ANNAM. 



31 



French were appointed to assist the ministers. 

 The ministry of war was assumed by the 

 French, and intrusted to M. Oampeaux, resi- 

 dent in Hu6. The new regent issued a procla- 

 mation, ordering all officials in Annam and 

 Tonquin to restore tranquillity, to punish rebels 

 and marauders, and to assist the French army. 

 For Donghien was occupied by French troops, 

 and all communication between Thuyet's in- 

 surgent troops and the Tonquin border cut off, 

 so as to prevent them from forming a junction 

 with the Black Flags. The citadel of Than 

 Hoa was occupied without fighting, about Au- 

 gust 24, by a detachment of French marines, 

 with the Tong Doc of Than Hoa at their head. 

 A military commission was sent out from 

 France charged with the reorganization of the 

 Annamite army. 



Massacre of Christians, The pacification of 

 Tonquin proved a long and arduous task. 

 New difficulties arose continually. The Black 

 Flag rebels received fresh accessions from the 

 disbanded Chinese soldiers. About the 1st 

 of August an epidemic of cholera broke out 

 among the French garrisons in Lam and Hai- 

 phong, and with less severity in Hanoi, Ohu, 

 and Quan-Yen. In the early part of August 

 the Black Flags raided five missionary stations 

 in the provinces of Bindinh and Phy-Yen, and 

 massacred the priests and native Christians. 

 The French missionaries Poirier, Guegan, 

 Garin, Mace, and Martin, were murdered. As 

 many as ten thousand Tonquinese Christians 

 were reported slain, in a telegraphic message 

 from Monseigneur van Camelbeke, Bishop and 

 Vicar - Apostolic of Eastern Cochin - China, 

 dated Aug. 8. The Vicariate was destroyed, 

 and murders and incendiary fires continued. 

 The superior of the college at Nuonha was 

 murdered with all his assistants and the entire 

 flock of native converts, except those who es- 

 caped and wandered for days without food 

 or shelter to places of refuge. Some eight 

 thousand of the followers of the missionaries 

 sought refuge with the French garrison at Quin- 

 hon. Many of the Nuonha converts were 

 thrown into the sea with their hands bound 

 behind them. The missionaries defended them- 

 selves with muskets until they were over- 

 powered. The military authorities were bit- 

 terly blamed by the missionaries and the 

 Catholic priesthood for neglecting to take pre- 

 cautionary measures to protect the missions, 

 and for visiting no chastisement on the fanat- 

 ical population after the catastrophe. The 

 protection of the missionaries and the native 

 Christians was the original ground for inter- 

 vention in Annam; yet this protection was 

 denied them, and missionary work was subject 

 to the same dangers and obstacles from native 

 fanaticism as before the appearance of the 

 armed power of France, and the brave priests 

 were exposed to slaughter as a direct conse- 

 quence of that intervention. Bishop van 

 Camelbeke sent a missionary with the tidings 

 of the massacre to Gen. de Courcy. After he 



was kept waiting for some time, he was per- 

 mitted to see the general, who promised to 

 send a gunboat. The gunboat did not reach 

 Quinhon until after the mission was burned 

 to the ground, and then departed without 

 firing a shot, owing to the absence of orders. 



Gen. de Courcy telegraphed Aug. 10 that the 

 leaders of the Black Flags had disappeared 

 and their bands had dispersed. But later in 

 the month the bands again appeared and 

 committed fresh depredations and acts of de- 

 fiance. Phuoc, the chief of the Black Flags, 

 offered his services to the French to suppress 

 piracy and anarchy in northern Tonquin on 

 condition that he should be appointed govern- 

 or of the district. Gen. Briere de 1'Isle, the 

 French commander, refused to treat with him 

 on these terms. 



In September Mgr. van Camelbeke reported 

 that two French missionaries in Annam had 

 been murdered and 24,000 native Christians 

 massacred. The scene of the catastrophe was 

 at Kuang-Tri, capital of the province of the 

 same name, on the border of Tonquin, whither 

 the Regent Thuyet had fled with the deposed 

 King. The massacre was the result of a proc- 

 lamation of Thuyet calling upon the people to 

 exterminate the French and their partisans. 

 The fugitive minister and King then crossed 

 over into Tonquin and joined the camp of the 

 rebels and Black Flags on the Songkoi. 



In the beginning of January Gen. Nggrier, 

 without waiting for re-enforcements, advanced 

 upon the Chinese about 100 miles eastward of 

 Chu. On Jan. 3 he defeated a body of 6,000. 

 The Chinese troops, to the number of 12,000, 

 returned to take the offensive, but after a hot 

 conflict were repulsed and completely routed. 

 The French drove them from their fortified 

 position, which was defended by forts, with 

 rows of batteries rising one above another. 

 Two batteries of Krupp guns, a quantity of ri- 

 fles, ammunition, provisions, and the Chinese 

 standards and convoys, were abandoned. The 

 Chinese lost 600 killed and many wounded. The 

 French loss was 19 killed and 68 wounded. 



In October Gen. Jaumont attacked the for- 

 tified town of Thamnoi, one of the principal 

 strongholds of the rebels, held by 6,000 Black 

 Flags, Annamite rebels, and Chinese deserters. 

 The enemy made a stubborn resistance, but 

 were completely routed after three days' oper- 

 ations. 



The Enthronement of a New King. When Gen. 

 de Courcy first went to Annam, he sought per- 

 mission to effect the definitive annexation of 

 the Annamite dominions. The Government, 

 warned by the fate of the preceding Cabinet, 

 and by the growing unpopularity of the enter- 

 prise in Farther India, was unwilling to plunge 

 into fresh adventures, and therefore vetoed 

 the bold project of tearing up the treaty con- 

 cluded the year before and infringing the terms 

 of peace just made with China. The result of 

 Gen. de Courcy 's stormy interviews with the 

 Regent and ministers was the surprise at Hue". 



