The Portland daily press., 1883-08-13
Tonquin.

The King of AMMAN, where the French
are endeayoring to increase their influence,
acknowledges the sovereignty of China, and
this fact brings France and China into
hostile attitude. China is jealous of French
influence in the east, and seems especially
to dislike the French. France has a treaty
with the King Of AMMAN and maintains a
diplomatic representative there, assuming,
among other things, 10 be a protector of the
Jesuits and Catholics of that region. In his
reply the other day in the French chambers
to the Due de Broglie, NJ. Challemel-Laeour
said, in effect, that France was at war neith-
er with China nor Annam, but with the
Chinese and AMMAN bands Of marau lers
known as Black Flags and Yellow Flags,
which he intimated, however, were directly
encouraged by the AMMAN government,
which while protesting that il is respecting
this treaty has neither the power nor the dis
position to keep the peace.
In order to understand the present state
of affairs ii is necessary TO go back to the
Chinese TAPPING rebellion. Several of the
TAPPING bands, worsted by the imperial
troops, were driven over the border into
Tonquin. Here they speedily gained an as
tendency over the effeminate Tonquinese,
married their women and brought up their
children as Chinese. They forIaed indepen-
dent communities calling themselves Black
and Yellow Flags, and in these communities
the sea-prates enrolled themselves. They
got control of the transit trade into Yunnan
by land and river, extorted treaty from
the king of AMMAN, imposed duties, estab-
ished mOnopolies, had agencies at Hong
Kong, and did pretty much as they pleased.
But it is admitted that the security of the
trade under them was better than it had
been nnder the Tonquinese government.
Under the present and former rules of An
nam and Cambodia, the lands were fright
fully misgoyerned. Pirates rayaged the
coast aud in fact depopulated the fertile
lands, causing the people to flee into the in
terror. They followed them up the streams,
captured men and women, put the men in
Chinese dress and cultivated pig-tails for
them and shipped them as coolies to Peru,
and sold the women to worse fate.
The French have put an end to this state
of things since they took the protector&te of
Lower AMMAN, and now they find them
selves face to face with the Black and yell
low Flags. The French settlement at Han
Of threatens the very existence of these
klnds, who lsfuse to accede to the
French demanes and place themselves I'M
der the protection of the king of AMMAN,
who in turn places himself under the wing
of China as his suzerain, and this brings the
issue between China and France. Active
hostilities no doubt began in murders and
outrages committed by the Flags, and the
French in attempting to punish them found
themselves involved in something like war,
with whom they cannot exactly say.
1t can be guessed, however, that the
French are more eager to annex Tonouin
for commercial purposes, than to sustain
The missionaries or to restore order. The
London News correspondent says: "Ton-
ouin possesses all the conditions of vast
commercial colony in its navigable rivers,
trade routes, and geographical position gen
orally: its and is fertile where alluvial, and
repuied rich la metals in the uplands. All
these good things are controlled by outside
interlopers; and, considering all things, if