COCHINCIIINA. 



Cuchm. 

 china. 



S*-^^^MI 



Rittury. 



three brothers, Yin-yac a merchant, Long-niang a general 

 officer, and the third a priest, whose name is unknown, 

 by which Caung-shung was deprived of the throne of 

 Cochinchina, and he, and as many of his family as fell 

 into the hands of the rebel party, were put to death. 

 The kingdom was then divided among the three, and 

 Long-niang soon made war on the king of Tung-quin, a 

 vassal of China, and obliged him to flee to Pekiu for the 

 purpose of demanding assistance. Kien-long, the empe- 

 ror, ordered his invincible army, under the Viceroy of 

 Canton, to march and reinstate the king of Tung quin \ 

 but the politic Long-niang, (who had assumed the title 

 of Quang-tung,) laid waste the country, and soon obli- 

 ged them to retreat from want of provisions, the army of 

 nis opponent having lost, by famine and the sword, near- 

 ly 50,000 men. The Viceroy Foo-chang-tong was obli- 

 ged to negotiate, but his antagonisi refused to yield the 

 title to the kingdom of Tung-quin. Foo-chang-tong, 

 more fitted for trie cabinet than the field, resolved to em- 

 ploy finesse, and he represented to the emperor that his 

 invincible army had performed most wonderful feats, but 

 that the supposed usurper was much beloved by the 

 Tung-quiueie, and had a fair title to the abdicated throne ; 

 and that it would be politic to invite him to the court of 

 Fekiii, to perform the accustomed ceremonies and duties 

 of vassalage. In&ttad of making his personal appear- 

 ance, however, the wary Long-niang imposed upon the 

 court of Pikiu one of his generals, as his representative. 

 The mock king was favourably received, and sent back : 

 but Long-niang, puzzled by this unexpected issue, re- 

 warded the faithful service of his representative by put- 

 ting him and the whole of his suite to death, in order to 

 prevent a discovery of the deception. 



At the time of the insurrection, a French missionary, 

 named Adran, resided at the court of Cochinchina, as 

 tutor to the son of the king, and from the general wreck 

 and slaughter he rescued the queen, and the prince, with 

 the princess, and their infant son. Their first conceal- 

 ment was in a wood, under the branches of a royal ban- 

 yan tree ; and after the ardour of search had subsided, 

 the fugitives proceeded to Sai-gong, where the prince 

 was crowned as king, under the name of Caung-shung. 

 A large army, however, sent by Yin-yac the merchant 

 fling, compelled the royal family again to flee, and they 

 embarked on the river of Sai-gong, and landed in a small 

 uninhabited island in the gulf of Siam. There the king 

 was joined by about 1200 of his adherents ; but the usur- 

 per preparing an expedition against him, Caung-shung 

 resolved to throw himself on the protection of the king 

 of Siam. This monarch granted an asylum to the exiled 

 prince ; and, being at war with the Birmans, he accepted 

 of his proffered assistance, which, by the aid of the Eu- 

 ropean tactics taught to Caung-shung to Adran, was so 

 effectual, that, io a short time, the Birmant were compel- 

 led to sue far peace. Jealousy of his talents, however, 

 and suspicion of ambitious views, raised in Siam a party 

 against poor Caung-shung ; and he was obliged, at the 

 head of Ins faithful followers in arms, to force his way 

 out of 'he capital of Siam, to re-embark on some Siam- 

 ese vessels and Malay proas seized in the harbour, and 

 again to occupy his old island ; which, with the guns ta- 

 ken from the vessels, he fortified in such a manner as to 

 be equally secure against the king of Siam and his own 

 rebellious subjects. 



While these events were passing, Adran had visited 

 the southern provinces of Cochinchina, and finding the 

 sentiments of the people hostile to the usurper, he resol- 

 ved to sail for France, and to apply to its court for effec- 

 tual assistance in reinstating the king on his throne. He 



Coclim- 



took with him from Pondicherry the son of Caung-shung, 

 and arrived at Paris in 1787- His project was presented .J^!" 1 ^ 

 and adopted ; and, in the course of a few months, a trea- n; llorv- 

 ty wa? signed at Versailles between Louis XVI. and the 

 ambassador of the king of Cochinchina, a full copy of 

 which is given by Mr Barrow. In that treaty, it is sti- 

 pulated among other things, that France shall immediate- 

 ly furnish to her ally a fleet of 20 ships of war, with five 

 regiments of French, and two of colonial forces, to be 

 under the absolute command of the king of Cochinchina; 

 and shall also immediately advance one million of dollars, 

 half in specie, and the other in arms and ammunition. In 

 return, the king of Cochinchina ceded, in perpetuity to 

 France, the bay and peninsula of Turon, with the adja- 

 cent islands; stipulated to furnish 14 ships of the line, 

 with stores and tackling ; to admit an establishment of 

 officers, of the marine in his dominions ; and to allow the 

 French consuls to build any number of vessels in his 

 ports ; and, for that purpose, to fell any quantity of tim- 

 ber in his forests. And in the event of the king of France 

 being at war with any power in India, he is permitted to 

 raise and discipline in the European manner 14,000 Co- 

 chinchinese soldiers ; and the king is to provide 60,000 

 more, disciplined in the manner of their country. 



It is unnecessary to point out the policy of the court 

 of France in framing that treaty, which, happily for the 

 interests of the British East India settlements, was frus- 

 trated, partly by the influence of the mistress of Conway, 

 the governor of Pondicherry, but principally by the 

 event of the French revolution. Adran, created bishop 

 by the court of France, and appointed plenipotentiary, 

 proceeded to Pondicherry, and although he was then cros- 

 sed in his purposes by the intrigues of Madame de Vi- 

 enne, as already mentioned, yet he did not desist from hitr 

 grand design of reinstating Caung-shung on the throne. 

 With the young prince he proceeded to the coast of Co- 

 chinchina, where he learned that the king, after a miserable 

 subsistence of two years on the island, had been induced, by 

 the circumstanceof the two usurpers contending with each 

 other, to land in his kingdom ; that the people had risen in 

 his support ; and that the royal party had proceeded to Sai- 

 gong, the works of which they had put into a good state 

 of defence. There they were joined in 1790 by bishop 

 Adran, and measures were taken during that year, for 

 equipping an army and a fleet. 



In 1791, the rebel Long-niang, alias Quang tung, 

 died, and Caung-shung immediately commenced his ope. 

 rations, by surprising, attacking, and destroying the fleet 

 of Yin-yac, the merchant king; and in 1793, the south- 

 ern part of the kingdom had submitted to the lawful 

 sovereign. Yin-yac did not long survive the destruction 

 of his fleet, for he died that same year. His son succeed- 

 ed, and was dispossessed of his capital in 1796. Against 

 the son of the other usurper, who kept possession of the 

 kingdom of Tung-quin, this Gustavut of Cochmchini 

 was preparing an armament iu 1800. ' Although no 

 authentic accounts since that period have reached Britain, 

 there is good reason to believe, that he has reconquered 

 the whole of that country." 



From what Caung-shung has atchieved, it must be 

 acknowledged that he is a great and extraordinary man. 

 By the -lid of an education, which may be called Euro- 

 pean, he has risen superior to those around him ; and his 

 superiority does not consist merely in patience, in forti- 

 tude under buffering, or in the achievement of victory, 

 but by civil regulations, and by the introduction of arts, 

 he has done much to civilize his country : the industry, 

 ingenuity, and energy of his people are excited, and pro- 

 bably they will soon be enabled to assume a more eleta- 



