After a long discussion the new Tunisian treaty between France
and Italy (nominally between the Bey of Tunis and Italy) was signed, literally at the eleventh hour. The old treaty expired at midnight on Tuesday, and the French Foreign Office was kept open till very late in order that there should be no hiatus. Italy has surrendered her rights under the Capitulations to try her own subjects in Courts of her own, and has got in exchange certain commercial concessions. Among these is the right to have her vessels admitted into French ports under the same conditions as French vessels ; Italy, of course, making a similar concession to France. The abrogation of the Capitulations marks another step in the direction of annexation and the incorporation of Tunis with France,—the goal which M. Maine and the Protectionist party desire to reach. They hate Protectorates, because in them the bard-and-fast General Tariff is not applied. It is curious to note how France does in Tunis, almost without comment, things which if we did them in Egypt would be described as acts of perfidy and brigandage. Yet in reality Tunis and Egypt are exactly parallel cases.
Previous page
