Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-10-19

east may add that today, a. write, there are
IN Hong Kong buyers of the 500 franc shares Of
the company at s700 per share-400 per cent
Premium-and no sellers, although there are
thousands OF shares In the colony.
If the coal nelds of Tongking turn out as ap-
pearances promise, it is impossible to exag-
gerate their importance to Indo-China. At the
port OF Kong Kong alone there is a consumption
OF $1,000 tons per month.
there is possibility certainly of a prosperous
and perhaps even Of a magnificent future for
Tongking. l said, however in beginning this
letter, that depends" 1t depends upon the
French authorities at home and upon their in
naence on the authorities on the spot. and upon
that alone. AsI tried to make clear in my pre-
vious letter, Tongking is grievously misgov-
erned. Instead of finding helping hand. the
french colonlst encounters q closed fist The
''functlonary," clothed in his little authority,
has utterly forgotten that he is the servant of
the coionist, that he has no other reason for
existence except to aid and protect and encour-
age his self-exiled countryman. As it is, while
TIE colonist Is the blood of the new country the
'functionary" is the leech.
THE GOVERNMENT LEIGH.
Day by day the cry of the French colonial
civilian goes mp to heaven, Pas tant d'admin-
lstration! Everywhere else in the world cap
ital Is welcomed, no matter whose pocket it
comes out OF. In Tongking alone gold must be
stamped with "liberty. equality and fraternity"
before 1t is received, and a man must be
frenchman before he is allowed to labor with
the rest. The anniversary of the revolution
seems joke when one learns in Tongking that
one OF the conditions attached to u concession
Is that nobody but Frenchmen shall be employed
on III. L do not believe there is another
country IN the world which would make such q
pitifui stipulation. Does France not know
what Is done i'll her name? or is she not
ashamed, remembering SO, to set such an
example to-day TO the world?
l suppose it is wasting words to inveigh
against suicidal protection and the "tarif gen.
erai, but In conclusion l will say simply this.
DeHeVe, as every one who mas looked into the
matter believes, that Tongking offers pros
porous future. But know as everybody who
mas looked into the matter knows, that she will
never reach it along the present road. GER
tain permanency of appointment for the gov
ernor general, relaxing of restrictions upon
the colonlsts all round, u hundred times more
respect paid by officials to their wishes and re-
quests above all glad welcome to capital and
enterprise from any source, tnese are a few of
the primal conditions of progress. If they do
not come then France may prepare for the
Illumination among the nations which the very
name OF 'lndo-China" will soon carry with it,
In the words OF the editor OF the Courier d Hal
prong In the issue now lying before me, Ito
continue as at present means the loss of Indo-
CHINA. 1t means the ruin OF French influence in
the lar east But II these and other condi-
tons come about then lie Tonkinois," like so
many other expressions invented in scorn will
be handed down as title OF honor by the chill
dren of those at whom it was flung
HENRY NORMAN