FROM TONKIN TO INDIA 



manner in which they had given us their entire trust and 

 devotion without a murmur. This was paradise to them, and 

 they plied us with astonished questions. Like ourselves, they 

 were struck by the prosperity of the country. We told them 

 how the "' Inqtiij'ens" (English) had only been in Assam for 

 fifty years ; but to attempt an e.xplanation of the reasons for 

 their welfare to a Thibetan comprehension was too complicated. 

 Moreover, in the colonial spirit of our rivals there is not a little 

 affinity to the commercial side of the Chinese. 



As I admire the work of the English, I look round upon 

 ourselves, and think of what is wanting to make our colonies 

 prosperous like theirs. It is continuity of policy; it is the 

 grand freedom of the colonist, backed up by his Government ; it 

 is a simplicity of administration in the hands of able men who 

 know their way and take it. 



There is no use in hiding one's head ostrich-like under a 

 stone. It is better to look the truth in the face. In no set 

 of circumstances has 'yvSidt aeavrov more significance than in 

 colonial affairs, in which it behoves us to take a lesson. 



And all the while that I am making these reflections and 

 comparisons 1 cannot dispossess my mind of the thought that 

 the whole of this rich expanse ought to have been ours. 



" ' Inquijen' preliendunt donas terras/" cried Joseph as we 

 descended into the plains of Assam. Yes ; the English have 

 taken India, and we let them do it. The ineptness and ignor- 

 ance of a monarch with ill counsellors allowed our rivals to 

 win an empire whose foundations were laid by a few resolute 

 Frenchmen. Yet, if there is any consolation to be derived under 

 the loss of one of our children, it is that of seeing it grown into 

 a strono- man, and of knowing that to make it so its guardians 



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