770 



TONQUIN. 



TUBERCLE BACILLUS. 



control over the Anainite finances and cus- 

 toms, and should permanently occupy the forts 

 at the entrance of the harbors of Hue and 

 Turon. In Tonquin they engaged to preserve 

 order, establish good government, and clear 

 the country of pirates. The right to maintain 

 an armed force there, and to occupy any mili- 

 tary positions that were deemed necessary for 

 these objects, was also reserved. 



On September 1st, although the country was 

 still inundated, the French advanced within 

 twelve miles of Sontay, to the village of Pal- 

 Ian, where they found the enemy in casemated 

 forts, on which the gunboats produced no ef- 

 fect. After three days of fighting, they car- 

 ried the works by storm. Leaving 300 men 

 with a gunboat to hold the position, Gen. 

 Bouet returned to Hanoi to await re-enforce- 

 ments before marching upon Sontay. The 

 Black Flags about this time became more ag- 

 gressive, interrupting traffic on the Songcoi, 

 and occupying posts within 5 miles of Hanoi. 



Differences between Dr. Harmand and Gen. 

 Bouet, who by the terms of his instructions 

 was obliged to act in concert with the civil 

 commissioner, led to the recall of the military 

 commander. Admiral Courbet took command 

 of the armed forces, and in the middle of 

 October Dr. Harmand's joint direction in stra- 

 tegical matters was taken away. 



Operations were then suspended until Octo- 

 ber. The citadel of Ninhbinh was occupied with- 

 out opposition by Col. Badeus on October 18th, 

 and Phunor, near the coast, on the 21st. The 

 pending negotiations with China were a cause 

 of delay in the operations. When the advance 

 upon Bacninh was contemplated and the capture 

 of Sontay about to be undertaken, the Marquis 

 Tseng informed the French Government that 

 they would come into collision with the Chinese 

 regular troops, and that the Chinese Govern- 

 ment was determined to defend those points. 

 These Chinese garrisons had been in Tonquin 

 since 1870 or earlier. They had been sent at the 

 solicitation of Tuduc to suppress brigandage, 

 and had accomplished that task at a cost to the 

 Imperial Government of a million dollars. The 

 Marquis broke off all communications with the 

 French Government at this point. The French 

 minister declared in the Chamber that the 

 attitude of the embassador was disavowed by 

 his Government, but this was promptly denied 

 in a dispatch from Peking. The French min- 

 istry asked for a further credit of 9,000,000 

 francs to strengthen the expeditionary force, 

 and continue the operations in 1884, which 

 was sanctioned by the Assembly. 



On November 17th the garrison at Haiznong 

 had to sustain a severe attack by Black Flags, 

 which was only repelled by the aid of the gun- 

 boat Lynx, that arrived unexpectedly. 



Before the middle of December Admiral 

 Courbet advanced with the main body of his 

 troops against Sontay, and fighting began on 

 the 14th, the flotilla assisting. The attack 

 upon the fortifications began at eleven o'clock, 



and the outer works were carried in the even- 

 ing by the Algerian troops, together with the 

 infantry, marines, and sailors. The losses were 

 reported by the correspondent of the "New 

 York Herald" to be nearer 1,000 than 200 

 men, as officially stated. The Chinese, Black 

 Flag, and Anamite garrison began to with- 

 draw, but kept up the defense until the 17th, 

 when the French entered the town. The cita- 

 del was still held by the Black Flags, who 

 were expelled after another fight on the 18th. 



This victory severely crippled the French 

 army, and the Government prepared to send 

 a much larger force than had been deemed 

 necessary before testing the quality of the 

 Black Flags and the Chinese troops. The 

 movement against Bachninh was postponed 

 until the next year. Re-enforcements were 

 sent which raised the strength of the French 

 army to about 25,000 men, besides 5,000 or 

 6,000 Cochin-Chinese auxiliaries. The cost 

 of the new expedition, with the amount al- 

 ready expended, was about 43,000,000 francs. 

 Additional credits to cover this were voted 

 in December. Gen. Millot was selected to 

 take command of all the forces. The question 

 of occupying the islands of Formosa, Hainan, 

 and the Chusan group, and exacting a heavy 

 indemnity from China, was discussed. At the 

 end of December Hunghoa, another important 

 point, was captured. In the beginning of 

 December there was another change of rulers 

 in Anam. The King Hiephma was poisoned 

 by his subjects for his submissiveness to the 

 French. His successor was Hiephoa, a youth 

 of fifteen, a nephew of Tuduc. The French 

 hastened to reduce the new King to a state 

 of subjection. A French garrison took posses- 

 sion of the citadel of Hue, while the French 

 diplomatic agents, M. Champeaux and M. 

 Tricou, who had been recalled from the futile 

 mission to Peking, imposed their authority 

 upon him without reserve. Although they 

 held the King in their power, and had a large 

 army in Tonquin in possession of every strong 

 position in the delta, yet the French were far 

 from being masters of the country, which 

 swarmed with enemies. 



TUBERCLE BACILLUS. The discovery of a 

 microscopic organism supposed to hold a con- 

 stant causative relation to tubercle in the lung 

 marks one of the advances in medical science 

 of the past year. The bacilli are believed to 

 be present in all cases of fully -developed phthi- 

 sis, as well as in cases which are still in the 

 early stage and exhibit no physical signs. 

 They are not found in chronic, non-phthisical 

 pulmonary affections; and the quantity pres- 

 ent seems to bear no relation to the intensity 

 of the morbid process, and hence has no prog- 

 nostic value. The conditions necessary for 

 the generation of phthisis are found first in 

 the presence of bacilli in the lungs, and, sec- 

 ond, in an hereditary or acquired predisposi- 

 tion which favors the occurrence of congestive 

 and inflammatory changes in the lungs, par 





