766 



TONQUIN. 



expedition was contemplated, but that France 

 was considering the question of upholding the 

 treaty of Saigon. Subsequently, upon the cir- 

 culation of fresh rumors, the Chinese repre- 

 sentative addressed a letter of inquiry to the 

 succeeding Minister for Foreign Affairs, -M. 

 St. Hillaire, asking whether the intentions of 

 the French Government had undergone any 

 change with regard to the kingdom of Ton- 

 quin, " whose prince has hitherto received 

 investiture as a vassal from the Emperor of 

 China. 1 ' The reply, of the date of Sept. 27, 

 1880, declared the intention of France to con- 

 form to the treaty of 1874, which " guaranteed 

 the kingdom of Anam its entire independ- 

 ence of all the powers," and "placed all the 

 European interests in Anam under the pro- 

 tection of France." The Marquis Tseng wrote, 

 under the date of Sept. 24, 1881, that the Pe- 

 king Government does not recognize the treaty 

 of 1874, or the right of the Prince of Anam 

 to change by his sole act China's "unquestion- 

 able rights of suzerainty." M. Gambetta, who 

 succeeded in the ministry, sent the reply, Jan. 

 1, 1882. He described Anam as an " em- 

 pire." "I can not," he wrote, "allow you to 

 protest against the treaty of 1874. That treaty 

 was duly notified, and in its reply of June 

 10, 1875, your Government made no protest. 

 Anam was mentioned solely as formerly a 

 tributary of China, which is merely of histori- 

 cal interest." On this plea the French minis- 

 ter refused to agree to a protest against a 

 treaty "the time for carrying out which has 

 arrived," but declared that "the Government 

 of France cherishes no designs which can 

 harm Chinese interests." The Marquis re- 

 plied on Feb. 12, 1882, after M. Gambetta 

 had given place in the Foreign Office to M. 

 de Freycinet, correcting the allusion to the 

 colony of Cochin-China, and denying the con- 

 struction put upon the Chinese protest of June 

 10, 1875, to the treaty of Saigon. The terms 

 used by Prince Kung in that reply, he assert- 

 ed, far from referring to the tributary position 

 of Anam as merely a question of historical 

 interest, " signify that Anam has been, and 

 still is, a country tributary to China, whose 

 constant acts of submission still make it a vas- 

 sal state. ' If Prince Kung did not discuss the 

 articles of the treaty,' he explains, 'it was be- 

 cause he refuses to recognize it ; for the Chi- 

 nese Government protested against the treaty 

 of 1874 as soon as it was submitted to it.' " 



In April, 1882, when rumors of the capture 

 of Hanoi reached the Chinese embassador, 

 he sought explanations from M. de Freycinet, 

 who assured him that the affair was of no im- 

 portance, and that what had been done was 

 without the sanction of the French Govern- 

 ment. This explanation was forwarded to the 

 Peking Government, and on May 6, 1882, the 

 Marquis Tseng informed the French minister 

 that he had tranquillized the court at Peking. 

 On the 31st of May he received from M. de 

 Freycinet a dispatch correcting the interpre- 



tation which had been put upon his words, 

 couched in the following terms : " I confined 

 myself to saying that the French Government 

 had given orders for carrying out the treaty 

 of 1874. I added that the consequences of 

 the influence 1 intended to exercise concerned 

 only the signatories of the treaty, and that 

 consequently we had no explanation to give to 

 the Chinese Government." In his reply, dated 

 June 14, 1882, the Marquis Tseng protested 

 against this position in the following language : 

 " If a suzerainty of centuries over Tonquin, a 

 contiguous frontier for thousands of lis, a nu- 

 merous colony settled in the country, commer- 

 .cial interests whose extent yields to those of 

 no other country, and the navigation of a river 

 which is the outlet of the southwest of China 

 if, I say, all these titles put together, do 

 not give the Imperial Government a right of 

 being interested in what happens in Tonquin, I 

 should be glad to know what could confer such 

 a right." This remained unanswered, and for 

 many months there was little intercourse with 

 the- European representative of China. 



Meanwhile negotiations were opened at Pe- 

 king, and in November, 1882, M. Bourse, the 

 French minister, agreed upon a scheme of ar- 

 rangement which, however, was rejected by 

 the French Government. On May 16, 1883, 

 M. Bourse was recalled to France, and M. 

 Tricou, embassador to Japan, was sent on a 

 special mission to China, and entered into ne- 

 gotiations with the Viceroy, Li Hung Chang, 

 who was proceeding to take command of the 

 Chinese troops in the four southern provinces. 

 On July 4th M. Tricou announced that any 

 aid given by China to Anam would involve a 

 casus belli. The Chinese Government disa- 

 vowed any responsibility for the acts of Chi- 

 nese subjects in Anam. 



About this time the scene of negotiations 

 was again transferred to Europe. On Aug. 

 18, 1883, the Marquis Tseng declared the bases 

 on which China was willing to treat, which 

 were the preservation of Chinese suzerainty 

 and the evacuation of Tonquin by France, on 

 the one hand, and the opening of the Red 

 river to commerce on the other. M. Challe- 

 mel-Lacour, in reply, August 27th, denied the 

 suzerainty, and declared that the affairs of Ton- 

 quin must be settled with Anam alone. A 

 new situation was now created by the French 

 military successes, the change of rulers in 

 Anam, and the treaty concluded at Hue, Au- 

 gust 25th. The Chinese diplomats protested 

 that there could be no king in Anam without 

 investiture by the Emperor of China, and that 

 the treaty therefore possessed no force or va- 

 lidity. Thence ensued a month's negotiations 

 between the Marquis Tseng and MM. Jules 

 Ferry and Challemel-Lacour, in which Lord 

 Granville unofficially played the part of medi- 

 ator. On September 15th propositions were 

 submitted by the French Government, agree- 

 ing to the establishment of a neutral zone and 

 providing for the opening of the town of Man 



