The Abolition of Slavery in Ottoman Tunisia

6. Final Abolition, 1846

6 Final Abolition, 1846 The chapter examines Ahmad Bey’s formal justification for the abolition of slavery and the mass emancipation of slaves by analyzing the confidential correspondence between the bey and Sir Thomas Reade, the two architects of abolition in Tunisia, and the bey’s request sent to the Sharia Council for Judicial Ordinance. It examines the historical, religious, moral, political, and secular arguments the bey employed to justify the abolition decree and discusses the role played by the BFASS in the abolition process. On the Eve of Abolition On 22 January 1846, two days before the public proclamation of abolition , Ahmad Bey sent a confidential dispatch informing Sir Thomas Reade of his resolve to abolish slavery throughout his dominion. In this letter Ahmad Bey delineated the abolition process, beginning by recounting the measures curtailing various aspects of the slave trade and slavery already in force in the Regency.1 He acknowledged the importance of Reade’s diplomatic efforts as well as the humane principles of the various antislavery societies in inducing him to put “an end to this business of slavery.”2 Nevertheless, he left no doubt that he had undertaken abolition on his own initiative and in line with Muslim ideas concerning compassion for the weak and the oppressed, a duty that has “never ceased to be the object of . . . [his] attention as well as the central point of . . . consideration.”3 Yet he was also mindful of international diplomatic considerations. Ahmad Bey emphasized that he had adopted  Final Abolition, 1846 · 97 his antislavery program in sincere regard for Britain’s wise policies.4 The bey’s confidential dispatch also adumbrated measures to facilitate abolition and included a copy of the landmark proclamation, which he outlined to Consul Reade in the following manner: We have likewise sent the necessary orders to all the governors in Our Tunisian Kingdom, and having determined on writing a circular to all the consuls of friendly Governments in our capital you shall equally with them receive a copy of such circular: We hastened to forward to you this letter, for you to know our sentiments and what we spoke together on the subject. We thank providence for the aid it has afforded us in putting an end to this business, which we know is also an object of attention to the Great and illustrious British Government; and we pray the most High that our opinions be always in unison with their own in every point.5 The proclamation called for 'itq al-jabri (compulsory emancipation): every slave in the Regency was to be manumitted without any recourse offered to his or her owner.6 The bey had already designated numerous zawiyas as sites for emancipation, among them Sidi Mahrez, Sidi alMansur in the suburb of Bab al-Djezira, and Sidi al-Boukria.7 Until the enactment of Ahmad Bey’s antislavery measures, zawiyas such as Sidi Mahrez (shown in figure 5) had been the principal resort for runaway slaves. Besides designating zawiyas as places for manumission, the bey made provisions for the appointment of 'udul (public notaries)—not Sufi marabouts —to serve as formal witnesses of the manumission of slaves at the zawiyas and to supervise the process in other sanctuaries. Each slave’s manumission document was to be certified by public notaries and then forwarded to the bey’s court, where it would be endorsed by the chief qadi (judge). Such a meticulous process was meant to ensure a slave’s autonomy; once manumitted, no person could claim rights over him or her.8 Similar orders were sent to provincial authorities throughout the Regency. As in Tunis, the mode of compulsory emancipation was the norm. Ahmad Bey instructed provincial governors and local authorities to designate zawiyas as sites to implement mass emancipation, to appoint public notaries to witness and issue a manumission certificate to each slave.9 For example, the governor of Sousse, Abou Abdallah al-Hanafi, was instructed “not to allow any individual (whosever) to 98 · The Abolition of Slavery in Ottoman Tunisia Figure 5. The Zawiya of Sidi Mahrez in Tunis, 1899. Photograph by Bertrand Bouret. From the author’s personal collection. prevent a slave of any kind, be the slave a soldier ('askeri)10 or not from obtaining his freedom.”11 Interestingly, this reference to the 'askeri in Sousse suggests that despite Bin Diyaf’s account of Wazir Shakir Saheb al-Taba’s efforts during the late...