No. 79.
Mr. Holcombe to Mr. Frelinghuysen.

[Extract.]
No. 101.]

Sir: I have the honor to inclose herewith for the information of the Department a newspaper extract relating to a military force recently dispatched by the French Government to Tonquin.

* * * * * * *

I have, &c.,

CHESTER HOLCOMBE.
[Inclosure in No. 101.—Extract from the North China Daily News.]

the french in tonquin.

After many and prolonged delays, the French Government have at length dispatched an expedition to Tonquin. What that force is intended to accomplish, or what the ultimate aim of the French authorities may be, has not been officially disclosed. What is actually known is that there are now about a thousand French troops in Haiphong and Hanoi, and that they await further orders. The Saigon paper L’Indo-Chine Francaise does not hesitate to say that the annexation of Tonquin is the ultimate object of the French Government. This is what we have always believed and what we have consistently advocated. Tonquin is now subject to Annamese misrule and oppression, and the people would gladly change masters; the revolution could be accomplished by merely driving out the Annamese officials, who have no considerable force to back up their pretensions and are utterly incapable of opposing any effective resistance to French usurpation. So far, though the French have landed several hundred troops in the capital of Tonquin, not a blow has been struck. The Annamese apparently hardly know what to expect. They must be aware, however, that the French have come to insist upon the provisions of the treaty of 1874 being faithfully carried out, and that their visitors are prepared to back up their demand with force if necessary. The French have obviously decided that the trade route to Yunnan by the Song-Hoi, or Red River, shall be opened up. This is an important stipulation of the treaty of 1874 which has been coolly and uniformly ignored by the Annamese mandarins, who doubtless see in it a blow to the exercise of their nefarious [Page 142] system of squeezing the poor natives on whom they fatten and thrive. The obstacles to the free navigation of the Song-Hoi will first be removed, and, meanwhile, the French troops will probably occupy the chief towns of Tonquin, quietly displacing the Annamese garrisons and substituting French authority and rule for that of the Annamese mandarins. It is not unlikely that this will be accomplished without any effusion of blood, for the Annamese are not a fighting race and have already had experience of French prowess. Should they, however, offer resistance, the task of the French may be somewhat protracted but cannot be defeated, while the conflict might eventuate in the tricolor being hoisted at Hué and the Emperor Tu Duc losing his throne. Our Saigon contemporary makes no secret of its aspiration for the extension of French supremacy over the whole of Cochin China and Cambodia, and though it is very doubtful whether the present French Government have such ambitious designs, they might, if involved in a troublesome struggle with Annam, be tempted to give it a final issue by subjugating the entire country. We are, however, of opinion that no such scheme is now entertained, and that the French Government are chiefly concerned to give due effect to the stipulations of the treaty of 1874; these once definitely secured, the annexation of Tonquin may be deferred to a more convenient season, and the fall of the Annamese monarchy be postponed indefinitely.—(China Overland Trade Report.)