FRANCE, ANNAM, AND CHINA. 1 35 



and in the confusion, the King, Tu-Duc, with his body-guard 

 escaped, and became the leader of the Annamite people in revolt, 

 and the centre around whom rallied all the enemies of France in 

 Annam, and the whole country was immediately in a blaze of 

 insurrection. 



Tu-Duc was the third King France had placed on the Throne of 

 Annam, and it now devolved on General De Courcy to place the 

 fourth on the Throne, and he selected a member of the Royal 

 family who was said to be the son of the late abdicated King,, and 

 who professed to be devoted to the interests of France. 



Throughout the province of Annam, at this juncture, a fierce per- 

 secution raged, and a ruthless massacre of the native Christians took 

 place for having adopted the French religion and recognised the 

 authority of France. In a few days the work of thirty years of 

 Missionary labour was annihilated, for it is estimated that 24,000 

 native Christians were murdered, and their Churches, Schools, 

 Orphanages, and Colleges were destroyed, and the few Priests with 

 their followers who escaped to the coast, found refuge under the 

 guns of a French man-of-war, from the deck of which could be seen 

 the blaze of their burning villages. 



FROM 1886 TO 1887. 



This insurrection and the massacres which followed, arising it was 

 believed from the blunders committed by General De Courcy, led to 

 his recall in January 1886, and to the appointment of Paul Bert, 

 Minister of Education in the Government of De Freycinet, as 

 his successor, well known as Professor of the Sorbonne in Paris, 

 a distinguished man of Science, probably a Statesman. 



The appointment of Paul Bert, as the Administrator of Annam 

 and Tonquin, was intended by the Government of M. Freycinet, to 

 inaugurate a more pacific policy in Indo-China, and with this object 

 in view, the triangular administration of affairs, which consisted of a 

 Civil Governor at Hub, a military commander in the Field, and an 

 Admiral of the Naval Squadron in Chinese Waters, was changed, 

 and thenceforward the Civil, Military, and Naval Affairs were to be 

 subordinate to one Administration, under the title of Resident- 

 General at Hub. 



For. such a responsible position, and at such a grave crisis of 



