Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1884-05-01
THE FRENCH IN ToNOuIN.
The Hostility eft the AnaseSe to the
Invaders of Their Country

invaders OF Their country.
The correspondent of the London
Times gives au interesting account Of
the doings Of the French soldiers in
Tonquin IAN enforced stay OF
fortnight in Haiphong, he says, is
very far from being "a pleasant OK
I perieuce, but it has afforded me sorse
opporlsnity of accounting for the
marked disapproval with which the
{ TonquineSe view the French occupa.
ton of the country. We have been
so accustomed during the last few
years to hear the population spoken Of
as one pillaged, maltreated, ground
down by the Anamese maudarins,
/ turning beseechlng eyes and Supplica-
/ ing hands to France as the dellverer
from oppression, that it is somewhat
IpsrpleXing to find the entire mass of
the people quite as hostile to the
French as If 1t had previously been in
the enjoyment Of the best Of possible
governments The READS 81 nandarinS
are falling all over the country. An
Au9mese has simply to denounce a
Chlnaman as distinguished Black
Flag aud the helpless Celestial is forth
with dispatched to the world OF dark
ness and pitched into he river, so that
not the most piouS descendants can send
him a handful of Dien--Sycee silver
poStal-uotes for the dead mans sup
port in the neither world. Yet the
Ponquinese is not satisfied, he is not
even grateful The
MANDARINs OF THE OLD DAYS.
could at least travel all over the coun-
try and make halt anywhere they
pleased, without taking any extra)r-
binary retinue with them The French
dehverers cannot go anywhere away
from the citldels except in large
bands Every boat must have its
armed escort and every city gate is
closed at s o'clock at night not TO be
opened to any one till daylight next
morning Once week punitive ex-
seditious start from Namdinh, or
Hadzuong, Hanoi, or S>ntay, almost
invariably to return baiiird as soon as
their provisions have run ont. They
90 out in quest of pirates, but never
pirate is TO be seen Yet il attacks
on small parties, firing on govern
ment juucks, and night descents ora
outposts are acts of piracy, there must
be hundreds of pirates all over the
country. One is driven to the belief
that every Tonquinese is pirate, "
and that the French have got an ex
ceediugly bad bargain in their new
subjects.
Let us see how they concilate
them. A few minutes since | was on
the banks of the Song Tambac the
creek by which vessels pass up to
Hano', aud along the sides Of which
nearly the whole OF the town Of Hap.
hsng is built Behind the house Of
some officers Of an Algerian regiment
we're four of their soldiers servants.
To beguIle the time they were
PELTNG EVERY BOAT
that passed with stones. Ono poor
woman Tonqunesc boats are almost
without exception padded and
steered by women and boys--was hit
on the head and fell into the water,
out of which she only escaped with
difficulty on to the Shiny mud bank,
under regular battery from all four
m A. The mems masters could not
help seeing them if they had looked
out OF the window, aud if they did
not look they must nave been slngul-
arly caIlous to the uproar that was go
ing on. How long the thing went on
/ do not know. Ny intervention
would only have called forth insolence
and increase zest in tho amusement.
Systematized aggression CT this kind
is, however, probably rare. II is IN
their foraging expeditions that the
soldiers do most mischief among the
people. A couple Of days ago | was
told by French gentleman that he
had met a couple of soldiers carrying
of two large baskets If eggs and fol-
lowed by some crying women He
found that they had forcibly taken 100
eggs and given sous for them.
II -monstrinee vase Of no avail, and the
men went off triumphantly with their
purchase Incidents Of this kind can
be seen at any time all over the town,
and nothing seems ever TO be done TO
put a stop 10 It.