CO129-451 - Public Offices - 1918 — Page 291

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peace in the colony until they change their policy towards the natives entirely. They carry the doctrine of racial ascendency and its perpetuation to an extreme point and are a long way from the modern idea of regarding a colony of Asiatics as a trust i ee-ship; they are in fact where we were 150 years ago, and the Press loses no opportunity of emphasising the fact that Inde- China is a "colonie d'exploitation" in contradistinction to the British Colonies.

A short while ago the "Courrier d'Haiphong", commenting on an artide in a French paper deploring the despatch of Annan- mites to France on the ground that they would become so impreg- nated with Turopean vices, maintained that this was sheer non- sense, as the Annamites had nothing to learn from any nation in the matter of vice; the real danger was that they would come back with an entirely false idea of their status, imagining them- selves to be French citizens and losing sight of the fact that they were merely French subjects or proteges. In Hanoi and other cities where French reside the Annamite police are never allowed to patrol their beat alone but always accompanied by a European agent either just behind them or on the other side of the road; the reason for this is that no Frenchman would pay the least at- tention to an Annamite policeman and would forcibly resent any interference with his movements, and in this he would be supported, by the Authorities. This is sufficient to show the attitude a- dopted by the French towards the Annanmites, whom they treat as an entirely inferior race; the French themselves say that "equal- ity" exists in France only "sur les monuments" but in Tonkin it does not seem to be recohnized even as a principle.

Unfortunately, the French have imported into Yunnan their extreme ideas of racial supermacy, and this is the real reason why they are so cordially disliked here. French policy here is largely, if not entirely, controlled and directed by Tonkin, the

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