THE

QUARTERLY REVIEW.

ART. I.-1. Annales de la Propagation de la Foi. Lyon, 1810

1814.

2. Embassy to Cochin-China. By W. Crawfurd. London, 1828. 3. The Chinese Repository. Canton, 1832-1851. 4. The China Mail. Hong-Kong, 1845-1864. 5. The Straits Times. Singapore, 1835-1864. 6. Le Courrier de Saigon. Saigon, 1864.

7. Histoire de l'Expédition de Cochin-Chine en 1861. Par Léopold Pallu. Paris, 1864.

8. Travels in Indo-China (Siam), Laos, and Cambodia. By M. Henri Mouhot. London, 1864.

9. The Brief Chronicle of Cambodia. By the King of Siam. MS. unpublished.

H'

ITHERTO our knowledge of Cochin-China,* its people, geography, and general resources, has been limited and superficial; while the accounts that have reached us of missionary enterprise and warlike operations conducted by the French in that country have been meagre and mysterious; and it has always been difficult to understand the nature of the drama enacted in this secluded part of South-Eastern Asia, which has recently terminated in the annexation of Lower Cochin-China to the French possessions in the East. Occasionally the curtain has been uplifted, and we have beheld the representatives of France high in favour at the semi-barbaric court of the King at Huê, instructing the mandarins and soldiers in the Western art of war and the construction of military defences against the incursions of revolutionary chiefs. This has been followed by glimpses of missionaries barbarously tortured and murdered by the servants of a monarch hostile to Christians; while a scene has not long since closed in which the tricolor flag was seen emerging from clouds of smoke over the citadel of Saigon. Having followed up this success with further hostilities against the government and with the subjugation of the inhabitants, the

* The original name was simply Cochin, and China was added by the Portuguese to distinguish it from Cochin on the Malabar coast.

Vol. 116.-No. 232.

*

conquerors boast that they have laid the permanent foundation of the French East Indies,' where the Gallic eagle is to rise as a phoenix from the ashes of the old Annamese city. For this purpose the Imperial Government has specially handed over the administration of affairs to officers of the navy, who have exhibited unusual energy in proceeding with the task before them. Already the site of the former city of Saigon presents the aspect of a European town. Wide and regular streets are laid out with numerous dwelling-houses, warehouses, and public edifices. Here are military barracks and a well-stored arsenal; with a squadron of large war vessels and a flotilla of gun-boats in the river, having a sea and land force of ten thousand men. At this port the fine steam-ships of the Messageries Impériales call en route to and from China, and the march of Western civilization on that new field was inaugurated on the jour de l'an of the present year by the issue of a newspaper under the auspices of the Government, professing to enlighten the world on the official, political, and commercial position of the colony in particular, and in general to furnish correct accounts of the resources of French Cochin-China.'

The realization of the schemes of French ambition in the farEast has created much speculation and some uneasiness in the English mind as to the designs of the Emperor in forming a great naval station in the China Sea, where British commerce has so much at stake, and at the embouchure of the great river Me-kong, which leads through Cambodia and Laos to the eastern confines of our Indian Empire. It would appear that this uneasiness, expressed from time to time in strong language by the journals of the day, has made itself felt in the Imperial Cabinet, and has elicited a pacific explanation. During the debate on the Emperor's message to the Corps Législatif, at the opening of last session, when the Mexican and Chinese expeditions were under discussion, one of the ministers, in reply to the arguments of the Opposition against the line of policy pursued by the Government, expressed himself as follows:- We must not let our country remain in the rear of other nations. A great country like France requires to plant her flag on some point, and, when she has done so, she must, for the security of her subjects and for the protection of her commerce, declare that she is determined to defend it.' Be it so. Let us accept this declaration as announcing the progressive policy of France in the annexation of Lower Cochin-China to her dominions; at the same time let

*An Nam, whence the name of the inhabitants of Cochin-China is derived, means 'The Peace of the South,' and is the designation commonly given to the whole country.

us

us inquire how far the principle is borne out in the facts connected with the conquest of that country-a conquest which has not been accomplished without a hard struggle with the Annamese, and the clash of contending interests among the conquerors themselves, an account of which would form an interesting episode in the annals of colonization. In the absence of such an account, there is a wide gap between the published records of the past state of Cochin-China and its present condition. This gap we shall attempt to fill up, by giving from authentic sources an impartial sketch of the leading events, and a description of the seat of government at Saigon.

--

we

are

Looking back to the period of our first detailed account of Cochin-China-some forty years ago-when our countryman Crawfurd visited the chief ports, on a friendly and commercial mission from the Governor-General of India, informed that the country was then in a state of tranquillity after the recent demise of an unusually intelligent king, who had ruled with a vigorous and strong hand. Everywhere peace and plenty prevailed, especially in the agricultural districts, where rice formed the staple produce; and this being the 'staff of life' for the support of the inhabitants in the upper provinces, which are unsuitable for its culture, a plentiful rice-harvest in the lower districts was of the utmost importance to the well-being of the whole empire. The towns were likewise flourishing with internal and external commerce, and it was with a view to the extension of British trade in the East, by negotiating treaties of a reciprocal character, that this mission was projected by the East India Company.

For this purpose Mr. Crawfurd first visited Saigon, which report stated to be the richest commercial port in Cochin-China. Although the extent of the city and its shipping did not meet his expectations, still it appeared to be an important place, for he describes the fertility of the adjacent lands, viewed while ascending the river, for twenty-five miles below the city as 'one extensive sheet of rice cultivation.' From thence he proceeded to Huê or Huey, the capital, where he was surprised to find a strongly-fortified citadel, constructed on European plans and mounted with guns of large calibre ; walls of a quadrangular form five miles in circuit; numerous canals crossed by good stone bridges; wide streets paved with marble, many of the houses of foreign architecture; granaries for storing up provisions for three or four years' consumption; a manufactory of guns and ammunition which reminded him of Woolwich Arsenal, and led him to think that foreigners must have aided in their establishment. This he soon found to be the case, and he was courteously entertained during x 2

his

his stay by two French mandarins,' MM. Vanier and Chaigneau ; the former an officer in the navy who had resided with his family in the country for thirty-three years, and the latter a civilian of twenty-nine years' residence. These gentlemen informed him that the defences of Huê had been projected by the previous reigning sovereign, who himself displayed extraordinary skill in military engineering, and that they had been constructed under the superintendence of themselves and other French residents, with the approval of the French Government.

Mr. Crawfurd was not furnished with credentials from his Sovereign to the Annamite King, but only with a letter from the Governor-General of India; and in consequence of this want, after much dilatory and vexatious negotiation with the mandarins in endeavouring to obtain an audience of the King, in which the envoy refused to deliver up the Governor-General's letter except to the King in person, the mission left Huê overland by way of Tourann or Touron Bay,* without accomplishing its principal object, although it had obtained permission for British subjects to trade at the ports of Saigon, Faifo, Touron, and Huê. Previous to this mission in 1822 there had been one from Canton in 1804 and an embassy from Calcutta in 1778, neither of which secured for England any greater political or commercial advantages. Upon each of these occasions it was remarked, as we also find it recorded in Crawfurd's narrative, that though the Annamese Government made great professions of a wish to cultivate a closer intercourse than that which existed with our representatives in the East, still it appeared as if there were a secret impediment in the way that prevented their intentions from being fully carried out. It was generally understood, and there were reasons at the time for supposing, that obstacles were thrown in our way by the French, who were not only our enemies, but, it was presumed, were naturally jealous of any other European nation, especially the English, stepping in and contesting the advantageous position they held in CochinChina. Be this as it may, subsequent events have shown that the Annamese were as exclusive towards French embassies as they had been and have continued to a recent date to the English. In 1817, M. Achille de Kargarion, a French envoy sent to negotiate a treaty of commerce, was refused an audience of the King on the same grounds as Mr. Crawfurd, viz. that he was not provided with a letter direct from his Sovereign. In order that this deficiency should form no obstacle to the negotiation of

* Touron is derived from the French word Tourann, signifying the Tower of Hann, the native name of the bay, where there is a fort or tower at its entrance. a treaty

a treaty with England, Sir John Davis, Governor of Hong-Kong, in 1847 was accredited as British Plenipotentiary to the court of Huê, with a letter from Her Majesty. He arrived at the harbour of Tourann in October of that year, but found the Government still contumacious, and departed highly incensed with them.

From this it will be seen that the ill success of the attempts on our part to establish diplomatic relations with the King and Government of Cochin-China has arisen from their antipathy to, and dread of foreign intercourse generally, and not from special dislike of the English or any other nation. It is the result of that natural spirit of exclusiveness which characterises this people in common with the cognate races of China and Japan. Therefore we may fairly conclude, that the ideas entertained of French influence at the Court of Huê disposing the Government to reject our advances, are immensely exaggerated, or entirely without foundation. The French diplomatic and ecclesiastic missions have equally failed with those of other nations seeking a footing on Annamese soil, when these were merely of a friendly character. France, which had infused a strong religious element into the people through her missionaries, found her honour at stake when these were cruelly tortured and murdered. What she could not secure by diplomacy, she achieved by the sword, avenging her children while she extended her power in eastern Asia.

The annals of the religious persecution directed against the missionaries in Cochin-China date as far back as two centuries ago, not long after the introduction of Christianity into Tonquin, in 1626, by some members of the Society of Jesuits. Whether these zealous men gave cause for the persecution by interfering with affairs beyond their religious calling, is not certainly known; but there is reason to think that this was the case, and the pioneer band were forcibly expelled the country twenty-six years afterwards. These were Italians. A French priest of the Foreign Missions came to try his efforts at the propagation of the Faith in 1666. He succeeded beyond the expectations of the Jesuits, who took courage and assisted him in his mission. Some Spanish Dominicans next arrived on this new field of conversion, and they agreed with their colleagues to take different sections of the country for their labours; that of Cochin-China as far inland as Cambodia falling to the lot of the French missionaries, and Tonquin to the Spaniards.

For upwards of a century from this period the propagation of the Faith throughout Cochin-China and Tonquin was steady and progressive, under the management of these zealous associations, which continued to strengthen their missions; notwithstanding

the