128 FRANCE, ANN AM, AND CHINA. 



Moreover, the military party in France, smarting under the 

 humiliation of 1870, were desirous to seek in another hemisphere 

 some compensation for their once paramount influence in Europe ; 

 and fostering these colonial ambitions, a few irresponsible and 

 adventurous men, defeated in their previous enterprise in Tonquin, 

 encouraged the French Government to stake their fame and honor, 

 and to pour out the blood and treasure of France in a war to redress 

 their wrongs. 



The proposals in favor of decisive action, arrived at by the Com- 

 mission of 1880, was postponed from Cabinet to Cabinet, till Captain 

 Riviere, a brave and vigorous, but an ambitious man, importuned the 

 Government, and finally obtained the direction of the military 

 expedition. 



Accordingly, and with these objects in view, the Government of 

 Jules Ferry, in 1881, authorised the ill-fated Henri Riviere to pro- 

 ceed to Tonquin, with the following instructions : 



" (i) To select a spot at the confluence of the Red and Clear Rivers for the estab- 

 lishment of a military station ; (2) having chosen the spot, to demand its cession, 

 which will be refused ; (3) to establish the station in defiance of the Annamites, and 

 to treat as brigands all the Black Flags who offer any opposition." 



Riviere believed that Annam was too weak to resist him, and that 

 the Tonquinese were anxious to be annexed to France, but in this he 

 was deceived, as the result showed. 



His exploits closely resemble the career and fate of poor Frangois 

 Gamier in 1872. 



Hanoi was captured in April, 1882, after five days' fighting, and 

 having captured Hanoi he attacked the important Annam stronghold, 

 Nam-Dinh. The Governor of Nam-Dinh, in replying to Riviere's 

 summons to surrender, sent him this laconic message : " Why do 

 you come here ? If you want to fight, let us fight ! If not, stay 

 away ! " 



Accordingly, Riviere, acting on superior orders, resolved to fight, and 

 fought, and Nam-Dinh was taken, and following the course adopted 

 by Gamier, he returned to his base at Hanoi, and soon afterwards, 

 May 19, whilst assailing a superior force in a sortie from Hanoi, like 

 poor Garnier, fell mortally wounded, and many of his companions- 

 in-arms perished with him. 



This sortie and its fatal consequences were caused by the insulting 

 challenge from the Chief of the Black Flags, which Riviere lost no 

 time in accepting. Marching along a narrow defile fringed with 

 bamboos, and at the very spot where Garnier fell in 1872, he was 



