772.00/4–152
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Consul at Tunis (LeBreton)1
Participants:
- Comte de Choiseul-Praslin, Chief of the Diplomatic Cabinet of the Resident General
- Mr. LeBreton, American Consul
This afternoon, after he had explained the reasons why it was impossible to obtain an exemption for the Consulate General’s chauffeur, who has been called up for three weeks’ special military service, M. de Choiseul turned to the current political situation. The immediate crisis, he said, might be over but the situation was far from being settled. The Resident General wants to end the state of siege and restore normal administrative processes as soon as possible, and had even considered the possibility of terminating the curfew and censorship as of this morning. After consultation with his staff, he reluctantly concluded that the former must remain for awhile yet. As for the latter, internal [Page 706] censorship will be continued for awhile, but there is in practice no censorship of outgoing letters, telegrams, or, as of today, telephone calls. The principle remains on the books, of course, and can be invoked if necessary. (M. de Choiseul professes small respect for the Tunisians, and said somewhat deprecatingly that “these people” need to feel a hand on the bridle.)
The new Prime Minister, my informant continued, has been advised by the Resident General to go slowly in forming a ministry. The French want to give the Neo Destour and nationalists in general a chance to cool off. I mentioned the various motions and petitions that have come to our attention in which Tunisian groups say they will not recognize the legality of a non-Chenik government, and asked him if he thought the nationalists would accept the new setup. He dodged that one, but gave me the impression that the Residency is none too sure that things will work out as they hope. He said that there were lots of candidates but that it was important to staff the new cabinet with men of character and stature with whom they can work seriously on getting the reforms under way. The French have no desire to have to do this thing all over again. Baccouche he characterized as an “old fox.”
At this point, he reverted to the question of internal security and the importance of maintaining it. He said that it was necessary to act promptly and drastically last week, for if the situation had been allowed to get out of hand, all of French North Africa would soon have followed and that would have spelled the end of the whole European defense concept.
I asked him about the “éloignés” and what plans the Resident General had for the release of Chenik and his group. He said it was hoped that this could be done as soon as possible. However, it is a decision to be taken when the new government is established. Apropos of their complaints about their quarters, he said that the other day the ex-ministers had tried to beat up some Paris-Match photographers who had refused to take phony pictures making it look as if they were in prison cells. Bourguiba (“c’est un fou”) and the other exiles at Remada are a security problem; their release is not contemplated at present. I then jocosely mentioned the two rumors (1) that the Chenik cabinet had been rescued and spirited away to Libya, and (2) that Bourguiba had escaped, and he assured me both were false.
As for the rumored bomb explosion in Tunis last Saturday night, Choiseul at first professed not to be informed. He said, of course there had been a few explosions of “engines of local fabrication”, i.e., sardine cans, which did little damage. In fact, the Residency officials are very surprised and grateful that there was so little of that sort of thing during the disorders. In his opinion, the Tunisians are people of no character. In Morocco the indigenous population would have put up [Page 707] much more of a show. In fact, yesterday’s riots in Tangier were far worse than anything that happened here. I pressed my earlier question about the Saturday night explosion, and said that according to rumors it was more serious than the others and some one had been shot. He then admitted this was true, but said that the victim was trying to escape from the scene of the crime after curfew hours.
Choiseul wound up with a little encomium of his chief, Ambassador de Hauteclocque. To understand him (the Resident General), one must realize that the fundamental attributes of his character are those of the bon père de famille. This has colored all his actions in Tunisia. He is a good disciplinarian and expects his children to be well brought up, but he would never resort to unnecessary violence. He has insisted that General Garbay instruct the troops, police and gendarmerie not to shoot except on extreme provocation. The point that impressed him most and was in fact the turning point in his second conversation with the Bey was the latter’s concern for the welfare of the Tunisian families who had already suffered and might suffer more unless the disorders of the last few months were promptly brought to an end. M. de Hauteclocque felt that he had indeed touched a responsive chord.
- This memorandum of conversation was transmitted as an enclosure to despatch 331 from Tunis, Apr. 1. (772.00/4–152)↩