On April 18, 1838, the French Minister of War, Bernard Simon, wrote to Marshal Sylvain Charles Valée, governor general in Algiers, to address a thorny subject: the fate to be reserved for the currency in use in Oran, the “Moroccan felous» which must be replaced by the French franc, the new official currency:
“Mr. Marshal, by exposing to me through your letter of March 27 the embarrassments caused by the issue on the square of Oran of a very large quantity of the small copper currency of Morocco called “Felous”, you submit for my approval a proposal from Mr. Civil Intendant tending to put an end to the unfortunate state of affairs which resulted from it.
This “copper coin of Morocco», the «felous», then saturates local markets. Confiscated after the French invasion of Eastern Morocco (Tlemcen and Mascara in 1836 according to the historian Auguste Cour, Oran in 1837-38), this money languished in the customs coffers, the collection of Oran and even the houses of the inhabitants. France doesn’t really know what to do with it. And the situation is becoming critical. The massive circulation of Moroccan currency in the Oran region, until then under Sherifian taxation, creates “embarrassment», and «unfortunate state of affairs» that it is necessary «to stop“, said the minister. The felous destabilizes the French currency which seeks to impose itself.
The auction, at a loss, decision to get rid of Moroccan currency
This situation is not a simple question of monetary use. The massive circulation of felous deeply disrupts the local economy. On the one hand, the Moroccan currency, struck by illegitimacy in the eyes of the colonizing country, supplies markets considered, overnight, as dark and parallel, escaping control. On the other hand, it poses a risk of monetary inflation, because too many francs will circulate for few products. The economic situation requires rapid and radical intervention, the letter seems to say.
Faced with the overabundance of Moroccan currency, Paris decided in favor of a drastic measure: authorizing Algiers, once and for all, to “sell at auction the felous which are in the coffers of the Customs collector, the Municipal Cashier and the Receiver of the grant in Oran.»
The din of the upcoming auctions, organized under the aegis of the Civil Intendant, would soon resonate in the streets of Oran, attracting a crowd of interested people and curious people. France will auction off all the money of Moroccan origin, but behind this pragmatic measure lies a deeper malaise: that of an entrenched Moroccan economy, where each coin minted in Morocco put up for sale will weigh a value real much higher than its sale value.
Protection of agents and budgetary balance
The Minister of War intends to protect the receivers and accountants who will carry out the operation which will devalue the Moroccan currency. Aware of the inevitable losses, he supervises the operation by relieving the agents involved of all financial responsibility. It provides a legal framework to avoid disputes. A defense clause is ordered: “No restitution could be made to these accountants nor to the Deputy Civil Intendant for the loss which will result from the execution of this provision.”
The impossibility ofrepetition » (action of claiming a refund or restitution) relieves these agents of any personal responsibility in the event of financial loss.
To compensate for the “loss“, namely the difference between the initial value of the Moroccan currency and its auction price, a “special mandate» is intended: “Loss which, following the proposal of Mr. Civil Intendant, must be covered by a special mandate equal to the difference between the original value of the felous and the price at which they were sold.»
This mechanism illustrates an effort to maintain a budgetary balance in the city of Oran while assuming the economic consequences of the decision. A strategy for mitigating economic and legal risks, first on the economic level: it recognizes the urgency of direct intervention; on the administrative level: it aims to centralize losses in public finances. This measure aims to limit budgetary impacts and prevent local monetary chaos from becoming an insurmountable administrative burden.
The correspondence ends with Paris’ wish to proceed quickly with the auction operation: “Please give notice of this decision to the Civil Intendant so that he can ensure its execution.», clear delegation of instruction, indicating that the execution of this decision of the French government, in 1838, now rests on the authority of Algiers.
-Postscript: France’s sleight of hand to compensate for its losses
The postscript in the letter provides an additional element of clarification on the financial management of the consequences of the sale of the felous, by specifying the terms of allocation of losses. The budgetary balance is maintained by distributing losses between the State and local authorities: “The allocation of the expense which will result from the loss caused by the sale of felous will be distributed proportionally between the State budget (financial and administrative services without values) and the local budget (unforeseen extraordinary expenses).” This double imputation shows that the losses will be significant, with harmful consequences on the economy of Oran if the French state does not inject money.
«It will take place because of the quantity of this currency which will be found in the coffers of financial and municipal agents as revenue for the benefit of the treasury.»: this clarification is important on the origin of the currency to be sold, it comes from revenues already collected by financial and municipal agents for the benefit of the Treasury.
These felons, piled up silently in the coffers of municipal and financial agents, represented a disturbing paradox: on the one hand, the tangible proof of an economy which was still raking in revenue in 1837; on the other, a monetary mass that has become toxic for the trade of French Algeria. Their sale was an attempt to regain control over a situation which was gradually slipping out of the hands of the administrators. With each auction, a page of a once reliable currency was turned, in the hope of a still distant stability in the conquered region.
Generic notion of “felous” and real name: “dirhem”
The minister uses the generic term “Moroccan felons” (Moroccan money), additional linguistic proof that the currency of Oran was immediately identified with the global word “money”. But, according to the historian A.-G.-P. Martin (1), this currency actually corresponds to the “dirhem” in the plundered Moroccan regions of the North-East (Oran, Tlemcen, etc.) and the South-East (Touât, Gourara, etc.). The “dirhem” was minted in the monetary workshops of Fez, Marrakech, Tetouan or Rabat. Each piece bore, for centuries, the name of the reigning sultan, embodying Morocco’s economic and political authority over these regions.
This monetary system lasted until the end of Moulay Hassan’s reign in 1894, Martin recalls, leaving a lasting imprint on regional economic history: the “silver dirhem struck in abundance by the various sovereigns who succeeded one another, sometimes square in shape, but almost always round in shape, bearing on the obverse the indication of the place of its minting (Tétouane, Rabat, Merrakech, Fez) and on the reverse the vintage. The monetary system was maintained until Moulay Hassan» at the end of the 19th century.
The currency, the historian writes again, was “called sultanian dirhem, or else, from the name of the reigning sultan: Rachidien dirhem, Ismailian dirhem, Slimanian dirhem“. The dirham remained the “single currency (Who) satisfied all needs throughout ancient times».
In Oran, under French pressure, the dirham gave way to the franc, symbol of a colonial domination still in its infancy, but already implacable.
Reference:
1: A.-G.-P. Martin, “Four centuries of Moroccan history: in the Sahara from 1504 to 1902, in Morocco from 1894 to 1912, according to indigenous archives and documentation”, Éditions F. Alcan, 1926.
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