Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1883-10-31
WHO THE "BLACK FLAGSv ARE.

WHO THE "BLACK FLAGSv ARE.
France IL Trying to Subdue.
(From the st. James Gazette.l
10 find out who the Black Flags are.
and how they came to settle in TOnuuin.
We have to 60 back to the DAYS of the
TAPPING rebellion. When Marking fell
after its long siege and Hung Sen Tseu-
men resigned his kingdom of eternal
peace, which had fought SO desperately
during all the dozen or more years that
1t lasted, the imperial troops proceeded
TO make very short work of the Things
that remained. The rebellion had taken
Its rise in Kwang-si, of which province
aung was native; and the Peklns man.
darins were naturally more anxio us to
punish the shock headed ut will be re.
membered that cutting off the queue
and growing the hair was the sign of a
rebel, natives of that province. But the
men of the West River were far more
lucky than others of their brethren. who
were slaughtered by the Hwang. tbs
troops and massacred by the Lo-los in
Ssu' chu'an and Kan-suh.
When they found that resistance was
useless they simply crossed the frontier
into the hills in the north of Tononin
and the imperialists did not follow them.
At the head of these rebels, who did not
number more than 5000 altogether. was
Wa-tsong, one of the minor Wangs un-
der the rule of the king of Eternal
Peace. When they found that their
purkuers were satisfied with driving
them out of the middle kingdom, and
d1d not venture to continue the attack
into the hill country, the Black Flags
proceeded to make very free with their
new dwelling place. They poured down
into the valleys, sacked and burned
towns on their way, and carried off
women and children into slavery. In
no very great time the whole of north.
east Tonquin was in their hands. and
the provinces of Gao Bang, Tuyen.
kwang, Long-Son, Thai Nguyen, Bac.
ninh and Sontay were in as pitiablea con.
dition as the greater part of South
China during the TAPPING struggle.
Eventually the terror ticken officials
agreed to pay tribute to the Flags. and
matters quoted down. There was no
love lost between the rival Cinnamon:
but they too managed to rub along to.
gether, and in short time there was
comparative peace. The Flags estab.
llshed regular duties, created monopo-
lies, got agencies at Hong Kong, and in
TACT, had everything their own way. As
Cinnamon, and therefore good men of
business, they took care not to kill trade
by imposing too heavy exactions, and
the Hong Kong and Canton guilds very
soon found out that trade was really
much brisker than under the feeble gov
eminent of Annamese.
Matters were thus going on very we'll
when M: Dupuis appeared upon the
scene and stirred up the hornets nest
which will cost France SO dear. He
sailed up and down the Song-coi and
through all the creeks of the delta, lee
turing Annamese mandarins as if he was
minister of the interior and they were
sub .perfects. His steam launches the
Laokai and the Mang-hao, steamed up
to the Black Flag headquarters and the
explorer threatened to shoot down the
whole of Liu's band if they were not
civil.
On his descent of the river he came
upon the Yellow and Black Flags firing
at one another across the river. M.
Dupuis ordered a cessation of the en-.
gagement till he had passed, and was
very indignant because some of the Black
Flags took no notice of his commands.
1t was be who led the enthusiastic Gar
nier into the rash exploits for which he
paid the penalty with his life. Finally,
it was he who persuaded the French
government That the Flags were almost
as contemplate foe as the Annamese.
When he was exploring the country in
1873, M. Dupuis found that the Black
Flags were most feebly armed. At
Laokai they had sixty double barrelled
fowling pieces, with few ancient flint
and-match.locks. At Kouen- CO he did
not SEQ u single gun among them; most
of them had spears and pixies. but good
many seered to have nothing more for
midable than flags. No doubt this in
formation led the French government to
determine on the annexation of the Flags
country, for it is there that the chief
mineral wealth of Tonquin is to be
found-the gold and silver and copper
and iron mines. But now that it has
come to fighting the Black Flags, it is
found that they have multiplied, and
that they are all armed with Remington
rifles; and finally, that fighting the Black
Flags is very like fighting Chinese.
Even if the Chinese government and tn
French republic arrive at peaceful
solution of their difficulties, the Hak-
kis have yet to be reckoned with before
the Song-coi River is opened to COM
MERGE.