136 FRANCE, ANNAM, AND CHINA. 



affairs, Freycinet could not have chosen, and France could not have 

 produced a man more suitable in every way to carry out the new 

 regime than the ex-Minister of Education ; for Paul Bert detested the 

 military policy of his predecessors, he hated bristling bayonets, 

 clanking swords, and the flutter of the red, white, and blue, and he 

 preferred, as he declared on the eve of his departure, a banner with 

 two high sounding words inscribed upon it, which were, " Com- 

 promise ! Administration ! " which meant that markets should be 

 opened and trade developed, in effect that henceforth Tonquin 

 should be governed by the Tonquinese, and Annam by the 

 Annamese. 



To reduce the population of Annam and Tonquin to submission, 

 and to inspire a reverence for law and order, by a beneficent poUcy 

 such as he desired was truly an heroic mission, but as it subsequently 

 proved, somewhat premature ; for he was going amongst a people, 

 an excited race, who for five years had revelled in rapine and blood- 

 shed, who had fought with the fury and tenacity of tigers, who had 

 butchered rnen, women, and children of their own kith and kin by 

 thousands, simply because they had adopted and recognised the 

 authority and the religion of the conquerors. 



It was feared, moreover, by the opponents of a conciliatory 

 policy that the result of despatching on such a mission a refined 

 and polished savant, of so high a reputation as the first professor 

 of the French Sorbonne, anxious beyond almost every other con- 

 sideration, to realise his highest aspiration, the establishment in 

 Annam of an Academy and Institute of Learning, that it would be 

 none other than disastrous. 



On the eve of his departure from France, when he bade at the 

 Lyons station, adieu to his wide circle of friends, his last words 

 seemed to have a faint glimmer of the sad fate that awaited him. 



' ' I have always said that when a man has passed the age of 50, and nearly finished 

 his life, it is his duty to consecrate the remainder for the good of others, and there only 

 remains for him the great problem, how to leave the world with honour ; and I am 

 convinced that in following this career I shall close it worthily." 



These bold and animating words of Paul Bert were almost pro- 

 phetic, and were fully justified in his subsequent official career, as 

 Resident General, for he proved himself an Administrator of broad 

 and enlightened views, and more than justified the choice by the 

 French Government for the position, as a sagacious and energetic 

 Governor. 



