ANXAM. 



; "The The kingdom of Annam comprises Cochin- 



i Y ' 1,1 >Ppv II W France in 1862 and laov, tne province 



I Pre&nda^ BakI; and quin, conquered in 1802, in the north, and Tsi- 



' :; -,- -I,:',;;; frs-vs: p,|T='-IS 



,, ., mi . t> : ; Tiia ^.oriifal of Annam is Hue, with 30.- 



Kicli ami Poor Employers and^ Employed "; 



^ . , The Attitude of the Church with re- 

 jifn-ct to Movements in Foreign Churches " ; 

 and " The Rearrangement of the Services of the 

 Church, and the Provision of Supplementary 

 Services in the Prayer-Book." 



AHXil, a kingdom in Asia, under the pro- 

 tection of France. In 1882 France asserted 

 her claims to a protectorate over the Annam- 

 ite dominion, and especially over the province 

 of Tonquin, under the terms of a treaty con- 

 cluded in 1874. The Tonquinese people re- 

 sisted the assertion of the protectorate. The 

 Chinese Government claimed suzerainty over 

 the same countries. France began a series of 

 military operations to enforce the treaty. A 

 determined resistance was made by the Black 

 Flags, a military association of Chinamen set- 

 tled in the north of Tonquin, who were abet- 

 ted by the Mandarinate or official class of An- 

 narn. and encouraged, aided, and re- enforced by 

 volunteers from China, and who rendered the 

 effective occupation of the country impossible. 

 After long operations and heavy sacrifices, the 

 French troops drove back the Black Flag guer- 

 rillas to the extreme north near the Chinese 

 frontier. The Chinese Government agreed to 

 a provisional treaty, recognizing the French 

 protectorate over Tonquin and Annam, with- 

 drawing its claims of effective suzerainty, and 

 promising to evacuate certain points in north- 

 ern Tonqnin where Chinese garrisons were 

 posted in virtue of suzerainty. While French 

 troop* were proceeding to occupy the fortress 

 of Langson a collision with the Chinese gar- 

 rison occurred. The Republic demanded an 

 indemnity and the ratification of the treaty. 

 The Chinese Government denied that its offi- 

 cers were in the wrong, and reasserted its 

 claims over Tonquin. France then began a 

 series of reprisals against China. The Chinese 

 re-entered Tonqnin and drove back the French 

 troops, while the French naval squadron bom- 

 barded the arsenal of Foochow, captured Ke- 

 Inng, and proclaimed a blockade of the ports 

 of Formosa. During the course of the earlier 

 operations in Tonquin the King of Annam died, 

 3, and with his successor the French con- 

 cluded a treaty in which he acknowledged the 

 French protectorate, and gave to the French 

 control over the administration of the province 

 of Tonqnin, which was assumed on the ground 

 of suppressing river-pirates and freebooters. 



are in the country about 420.000 Christians and 

 six Roman Catholic bishoprics. The total ex- 

 port and import trade of the port of Haiphong 

 in 1881 was about $2,000,000 in value The 

 articles of export are silk-stuffs, raw silk, lac- 

 quer, tin, drugs, cotton, edible fungi, anise- 

 seed oil, etc. The import articles are cotton 

 yarn, shoes, iron, Chinese porcelain, opium, 

 potatoes, petroleum, hardware, etc. The com- 

 merce is mainly with China. Tonquin is ex- 

 tremely fertile. Extensive beds of valuable 

 coal are said to exist, and numerous gold, sil- 

 ver, iron, and copper mines. 



The form of government in Annam is an 

 absolute monarchy. The King, called the 

 Hwang-te, has a privy council of seven minis- 

 ters. Over each of the two principal divisions 

 of the empire, Tonquin and Cochin China, there 

 is a viceroy, and at the head of every province 

 a governor. 



The Military Campaign. In December, 1884, 

 the French troops had retired from the hill- 

 country in the north of the province before the 

 strong army which China threw into Tonquin. 

 Gen. Brire de 1'Isle, their commander - in- 

 chief, held several posts in the delta with his 

 force, while Gen. Ne'grier's detachment was 

 intrenched on a line close to the delta. The 

 delta was in a disordered condition. The 

 French were unable to move, and had no troops 

 to send to other posts. Their original force of 

 18,000 soldiers was reduced by the discharge 

 of men whose time had expired, and by sickness, 

 to 11,000, and of these a large number were 

 non-effective. Bad water and exposure caused 

 much sickness. They were unable to procure 

 coolies or animals for transport. The Chinese 

 built a military road from near Langson to 

 Kwangyen, and subjected the French to con- 

 stant skirmishing attacks. The descent of the 

 Chinese into the delta was checked in Novem- 

 ber by a desperate battle in which the whole 

 available French force was engaged, and as 

 the result of which the important stronghold 

 of Kep, qr Lang Kep, fell into the hands of the 

 French. This position, on the main road to 

 Langson at the entrance of the hill-country, 

 was captured after heavy fighting that lasted 

 for a day and a half. As many as 640 Chinese 

 were found dead in the citadel, and more than 

 300 were shot in the tall grass outside. The 

 Chinese showed a great improvement in disci- 

 pline and order, and were armed with good 

 rifles of German manufacture. A detachment 



