QUESTION. ADDRESS FOR PAPERS. (Hansard, 1 May 1882)

§ EARL DE LA WARR,
rose to present a petition from British subjects residing and carrying on business at Sfax in the Regency of Tunis; and to ask if Her Majesty's Government intend to take any steps to procure relief or indemnity for the losses which have been sustained in consequence of the bombardment of that city by the French; also to move an Address for papers and correspondence relating to the International Commission held at Sfax in August 1881 to inquire into the pillaging and destruction of property after the entry of the French troops; also for the Reports of M. Galea and M. Leonardi on the same subject; and for Papers and Correspondence relative to the affairs of Tunis since the last papers were presented. He wished to add that the 1802 Petition, which was numerously signed by British subjects, merchants, and others engaged in business at Sfax, stated that in the months of June and July last the city of Sfax was bombarded, and afterwards occupied by the French Forces; that the Petitioners had all suffered great damage and loss by the injury or destruction of their habitations, as well as by the pillage of the city; that the allegations of the Petitioners were fully substantiated before an International Commission held at Sfax during the months of August, September, and October, 1881; that, although several months had passed since then, the Petitioners (many of whom were completely ruined) had received no indemnity or relief, although the Natives of Sfax had been compelled to pay a large war contribution; and the Petitioners prayed that their Lordships' House might be pleased to take their case into consideration, and direct such representation to be made to the Government of the French Republic, and to that of His Highness the Bey of Tunis, as might result in their receiving the indemnity due to them for the loss they had sustained. He thought the Petitioners had a strong claim upon their Lordships' attention, and that of the country generally, under the very trying and peculiar circumstances in which they were placed. The British trade in Tunis had been hitherto carried on upon most favourable terms. It had been protected by Treaties; and British subjects, especially from Malta, had been induced to invest their capital in trade and other ways. The most friendly feelings had existed, of which he could speak from personal knowledge, between the Government of the Bey and the Government of this country. There had also been a kindly feeling between the Native population and the English. It had been enough for an Englishman to declare his nationality to insure a hospitable reception. The climate was one of the finest in the world, and a large field had been at all times open to British industry. This applied especially to Sfax, the most important city in the Regency of Tunis, as regards commerce, and where the trade was chiefly in the hands of British merchants. But what had happened? The country had been unexpectedly invaded by a friendly Power in alliance with Tunis and England; 1803 and British subjects found themselves, without any declaration of war, bombarded by a French fleet, their property destroyed, and their houses afterwards pillaged by French troops in consequence of the patriotic resistance which was offered to the invaders by the Native Arab tribes, as related by an eye-witness as follows:— In the narrow streets of the Native town, house after house was only occupied after a desperate hand-to-hand conflict. The effect of this upon the trading and commercial part of the city could readily be imagined; and although the European and Jewish quarter was separated from the Arab, both seem to have suffered alike. Another narrator, speaking of what took place, for whose accuracy he could vouch, said— There can be no doubt that the French soldiers who drove the Arabs out of Sfax on the 16th of July, 1881, followed up their triumph by an indiscriminate pillage of both the European and Arab quarters of the town. What was done happened in the face of day, and can neither be gainsaid nor denied. The same witness said— We next entered the European faubourg. Most of the houses were much damaged and knocked about by the shells; but on the pretext that some Arabs had fired from the dwelling of M. Gili, a Maltese merchant, an order had been given to break open the doors of every habitation in the quarter; and as soon as this was done a general pillage ensued. I was an unwilling witness of all that happened. The soldiers (i.e., the French) took or spoiled everything they could carry away, and broke or defaced what they were unable to move. None of the officers seemed disposed to interfere, and the whole business was a sad contrast to the measures taken by the insurgents (i.e., the Native population) to preserve our property. This witness of what took place further added— July 19.—This morning I went to visit the Grand Mosque. Its minaret is disabled, and it is turned into a barrack. I saw the soldiers cooking in various parts of it. Throughout the Moorish town the traces of the sack were painful to witness.…… Valuable Arabic manuscripts were torn up and their pages distributed as souvenirs of the siege. After many other particulars, he went on to say— In short, the Maltese Colonists of Sfax have been the chief sufferers by the pillage of the town committed in the manner I have described. Some of them have, indeed, lost their all; hardly one has escaped unscathed. As an eye-witness, I have recorded what really happened in broad daylight and in the sight of hundreds of people. The only hope of the half-ruined British com- 1804 munity is in the support which they feel sure their claims must inevitably have from the British Government. He could give many further details; but he thought he had said enough to justify the words of the Petition as regarded the losses which had been sustained by British subjects at Sfax in consequence of the bombardment of that city by the French and the pillage which ensued. The Petition concluded by stating that the allegations were fully substantiated before an International Commission, which was appointed to inquire into the circumstances of the case; but that, notwithstanding several months had elapsed, no relief or indemnity of any kind had been afforded them, although the Natives of Sfax had been compelled to pay a large war contribution. The Commission here referred to was appointed, he believed, in September, 1881, and was composed of Count Marquessac, captain of the French ship La Reine Blanche, who acted as President; Caid Jelluli, the Governor of the city; Captain Tryon, of Her Majesty's ship Monarch; and Captain Conti, of the Italian frigate Maria Pia. After sitting several weeks, the Commission was abruptly dissolved. Sir Charles W. Dilke stated in "another place," in March last— That the proceedings of the Sfax Commission were brought to a close by the French Chairman, on the ground that the British Commissioner had recalled a witness who had been already examined, and whose second deposition differed from that previously given, This was a somewhat unusual way of terminating an important Commission where considerable interests were at stake—by the ipse dixit of the French Chairman. He asked that the proceedings of the Sfax Commission, together with the Report of M. Galea and M. Leonardi, might be laid upon the Table of the House. He further asked for Papers and Correspondence relative to the general affairs of Tunis since the last Papers were presented, including Correspondence upon the still unsolved question of the Enfida Estate. With reference generally to these questions as affecting British interests, it was impossible to pass unnoticed the recent Decree of the President of the French Republic, dated the 22nd of April, which amounted to the virtual annexation to France of the Regency of Tunis. By 1805 this Decree the various branches of Government in Tunis, as far as they related to France, were placed under the corresponding Ministerial Departments in Paris. There remained, therefore, but one step more—namely, to include other nationalities—and the annexation was complete. The Kroumir phantom had disappeared, and, in the words of M. de Freycinet, upon whose Report this Decree was founded— Le moment semble venu d'adopter une organisation plus en harmonie avec la nature des choses. He asked the attention of the House, and especially of the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, to these words—for, if they meant anything, it must surely be that the protectorate of Tunis which France had assumed would shortly pass into annexation similar to that of Algeria. They had heard much lately of the danger to this country of the proposed Channel Tunnel; but this question seemed to him to sink into insignificance when compared with that of the annexation of Tunis to France, which would give her possession of what might become two of the finest harbours in the Mediterranean, Bizerta and Porto Farina, and would thus virtually give a naval preponderance to France from Gibraltar to Malta, which, in the event of war, might prove most disastrous to this country. In conclusion, the noble Earl moved that the Petition be laid upon the Table.

EARL GRANYILLE
said: My Lords, in answer to the noble Earl's Question, of which he gave Notice, but which he has put with some development, I have to say that I regret that the Commission of Inquiry at Sfax led to no practical result. Her Majesty' s Government at once put themselves in communication with the French Government on the subject of the British claims. Those claims are now nearly prepared, and will be diplomatically communicated to the French Government through our Ambassador at Paris. As to the Motion of the noble Earl, I cannot agree to it. The Papers 1806 will be prepared and presented when the communications which are now going on have come to an end.

§ EARL DE LA WARR
If the noble Earl will present the Papers at the earliest possible time, I shall be happy to withdraw my Motion.

§ EARL GRANVILLE
They will be presented when the communications are concluded.

§ EARL DE LA WARR
There are other Papers—i.e., Reports of what occurred.

§ EARL GRANVILLE
They will bo presented.