirut and then Izmir, before being transferred in March 1865 to Cairo, where he was entrusted with the management of the consulate before being appointed in August of that same year. He then returned to Paris as attaché to the direction of the consulates in December 1866 and was appointed consul in Alexandria in June 1867 and in Damascus in March 1868. Commissioner in Palestine in August 1870, at the time of the interreligious conflicts, he returned as consul of Alexandria in June 1872 after being placed on leave during the events of September 1870. General consul in Beirut in December 1872, he was promoted to the rank of general consul and chargé d'affaires in Tunis on 17 December 1874.Short biography of Théodore Roustan by François Arnoulet
/ref>Jean Ganiage, ''Les origines du Protectorat français en Tunisie'', éd. Maison tunisienne de l’édition, Tunis, 1968,

Post in Tunisia

Context

The which he discovered was in the midst of a period of reform since the appointment of the Hayreddin Pasha on 22 October 1873. But the task ahead for Roustan was enormous: the English took advantage of France's weakening following the defeat in the 1870 Franco-Prussian War to obtain numerous concessions from the reigning monarch, Sadok Bey. On 23 August 1871, they were authorized to build a railway line between Tunis and Le Bardo, the future TGM. The contract even granted the authorization to operate for 99 years the land crossed by the line, inaugurated on August 2, 1872. This was an opportunity for the British consul, Richard Wood, to push his advantage by obtaining an extension of the line from La Goulette to La Marsa as well as the concessions of the Tunis - Hammam Lif, Tunis - Béja and Tunis - Le Kef lines. These were not the only contracts won by the English companies: the distribution of town gas was also granted to the "Foreign and Colonial Gas Company" for a period of fifty years. An English bank, "The London Bank of Tunis", was authorized on 19 May 1873 to issue banknotes despite protests from all foreign consuls.

All these concessions had been obtained thanks to the benevolence of the former Grand vizier, Mustapha Khaznadar. His fall gave the French government hope of a turnaround in favour of French interests, but the French consul in Tunis, the Viscount of Billing, came into conflict with Kheireddine to the point of considering his murder. Faced with such incompetence, he was urgently called back to Paris and replaced by Roustan, who had the difficult task of making people forget this whole series of failures.

Struggle for economic influence

The Grand vizier found in the new consul the support he needed to carry out his reforms. The International Finance Commission, which managed the regency's tax revenues, was headed by a French financial inspector, Victor Villet and then Édouard Le Blant. They appreciated the Tunisian government's desire to consolidate its finances and lent it their full assistance with the support of Roustan, who thus succeeded in reducing the influence of the British consul.

The loss of Richard Wood's support was felt even in the economic performance of the English companies benefiting from the concessions at the beginning of the decade. The gas company went bankrupt in 1875. The English bank closed its counters in July 1876. The TGM was on the verge of bankruptcy to the point that its owners were trying to get rid of a line "without traffic, without passengers and without goods". We no longer even think about building the railway to Beja or Le Kef.

Roustan immediately pushed his advantage by persuading Kheireddine to transfer the Beja line concession to a French company. This was done on 7 May 1877 after the French government had granted its guarantee to the Compagnie des chemins de fer Bône-Guelma responsible for the works and created specially for the occasion. The French consul was aware that this concession was the first step towards a future railway linking Tunisia to French-dominated Algeria. But Kheireddine was no fool: the concession stopped forty kilometres from the Algeria-Tunisia border and he strongly rejected all French requests for an extension to their neighbouring colony.

Kheireddine's desire to foster a rapprochement between Tunisia and the Ottoman Empire persuaded Roustan that the Grand vizier was an obstacle to the French predominance that he was trying to impose in the country. He therefore ceased to support him against his many enemies, which hastened his disgrace and dismissal on 22 July 1877.

The new Grand vizier, Mustapha Ben Ismaïl, weak of character, quickly became a puppet in the hands of the French consul. The connection of the railway on Algerian lines was authorized on 28 January 1878. A declaration of independence from Constantinople was being considered. The English and Italian consuls noted with bitterness their total erasure. Even Kheireddine testified that "the French consul becomes all-powerful in Tunisia ..and thus sees his wishes come true beyond his expectations".

Preparation of the protectorate

Congress of Berlin

The Congress of Berlin which took place from 13 June to 13 July 1878, completely changed Roustan's mission. After always opposing the ambitions of the French, the United Kingdom now accepted their control over Tunisia. Upon his return from the conference, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, William Henry Waddington, asked the consul to prepare a draft of a "friendly" protectorate to be presented to the Bey of Tunis. He did so but expressed his doubts about Sadok Bey's acceptance and warned that only a military demonstration could force him to sign. Waddington eventually abandoned his project, aware that the French were thinking only of a revenge on the German Empire and not of a distant conquest which, moreover, would anger the country with Italy, animated by neighbouring ambitions. But this episode convinced Roustan that he had the opportunity to enter history by creating favourable conditions for a future occupation of the regency. From that date onwards, he endeavoured to increase all cases in which the French were involved in order to convince French public opinion that such attacks on the country's honour deserved compensation.

The Sidi Thabet case

Ferdinand Veillet-Devaux, so-called Count of Sancy, had obtained in 1866 a 1,200 hectare concession in Sidi Thabet

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