China Clashes With France in Vietnam

They poured troops into Tonkin and sent abroad for armaments and ships.

Continuing France Acquires Vietnam,
our selection from Europe and the Far East by Sir Robert Kennaway Douglas published in 1904. The selection is presented in five easy 5 minute installments. For works benefiting from the latest research see the “More information” section at the bottom of these pages.

Previously in France Acquires Vietnam.

Time: 1882
Place: Hanoi

This ultimatum, in addition to the capture of the city of Hue, induced the King to sign a treaty (August 25, 1882), the principal clauses of which are thus summarized by Captain Norman:

1. Vietnam recognized the French protectorate, and bound herself to hold no communication with any foreign Powers except through the intermediary of the French Resident at the Court of Hue.
2. The Province of Binhtuam in the south of Vietnam, bordering on the French possession of Saigon, was ceded in perpetuity to France.
3. The forts on the Hue River, guarding the entrance to the capital, to be permanently occupied by French troops, as also all forts the possession of which is judged by the French commander to be necessary for the preservation of peace in Tonquin.
4. Immediate recall of all Vietnamese troops serving in Tonkin.
5. The customs of Vietnam to be placed under French administration.
6. Opening of the ports of Quinhon and Tourane to commerce.
7. Construction of a road and telegraph line from Saigon to Hanoi.
8. The French Minister to have the right of private audience with the King.
9. French Residents, with suitable garrisons, to be appointed to all the chief towns.
10. French Residents to have jurisdiction over the Vietnamese authorities in all districts, as well as over all foreigners.
11. France charges herself with the task of opening Red River to commerce, and of suppressing all piracy and rebellions, and repelling all foreign aggression.
12. Vietnam cedes to France all her ships-of-war, and agrees to pay an indemnity, the amount to be hereafter fixed, in order to defray the expenses of the French occupation. Until the payment of the indemnity all customs dues to be retained by the French.

The terms of this treaty no sooner became public than China vehemently protested against them; and the Marquis Tseng pointed out in unmistakable language that, Vietnam being a vassal of China, no treaty with that State could be valid unless it had been approved by the suzerain Power. Finding that the French Government was impervious to this argument, the Chinese made preparations to defend their position. They poured troops into Tonkin and sent abroad for armaments and ships.

A sortie undertaken by General Bouet in the direction of Sontay was partly successful, though the General eventually had to retire on Hanoi, having encountered stronger opposition on the part of the Chinese troops than he had expected. Possibly with the view of daunting his opponents, he ordered all the prisoners to be beheaded. In another direction General Badens was more successful. He captured Namdinh at the head of a force of twenty-five men, without loss of a life. But to Admiral Courbet belongs the honor of achieving a still greater success. At the head of an army of ten thousand troops, and supported by a strong flotilla, he attacked and took by assault the important for tress of Sontay, one of the places an attack on which had been declared by the Marquis Tseng to be the equivalent to a declaration of war with China. This action drew from the Marquis a further protest, accompanied by a request that the French Government would withdraw their forces from Tonkin, where they were not wanted and where the state of the country no longer justified their presence; and he appealed to the document in which both Gamier and Riviere had been disavowed at the Quai d’Orsay. For three weeks M. de Freycinet left the dispatch of the Chinese Minister unanswered, and at the end of that time he replied that the Government of the Republic had no explanation to offer to the Chinese Government.

Affairs having thus come to a deadlock at Paris, it was determined to remove the scene of negotiations to Peking, where M. Bourree represented France. Following instructions from Paris, he demanded from the Chinese authorities the execution of the treaty of 1874, the acknowledgment of the protectorate of France over Vietnam, and the withdrawal of all Chinese troops from Tonkin. The two countries were now in a state of war; and, while France hurried her reinforcements and ships to Tonkin, the Chinese pushed troops across the frontier. While matters were in his condition, news reached Paris of the death by poison of the young King of Vietnam, Tiephoa, and of a general uprising against the French. This was disquieting tidings; but already the reinforcements dispatched from France were arriving, and General Millot was quickly ready to take the field against the now allied forces of China and Vietnam. One of his first expeditions was directed against Bacninh, which he captured with the loss of only five men, though he failed to cut off the retreat of the routed allies.

In these circumstances Paris was no place for the Marquis Tseng; and he therefore departed from that city, leaving any further negotiations to be conducted by Li Hung Chang at Tientsin. That cautious official, being well aware that China was no match for France, declared himself ready to listen to terms of arrangement. Such an opportunity was not to be lost; and Captain Fournier, in whose hands the negotiations had been placed, proposed a treaty by which China agreed to withdraw from Tonkin, and to recognize the French treaties with Vietnam; while France undertook to hold the frontier inviolate and to respect the fiction of Chinese suzerainty. As a supplement to this convention Captain Fournier added a memorandum in which he fixed the dates when the various fortresses were to be handed over to France. To these dates Li Hung Chang objected; and, according to him, Fournier thereupon ran his pen through them. On the other hand, Fournier declared on his honor that he did nothing of the kind. At all events, the memorandum was not signed; and events in Tonkin quickly made the convention null and void.

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