Théodore Roustan

Théodore Roustan trained in law at Aix-en-Provence before pursuing a consular career in the eastern Mediterranean. His assignments included Beirut, Smyrna, Cairo, Alexandria, and Damascus. Appointed to Tunis in 1874, he worked to strengthen French political and commercial influence, including competition for railway concessions. ¹

Roustan played a central part in the establishment of the French protectorate over Tunisia and signed the Treaty of Bardo in May 1881. The expansion brought controversy at home. Henri Rochefort’s newspaper accused him of pursuing private financial interests; Roustan brought a libel action, but the jury acquitted Rochefort in December 1881. That verdict should not be mistaken for a court finding that every accusation against Roustan was true. ¹

Transferred to Washington in 1882, Roustan participated in preparations for the international conference on protecting submarine cables. In October he acknowledged the American decision to participate, identifying Levi P. Morton and Henry Vignaud as its delegates and undertaking to notify his government. He later served in Madrid and retired in 1894. He died in Paris in 1906. ^{2, 1}