140 



CHINA. 



posed. The Marquis Tseng kept bis govern- 

 ment informed of the opposition to the Chinese 

 policy of M. Ferry in the Chambers, and of the 

 apathy of the French people. The final pro- 

 posals to the American minister were that 

 France should not only waive the indemnity, 

 but should withdraw from the protectorate of 

 Annam, and in Tonquin leave the Chinese in 

 possession of the frontier fortresses. The right 

 of overland trade in Yunnan and the Kwang 

 provinces was also denied. These conditions 

 the American minister declined to transmit to 

 the French authorities. 



In the latter part of October, England tend- 

 ered her good offices to the French, which 

 were accepted on the basis of the occupation 

 of Kelung and Tamsui for a definite period in 

 order to satisfy the indemnity claim from their 

 revenues. Negotiations were opened between 

 Lord Granville and the Marquis Tseng in Lon- 

 don toward the end of November. The con- 

 ditions offered by China were substantially the 

 same as those proposed to the American min- 

 ister to China, demanding that France should 

 recede from the Tientsin convention, renounce 

 her protectorate over Annam, give up the com- 

 mercial privileges in southern China, and draw 

 a new frontier line in Tonquin, leaving in Chi- 

 nese hands the fortresses of Caobang and Lao- 

 kai. As mediation was impossible, negotia- 

 tions were broken off after a few days. 



On October 23d, the French proclaimed a 

 blockade of the ports of Formosa. Both sides 

 still refrained from a declaration of war, and 

 denied that a formal state of war existed. Such 

 an act would have been inconvenient to the 

 French Cabinet previous to the regular assem- 

 bly of the Legislature, because it would have 

 necessitated an extraordinary convocation ot 

 the Chambers, without whose assent the Gov- 

 ernment can not engage in regular warfare. 

 The French hostilities were declared to be anal- 

 ogous to the blockade of the Greek ports by 

 Great Britain in 1850, and the seizure of San 

 Juan by the United States in 1859. It was a 

 state of reprisals, or an unofficial war. The 

 blockade of Formosa, established with the 

 assent of the British Government, was calcu- 

 lated to raise troublesome questions as to neu- 

 tral rights. The French disclaimed the right 

 of search, but asserted the right to fire upon 

 neutral vessels running the blockade. If war 

 were regularly declared, the right of coaling 

 and repairing their vessels in neutral ports 

 would be forfeited. The coal-mines at Kelung 

 were flooded and unworkable. In Hong-Kong, 

 after the issue of a proclamation by the Vice- 

 roy of Canton, threatening penalties to Chinese 

 subjects and their families who assisted the 

 enemies of their country, at the time when the 

 flag-ship of Admiral Lespes was being repaired, 

 all the laborers and boatmen refused to work 

 for the French. The Chinese threatened later 

 to cut off the food-supplies of the English 

 colony if French war-ships were coaled, pro- 

 visioned, and repaired there. 



Simultaneously with their bolder diplomat- 

 ic attitude, the Chinese began aggressive mili- 

 tary operations. The French positions in 

 Formosa were attacked from the land, and 

 Chinese troops invaded Tonquin. In the mili- 

 tary engagements, the French were only able 

 to maintain their fortified positions. The 

 Chinese fleet also showed signs of activity. 

 During the London negotiations a tacit armis- 

 tice was observed on both sides. After their 

 failure, M. Ferry obtained an additional vote of 

 credit and sent out large re-enforcements with 

 the object of first expelling the Chinese from 

 Tonquin and reducing that country to subjec- 

 tion, and then establishing the French occupa- 

 tion of the captured positions in Formosa. A 

 blow at Canton was also contemplated. The 

 naval defenses of Canton were believed to be 

 complete. The approach to Peking was ren- 

 dered secure by a formidable fortress at Port 

 Arthur built by German military engineers 

 and mounted with heavy cannon and numer- 

 ous Gatling and Nordenfeldt guns. The port 

 was effectually guarded with torpedoes. These 

 preparations were made under the direct super- 

 intendence of Li Hung Chang, assisted by com- 

 petent European officers. Here also were 

 massed Li's troops, the only effective army in 

 China, thoroughly trained and armed in the 

 European manner. This body had been kept 

 for years at a strength of 25,000 or 30,000 

 men. Three times that number were now 

 gathered at Pei Ho to contest the landing of a 

 French army. With Peking presumably im- 

 pregnable and Canton secure, the Chinese Gov- 

 ernment was apparently indifferent to the 

 "piecemeal bombardment" of other places on 

 the coast. This scheme of reprisals was ex- 

 pected to embroil France with other European 

 powers and bring about an earlier settlement 

 of the conflict, and one more favorable to 

 China. The Chinese were confident of con- 

 testing the possession of Formosa with France, 

 and kept a sufficient force there to render the 

 position gained by the French valueless for 

 military or political purposes. The French 

 force was too feeble to stir from the two posi- 

 tions taken on the coast, where they were 

 hemmed in on all sides by a Chinese army 

 greatly superior in numbers, which with each 

 sally of the Frenchmen learned to stand its 

 ground better; for, instead of being demoral- 

 ized by heavy losses, the fighting qualities of 

 the Chinamen were improved by the example 

 of their adversaries. To establish grounds for 

 the bold claim to the suzerainty of Annam in 

 the final settlement, the Chinese Government 

 sent hordes of raw troops into Tonquin. As 

 the supply of such recruits was indefinite, they 

 effectually disputed the possession of that coun- 

 try with the French. There, too, the Chinese 

 displayed a tenacious endurance that enabled 

 them to learn tactics and discipline from the 

 victories of the enemy. 



Foreign trade was paralyzed by the conflict 

 with France. After the French acts of reprisal 



