This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
AFFAIRS OF CHINA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[13226]
No. 1.
25
C
[April 18.]
SECTION 4.
+4294
Rra 12 MAY 10
Consul Carlisle to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received April 18.)
(No. 1. Confidential.) Sir,
Hanoi, March 11, 1910.
IN my confidential despatch No. 2 of the 7th August last I recounted the chief events which had occurred up to that date in the campaign against the rebel chief known as Dê-Tham. I have now the honour to continue the narrative of the campaign down to the present time, when it appears to be at an end, for, although the Dê-Tham, himself, has not been accounted for, his followers have surrendered or dispersed. The whole incident has been a very annoying one for the Indo-Chinese Government, and has caused some uneasiness in France.
At the time my above-mentioned despatch was written the last contact between the French troops and the rebels had taken place on the 25th July at Hien-Luong, where the De-Tham had given a decided chock to the French column, killing fourteen Europeans and wounding forty. He had then disappeared. An Annamite functionary, Le Hoan, had been appointed commissioner for the purpose of stamping out the rebels, receiving the high title of " Kham Sai" from the court at Hue. The French troops operating in the disturbed region under Commandant Ghofflet had instructions to act with the Kham Sai whenever he required their support: he was also authorised to raise a force of some 400 partisans. A French commissioner was subsequently appointed to act as intermediary between the Government of the protectorate and the Kliam Sai. After the affair of Hien-Luong and the subsequent disappearance of the De-Tham, the Kham Sai proceeded to reduce to order the province of Phuc-Yen, where a large part of the population had during the recent operations proved to be of extremely doubiful loyalty.
In
The only serious incident that occurred during this work of repression was a raid by a chief known as Ba Bieu, who had been one of the Dê-Tham's leading braves. At 2 A.. on the 13th August, with twenty armed men he entered the village of Bach-Da on the railway. Commandant Chofflet sent a company of colonial infantry, a few tirailleurs, and a section of mountain artillery. The Kham Sai sent 130 men of his " partisans." The rebels had entrenched themselves in one corner of the village, and burnt the surrounding houses. At 2 P.M. the French made their attack. half an hour they carried the village gate, but were unable to advance. The com- mandant himself arrived at 3 P.M. with a company of tirailleurs. He was probably anxious to avoid risking his men, for instead of rushing the place, he continued firing on it until darkness set in. The village was surrounded during the night, and some firing took place from time to time, but in the morning it was found that the rebels had left. The French loss was only three Europeans (including a lieutenant) wounded and a 'partisan" killed.
</
On the 2nd December two European non-commissioned officers--a sergeant and a corporal-were tried by court-martial at Hanoi for misconduct on this occasion in abandoning their posts before armed rebels. The charges (which were in respect of two separate and distinct incidents), ended in the acquittal of both the accused-in the sergeant's case by three votes to two, and in the corporal's, unanimously.
Ba Bieu's success in escaping from this exploit led him to repeat the adventure and three days later, on the 16th August, his band took the village of Thuong-Yea, four miles from the railway. The party consisted of only sixteen rifles. The troops were brought up during the afternoon and more than 600 rifles, including Foreign Legion, artillery, tirailleurs, militia, and "partisans," surrounded the village. Again Ba Bieu succeeded in holding them off until nightfall and then escaping under cover of darkness. The French loss during the day was four natives killed and two Europeans and seven natives wounded.
This affair, however, was the end of Ba Bieu's career. It afterwards appeared that his little band had suffered severely. Several of them had been killed during the day and their bodies either buried on the spot or carried off at night. Of the rest, nearly all of them must have been wounded. Two days later the body of Ba Bieu was
[2729 s-4]
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.