Lucien Saint, the Resident-General of France, who was the originator of this law, wanted to weaken the nationalist movement by attracting its better-educated members. However, he only managed to attract the sarcasm of the most racist colonialists, who mocked these new citizens who barely spoke French. When he left Tunisia on January 2, 1929, he did not know that he was leaving his successor François Manceron,a time bomb that would re-animate the Tunisian national movement once again.