FRANCE. 



B38 



island aft or the termination of tin- Ilova war. 

 The garrison in 1892 numbered 1,'JSU nllieers ami 



men. The export trade if insiffniflotnt, In tin; 

 neighboring seas Kram Ims N'ossi-He", Mayotte, 

 tin' Comoro Islands, and Saintc-.Marie. Tin- ex- 

 penditure nf France in IWKl was 2,244,092 francs 

 fur Die^'ii Snare/,, and the local revenue for 1H<)1 

 was TJ^. I ID francs. The islands produce sugar, 

 rum, coffee, rice, and vanilla. Their combined 

 imports amount to about 2,800,000 francs, and 

 their exports are about the .same. Their local 

 revenues amount to some 450,000 francs, and the 

 expenditure of the home Government to 225,000 

 francs a year. 



The French Government has desired to avoid 

 conflicts with the Ilova Government, while ex- 

 tending French interests and influence on the 

 coasts and in the northern part of the island. 

 The Hovas also have been content to oppose a 

 passive resistance to the French protectorate, 

 except a party holding intimate relations with 

 the missionaries and other English residents of 

 Imerina, the leader of which has been Rajoelina, 

 a son of Rainilairivony, who was ambitious to 

 supplant his father as Prime Minister. In the 

 summer of 1893 there was much activity among 

 the Hovas, who received arms and ammunition 

 from England. Large numbers were called 

 from productive pursuits into the army. In the 

 neighborhood of Fort Dauphin hostility was 

 shown toward the French. In August, Rajoelina, 

 Dr. Rajaona, a court phvsician and a son-in-law 

 of the Premier, and the Premier's grandson and 

 aid-de-camp Ralaikizo, husband of the Queen's 

 principal maid of honor, were arrested on the 

 charge of having conspired to remove the Pre- 

 mier by violent means, if necessary, in order that 

 Rjfjoelina might take his place. * All were sen- 

 tenced to be decapitated, but the sentence was 

 commuted to banishment in chains for life, and 

 they were interned in a village, where the sen- 

 tence was considerably mitigated in execution. 

 Abraham Kingdon, an English merchant, who 

 was Rajoelina's partner in a valuable gold-mining 

 concession obtained from the Premier, was 

 accused of complicity in the plot. He was 

 ordered to leave the country in twenty-four 

 hours. The French Resident pointed out that a 

 foreigner could not be summarily banished, ac- 

 cording to the treaties. The British vice-consul 

 was then asked by the Prime Minister to try the 

 case. He refused to do so unless the documents 

 were forwarded to him through the French Resi- 

 dent; but this the Malagasy Government de- 

 clined to do, as it involved a recognition of the 

 French protectorate. Some letters stolen by 

 Kingdon s servant from his master had re- 

 vealed the plot to Rainilairivony. The con- 

 spirators and their English sympathizers were 

 known to have cherished the plan of placing 

 Rajoelina in power ever since the death of 

 Rainiharovony, the Prime Minister's heir. 



Reunion. The old colony of Reunion, in the 

 Indian Ocean, has an area of 965 square miles, 

 and a population of 1(55,915. The sugar planta- 

 tions are cultivated by the labor of Indian coolies 

 and African contract laborers. The fixed popu- 

 lation consists mainly of Creoles, who are repre- 

 sented by a Senator and 2 Deputies in the 

 French Parliament. The exports, besides sugar, 

 are coffee, cacao, vanilla, and spices. The value 



of the imports for 1889 was 21,262,867 francs, 

 and of the exports 18.901,001 franc*. The 

 revenue for 1892 was 8.857,700 francs, ami the 

 expenditure 8,853,089 francs. The expenditure 

 of the French Government in isj;{ j s 4,">54,745 

 franc-.. The island of Kerguelen, in the Indian 

 Ocean, was occupied by a trench man-of-war in 

 the beginning of 1893. It is supposed to con- 

 tain valuable deposits of coal. 



Indo-China. The French possessions in Far- 

 ther India, consisting of the colony of Cochin- 

 China and the protectorates of Cambodia, Ton- 

 quin, and Annam, were united into a customs 

 union and placed under the direction of a Gov- 

 ernor-General in 1887. J. L. de Lanessan be- 

 came Governor-General in July, 1891. Cochin- 

 China was ceded to France by the Emperor of 

 Annam, part in 1861 and part in 1874. The 

 King of Cambodia accepted in 1863 a French 

 protectorate over the dominions that Siamese 

 and Annarnite aggressions had left to him, and 

 in 1884 the French assumed the practical govern- 

 ment of his country. Tonquin was ceded to 

 France after a long struggle in 1884 by the 

 Emperor of Annam, who was forced to repudiate 

 the suzerainty of China and accept a French pro- 

 tectorate. This arrangement the French had to 

 defend in the war with China, which came to an 

 end in 1886. In Cochin-China the administra- 

 tion, which is in charge of a Lieutenant-Gov- 

 ernor, has long been conducted by French offi- 

 cials, and so it is practically in Cambodia, where 

 King Norodom still has his court. In Tonquin 

 the Resident-superior and the Residents of the 5 

 provinces share their functions, in such matters 

 not of political importance as depend on native 

 customs, with an Annamite viceroy called the 

 Kinh Luoc, and the local mandarins. In Annam 

 the French Resident-superior interferes as little 

 as possible with the prerogatives and dignity of 

 the Amurath, or Emperor, and the ancient and 

 majestic ceremonial of the court, but the French 

 have been careful since the overthrow of Tu Due 

 to put on tlie throne a prince amenable to their 

 political guidance. The reigning Emperor, the 

 fifth since Tu Due's death, in 1883, is Thanh 

 Thai, a boy of fifteen. Ham Nghi, whom the 

 mandarins set up in opposition to the French, 

 was captured and is now interned in Algeria, 

 Dong Khanh being placed on the throne, who, 

 after three years, was succeeded in 1889 by the 

 present Emperor. A sufficient garrison in Hue 

 is a guarantee of French supremacy. In each of 

 the 12 provinces are French Residents who have 

 charge of political and police affairs. 



The total area of French Indo-China is about 

 240,000 square miles. Cochin-China has less 

 than 2.000.000 inhabitants, Cambodia less than 

 1.000,000, Tonquin perhaps 12,000,000, and An- 

 nam proper between 3,000,000 and 4.000.000. 

 The imports of the customs union for 1890 were 

 r.iu'is.460 francs, and the exports 56,995,119 

 francs in value. The receipts from customs 

 amounted to 25,294,497 francs. The imports of 

 French products were 11,286,781 francs, and the 

 exports of native products to France 2,022. :579 

 francs. The policy adopted in 1887. which abol- 

 ished free trade in Saigon and established a uni- 

 form discriminating tariff for the whole of Indo- 

 China. has therefore failed to develop the inter- 

 change of products with France that was its 



