[ { "id": 293077, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-166 - Public Offices & Others - 1873", "page_number": 507, "title": "CO129-166 - Public Offices & Others - 1873", "content_text": "504 \n\nadvantageous to him from a Commercial point of view; and that according to the latest news it appeared probable that the Governor of Saigon intended to call upon him to withdraw.\n\nWith regard to the supposed treaty, all the Papers say is that negotiations have been going on for some time, and that they have been occasioned by the necessity of putting things on a regular footing for several years, I have heard the expression (\"de régulariser la situation\"). \n\nThe Duc Decazes has given verbally some further explanations. He said that in the year 1865 the French had conquered three Annamit Provinces and had imposed upon the Annemite Government the obligation to pay a war indemnity. One instalment of the indemnity had, he said, been paid, but there remained a balance.\n\nThe general idea with which the French Government was understood to be negotiating was that it would excuse the rest of the indemnity, relinquish the financial suzerainty over the three Provinces, and make friendly arrangements with Annam for the advantage of commerce. The negotiations had not, however, as yet, been brought to an issue, nor (the Duke Decazes observed in conclusion) did it seem likely that any treaty would be concluded for some time.\n\nIt is clear that if a French Sovereignty, real or nominal, had been established by France over Cambodia...", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-166 - Public Offices & Others - 1873.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 293078, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-166 - Public Offices & Others - 1873", "page_number": 508, "title": "CO129-166 - Public Offices & Others - 1873", "content_text": "the Annamite Provinces, and a \nwas indemnity exacted from \nCervan \n\nin 1865 a Treaty must in all probability have been made at that time, and that it was very probably to a Treaty made then that the acting French Consul at Hong Kong had alluded. \n\nThe Duke Decazes said that this did in fact seem likely, & that he would make further enquiry. \n\nFor my part I have \ndirected \na search to be made in the Archives of the Ministry to ascertain whether they contain any information respecting a Treaty concluded between France & China in \n1865 \n505 \n1865, but it cannot be finished \nin time to enable me to report the result to Y.L. by this messenger. \n\nYours \nsigned Lyons.", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-166 - Public Offices & Others - 1873.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 294905, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-169 - Others - 1874", "page_number": 129, "title": "CO129-169 - Others - 1874", "content_text": "Puissance que le France.\n\nThe Duke Decazes said that he did not believe that the Treaty contained a stipulation to that effect. On the contrary, the whole object of it was to keep France clear of the internal disputes of the Country; and what the Treaty provided was that Annam should never place any other Power, in any respect whatever, in a more advantageous situation than France.\n\nHaving gone through the Treaty with him, I pointed out that the newspaper summary made no mention of the clause by which the Annamite Govt recognized the sovereignty of France over the three provinces which formed her original conquest. He observed in conclusion that a violent and very unfair attack upon the Treaty had appeared in the Clerical newspaper the \"Univers\". I said that the best way to put an end to misrepresentation respecting the Treaty would be to produce the text at once; and that certainly it was difficult for simple people to understand how the Minister of Marine could make difficulties with regard to communicating to the Minister for Foreign Affairs a treaty signed with a foreign Power.\n\nI have telegraphed to Lyons.", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-169 - Others - 1874.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 294946, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-169 - Others - 1874", "page_number": 170, "title": "CO129-169 - Others - 1874", "content_text": "168 \n\nput lokin. \n\nThe French Resident at of Song Ca. It would appear that this is the don Recho would seem to be a sort of Diplomatic communication. \n\nV Agrat, the diplomatic communication between France, or rather Saigon, and Axsam being carried on at Kecho instead of at stie, the Capital.\n\nThe detachment of troops, mentioned as having retired is probably the same of which the Que breages spoke to me before being stationed in the Delta of a River. The river in question would seem to be that on which kieke is situated, and which bears the name of the river to which the Duke had referred on previous occasions as the \"fleuve de Chine\" and which is to be opened for Commerce to and from China.\n\nThere was a place bearing the name on one of Jayphon's atlases which the bus becazes had on his table; nor could I find that precise place on the map which I consulted when I got home, Hint: Garnier's map. I see however that in Lient: Garnier's map a French mission is marked at a place called Thank-hoa-ngoai, and that some other places...", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-169 - Others - 1874.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 297047, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-172 - Public Offices & Others - 1875", "page_number": 145, "title": "CO129-172 - Public Offices & Others - 1875", "content_text": "139\n\n-length of time\n\nHar\n\ntime and that quite\n\nindependently of the project of 4.m.9. it\n\nextremely improbable that it would now be ratified in its present form\n\nremember that in August\n\nY. L. may reme\n\nlast the Duke explained to me, in a little\n\ndetail, the reasons which\n\nfresh reference to Annam\n\nnecessary. He said that in the first\n\nplace there was\n\na...\n\nfatal flaw with\n\nKinds\n\nof wood.\n\nous\n\nIt is impossible, however, to forget that it has been apparent through all communications with the French foot respecting\n\nthe Annam treaty that the Duc Decazes\n\nhas been very...\n\nimperfectly informed by the Marine and Colonial Department of its\n\nproceedings.\n\nI have the\n\nsigned / Lyons\n\nrespect to the Full Powers; and\n\nsecondly that there were some\n\nstipulations which were\n\nnot clear,\n\ner for instance\n\nour\n\nrelating to the\n\nexportation of some particular\n\ntrado", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-172 - Public Offices & Others - 1875.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 297071, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-172 - Public Offices & Others - 1875", "page_number": 169, "title": "CO129-172 - Public Offices & Others - 1875", "content_text": "to Lord Lyons\n\n2062\n\nTreatis\n\nDancs Annaneg\n\n9 Jary 20.1875\n\n3\n\nNo. 7.\n\nLord Lyons to the Earl of Derby.--(Received January 20.)\n\n(No. 58. Confidential.) My Lord,\n\nParis, January 18, 1875.\n\nTHE Duc Decazes told me yesterday, that he had been in communication with the Department of Marine and Colonies respecting the Note and Memorandum on the Commercial Treaty between France and Annam, which had been addressed to him on behalf of Her Majesty's Government, by Lord Lytton, on the 15th of November, 1874. A Memorandum in reply had (he said) been sent to him by the Minister of Marine, but it had not appeared to him satisfactory; and after some further communication with his colleague, he had himself caused a Memorandum to be drawn up. He was, however, unwilling to multiply written documents on the subject, and therefore hesitated about giving it to me officially, as the definitive answer of the French Government. He should, however, be glad if I would take it home with me, and after considering it, talk it over with him. It would thus, he added, remain open to correction, if we should, on going over it together, agree that it required alteration.\n\nThe Duke then put into my hand the paper, a copy of which I do myself the honour to transmit to your Lordship herewith.\n\nI cannot say that it appears to me to be in any way satisfactory. It defends the Treaty as it stands, and holds out no hope of any modification being made in it.\n\nThe defence seems to me to be remarkably weak.\n\nIt was represented in the English communication, that this appeared to be the first instance in which one of the European Governments had departed from the wholesome rule heretofore observed, in accordance with which every nation represented in Chinese and Japanese waters, has hitherto been content, as regards its interest in those waters, to act in concert with other nations, seeking no exclusive privileges for itself, but co-operating in the common interest to obtain equal rights for all.\n\nThe answer to this seems to amount in substance to little more than that France stands in a peculiar position towards Annam; that France has made sacrifices which entitle her to particular privileges; and, that after all, the position of other nations with regard to commerce with Annam will be better than it was before the Treaty.\n\nIt is needless to observe on the difference between the principle thus laid down, and that acted upon by England in her negotiations with China and Japan.\n\nThe reply to the objection to the differential duties in favour of trade with Annam passing through the French Colony of Saigon, can hardly be taken seriously. The reply is, that the trade at Saigon is not exclusively in the hands of the French, and that ships of other nations may, by resorting thither, share in the reduction of one-half of the duties provided for by the IVth Article of the Treaty.\n\nOn this principle France might contend that she might, without arrogating any exclusive advantage to herself, require that all trade with any country over which she exercises an influence, should pass through Marseilles, or any other French port.\n\nIn point of fact, however, I believe that this differential duty in favour of Saigon has been the main object of the whole Treaty.\n\nYour Lordship may, perhaps, recollect the conversation with the Duc Decazes, of which I had the honour to send you a Report in my despatch No. 428 of the 1st of May last. On that occasion the Duke was so good as to give me, in the following terms, a ...\n\nIt would be a natural conclusion, from the fact that he has communicated the French Memorandum unofficially, and as open to amendment, that he himself is not disposed to set aside the observations of Her Majesty's Government, and proceed to submit the Treaty to the Assembly for ratification without further communication with them. If, however, he goes out of office, his successor may take a different view, and, even if he remains in, he may be overruled by the Department of Marine and his colleagues.\n\nI purpose to wait for instructions from your Lordship as to what observations Her Majesty's Government desire me to make before I comply with the Duke's invitation to talk his Memorandum over with him; and, although he seems to propose only an oral discussion, I should nevertheless be disposed to take with me some written paper and leave it with him.\n\nUnless Her Majesty's Government deem it advisable to let the matter drop, and without further remonstrance to leave the French Government to take its own course, it will be advisable that the Memorandum should not be too long unnoticed, lest silence should be construed into acquiescence, and at the same time that there should exist...", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-172 - Public Offices & Others - 1875.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 297072, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-172 - Public Offices & Others - 1875", "page_number": 170, "title": "CO129-172 - Public Offices & Others - 1875", "content_text": "the aims of the former as not to recognize, in the stipulation above referred to, the necessary consequence of a scheme having for its object a control over the trade of Annam, so complete as to justify Her Majesty's Government in regarding those stipulations from a political as well as a commercial point of view.\n\nIn point of fact, it would appear that the practical effect of the Political Treaty when fully completed by that of the Commercial Treaty, may be not only to place the Custom-houses of Annam under the exclusive supervision of France, and their conduct under her special protection by means of French ships of war in open ports, as well as to give to the same European Power exclusive command of access to the Chinese Province of Yunnan by means of the Tongka River, but also to complete the surrender to French agents exclusively of whatever real authority may have been hitherto possessed by the King of Annam in political as well as commercial matters.\n\nSuch a result would constitute, in the opinion of Her Majesty's Government, an unprecedented departure from the salutary understanding which has hitherto governed the common practice of the great European Powers in their commercial and political dealings with countries in the category which Annam belongs, and Her Majesty's Government have, therefore, full confidence that the remonstrances contained in this Memorandum will not be disregarded by the friendly Government of France, whose National Assembly, in the Report of its Committee on the Political Treaty, to which the Commercial one is attached by its concluding Article, has referred with pride to the part taken by France in concert with England towards procuring for the common advantage of European commerce, the opening of the Treaty ports of China.\n\nParis, November 15, 1874.\n\nFord Lytton\n\n(Received November 23, 1874.)\n\n(No. 1,124.)\n\nParis, November 23, 1874.\n\nMy Lord,\n\nWITH reference to my despatch No. 1,105 of the 17th instant, on the subject of the French Commercial Treaty with the King of Annam, the Duc Decazes informs me that he has referred to the Minister of Marine the Memorandum, of which copy was inclosed in that despatch.\n\nHe says that he experiences the greatest difficulty in exercising any control over the action of the French Ministry of Marine and Colonies in matters of this kind. In fact, the Naval and Colonial Department pertinaciously pursues a traditional policy of its own without the slightest reference to his wishes or advice. He assures me, however, that the Treaty in question cannot in any case be submitted to the National Assembly for a considerable length of time; and that, quite independently of the protest of Her Majesty's Government, it is extremely improbable that it will ever be ratified in its present form; as there has been a flaw in the formalities which vitiates its signature and necessitates further negotiations with Annam.\n\nI have, &c.\n\n(Signed) LYTTON.\n\nF.O.\n\n19\n\nsketch of information which he had received from Admiral Dupré, the late Governor of Saigon, and the originator and negotiator of the Treaties.\n\n\"There appeared,\" he told me, \"to be little more than 300 Frenchmen in Saigon, of whom only one had any important establishment. The only flourishing merchants in the Colony were Germans. Little or nothing had been done to take advantage of the natural capabilities of the soil. The Colony produced, nevertheless, an excess of revenue over expenditure, and this surplus was remitted to France. Having found the condition of the Colony to be as thus described, Admiral Dupré had come to the conclusion that the best plan for developing its prosperity would be to open a trade with the neighbouring countries, and that, in order to do this with practical advantage, it would be necessary that the trade should be offered on equal terms to the enterprise of all nations, and that no attempt should be made to secure special privileges for France. It was with a view to making a Commercial Treaty on these principles that the Admiral had entered into negotiations with Annam.\"\n\nFrom the account thus given by the Duc Decazes of Admiral Dupré's motives, it is easy to account for what he actually did. He wanted to bolster up the Colony of Saigon by making it a depôt for trade with the neighbouring countries. He saw that it would be vain to trust to French enterprise to effect this, and he therefore determined to open the Kingdom of Annam to foreign trade, and to the trade of all European nations. But there was no natural reason why the trade thus opened should come to Saigon, and therefore he resolved upon endeavouring to attract it to this French Colony by making all merchandise not passing that way liable to double duty. It was partly, perhaps, from the love of minute regulations and restrictions which characterises the French administration, but mainly, no doubt, in order to take every possible precaution with a view to making the trade accrue to the special advantage of Saigon, that the arrangements were devised, by which the control of every commercial transaction in Annamese ports is placed in the hands of French officials.\n\nTo return, however, to the Memorandum given me yesterday by the Duc Decazes, it may suffice to observe shortly that it disposes of the objections made to this control over the commercial transactions of other nations in Annam, and to the jurisdiction given to French agents over the subjects of those nations in that country, by saying that the exercise of this control and jurisdiction will be to the advantage of those who are to be submitted to it. No reason is assigned to justify the assignment of these powers over foreigners in a country not belonging to France to French officials, to the exclusion of the Consular or other authorities of the nation to which such foreigners belong.\n\nStrong objections to this jurisdiction in principle were put forward in the English communication, but no answer on the point of principle is contained in the French Memorandum.\n\nIt is, however, the questions of principle which are, at the present moment, apparently the most important. There is, I suppose, no British trade with Annam at this time, and it may be doubted, considering the spirit in which these Treaties have been made, and in which they will probably be executed by the French, whether they are ever likely to develop a commerce of any importance. If, however, circumstances, independent of the Treaties, should ever make it possible or advisable for Great Britain to establish commercial relations with Annam, the French privileges would be a considerable obstacle to doing so, and might then become as objectionable in practice as they now are in principle.\n\nIt is affirmed in the French Memorandum that the Treaty of the 14th January, 1874, between England and Perak has a wider scope than would appear from the summary of it given in the English communication of the 15th November.\n\nIt would be a natural conclusion, from the fact of the Duc Decazes having given me the French Memorandum unofficially, and as open to amendment, that he himself is not disposed to set aside the observations of Her Majesty's Government, and proceed to submit the Treaty to the Assembly for ratification without further communication with them. If, however, he goes out of office, his successor may take a different view, and, even if he remains in, he may be overruled by the Department of Marine and his colleagues.\n\nI purpose to wait for instructions from your Lordship as to what observations Her Majesty's Government desire me to make before I comply with the Duke's invitation to talk his Memorandum over with him; and, although he seems to propose only an oral discussion, I should nevertheless be disposed to take with me some written paper and leave it with him.\n\nUnless Her Majesty's Government deem it advisable to let the matter drop, and without further remonstrance to leave the French Government to take its own course, it will be advisable that the Memorandum should not be too long unnoticed, lest silence should be construed into acquiescence, and at the same time that there should exist...\n\nPage 164", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-172 - Public Offices & Others - 1875.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 297078, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-172 - Public Offices & Others - 1875", "page_number": 176, "title": "CO129-172 - Public Offices & Others - 1875", "content_text": "the French\n\n\"Government\n\nPants urged in\n\ndespatch\n\nbis\n\nthe\n\nto Lord Daly\n\nof Janney\n\nI\n\n18.\n\nRMZ\n\nNo. 7.\n\nLord Lyons to the Earl of Derby.-(Received January 20.)\n\n1674\n\n170\n\n(No. 58. Confidential.) My Lord,\n\nParis, January 18, 1875.\n\nTHE Duc Decazes told me yesterday, that he had been in communication with the Department of Marine and Colonies respecting the Note and Memorandum on the Commercial Treaty between France and Annam, which had been addressed to him on behalf of Her Majesty's Government, by Lord Lytton, on the 15th of November, 1874. A Memorandum in reply had (he said) been sent to him by the Minister of Marine, but it had not appeared to him satisfactory; and after some further communication with his colleague, he had himself caused a Memorandum to be drawn up. He was, however, unwilling to multiply written documents on the subject, and therefore hesitated about giving it to me officially, as the definitive answer of the French Government. He should, however, be glad if I would take it home with me, and after considering it, talk it over with him. It would thus, he added, remain open to correction, if we should, on going over it together, agree that it required alteration.\n\nThe Duke then put into my hand the paper, a copy of which I do myself the honour to transmit to your Lordship herewith.\n\nI cannot say that it appears to me to be in any way satisfactory. It defends the Treaty as it stands, and holds out no hope of any modification being made in it.\n\nThe defence seems to me to be remarkably weak.\n\nIt was represented in the English communication, that this appeared to be the first instance in which one of the European Governments had departed from the wholesome rule heretofore observed, in accordance with which every nation represented in Chinese and Japanese waters, has hitherto been content, as regards its interest in those waters, to act in concert with other nations, seeking no exclusive privileges for itself, but co-operating in the common interest to obtain equal rights for all.\n\nThe answer to this seems to amount in substance to little more than that France stands in a peculiar position towards Annam; that France has made sacrifices which entitle her to particular privileges; and, that after all, the position of other nations with regard to commerce with Annam will be better than it was before the Treaty.\n\nIt is needless to observe on the difference between the principle thus laid down, and that acted upon by England in her negotiations with China and Japan.\n\nThe reply to the objection to the differential duties in favour of trade with Annam passing through the French Colony of Saigon, can hardly be taken seriously. The reply is that the trade at Saigon is not exclusively in the hands of the French, and that ships of other nations may, by resorting thither, share in the reduction of one-half of the duties provided for by the IVth Article of the Treaty.\n\nOn this principle France might contend that she might, without arrogating any exclusive advantage to herself, require that all trade with any country over which she exercises an influence, should pass through Marseilles, or any other French port.\n\nIn point of fact, however, I believe that this differential duty in favour of Saigon has been the main object of the whole Treaty.\n\nYour Lordship may, perhaps, recollect the conversation with the Duc Decazes, of which I had the honour to send you a Report in my despatch No. 428 of the 1st of May last. On that occasion the Duke was so good as to give me, in the following terms, a\n\n#\n\nThe French Memorandum unanimously, and as open to any\n\ndisposed to set aside the observations of Her Majesty's Government, and proceed to submit the Treaty to the Assembly for ratification without further communication with them. If, however, he goes out of office, his successor may take a different view, and, even if he remains in, he may be overruled by the Department of Marine and his colleagues.\n\nI purpose to wait for instructions from your Lordship as to what observations Her Majesty's Government desire me to make before I comply with the Duke's invitation to talk his Memorandum over with him; and, although he seems to propose only an oral discussion, I should nevertheless be disposed to take with me some written paper and leave it with him.\n\nUnless Her Majesty's Government deem it advisable to let the matter drop, and without further remonstrance to leave the French Government to take its own course, it will be advisable that the Memorandum should not be too long unnoticed, lest silence should be construed into acquiescence, and at the same time that there should exist", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-172 - Public Offices & Others - 1875.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 297079, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-172 - Public Offices & Others - 1875", "page_number": 177, "title": "CO129-172 - Public Offices & Others - 1875", "content_text": "171\n\nfor Her Majesty's Government so completely to dissociate THE\n\nThe aims of the former as not to recognize, in the stipulation above referred to, the necessary consequence of a scheme having for its object a control over the trade of Annam, so complete as to justify Her Majesty's Government in regarding those stipulations from political as well as a commercial point of view.\n\nIn point of fact, it would appear that the practical effect of the Political Treaty when fully completed by that of the Commercial Treaty, may be not only to place the Custom-houses of Annam under the exclusive supervision of France, and their conduct under her special protection by means of French ships of war in open ports, as well as to give to the same European Power exclusive command of access to the Chinese Province of Yunnan by means of the Tongking River, but also to complete the surrender to French agents exclusively of whatever real authority may have been hitherto possessed by the King of Annam in political as well as commercial matters.\n\nSuch a result would constitute, in the opinion of Her Majesty's Government, an unprecedented departure from the salutary understanding which has hitherto governed the common practice of the great European Powers in the commercial and political dealings with countries in the category to which Annam belongs, and Her Majesty's Government have, therefore, full confidence that the remonstrance contained in this Memorandum will not be disregarded by the friendly Government of France, whose National Assembly, in the Report of its Committee on the Political Treaty, to which the Commercial one is attached by its concluding Article, has referred with pride to the part taken by France in concert with England towards procuring for the common advantage of European commerce, the opening of the Treaty ports of China.\n\nParis, November 15, 1874.\n\nNo. 1,124.) My Lord,\n\nParis, November 23, 1874. WITH reference to my despatch No. 1,105 of the 17th instant, on the subject of the French Commercial Treaty with the King of Annam, the Duc Decazes informs me that he has referred to Minister of Marine the Memorandum, of which copy was inclosed in that despatch.\n\nHe says that he experiences the greatest difficulty in exercising any control over the action of the French Ministry of Marine and Colonies in matters of this kind. In fact, the Naval and Colonial Department pertinaciously pursues a traditional policy of its own without He assures me, however, that the Treaty the slightest reference to his wishes or advice. in question cannot in any case be submitted to the National Assembly for a considerable length of time; and that, quite independently of the protest of Her Majesty's Government, it is extremely improbable that it will ever be ratified in its present form; as there has been a flaw in the formalities which vitiates its signature and necessitates further negotiations with Annam.\n\nI have, &c.\n\n[81]\n\n(Signed)\n\nF\n\n19\n\nsketch of information which he had received from Admiral Dupré, the late Governor of Saigon, and the originator and negotiator of the Treaties.\n\n\"There appeared,\" he told me, \"to be little more than 300 Frenchmen in Saigon, of whom only one had any important establishment. The only flourishing merchants in the Colony were Germans. Little or nothing had been done to take advantage of the natural capabilities of the soil. The Colony produced, nevertheless, an excess of revenue over expenditure, and this surplus was remitted to France. Having found the condition of the Colony to be as thus described, Admiral Dupré had come to the conclusion that the best plan for developing its prosperity would be to open a trade with the neighbouring countries, and that, in order to do this with practical advantage, it would be necessary that the trade should be offered on equal terms to the enterprise of all nations, and that no attempt should be made to secure special privileges for France. It was with a view to making a Commercial Treaty on these principles that the Admiral had entered into negotiations with Annam.'\n\n33\n\nFrom the account thus given by the Duc Decazes of Admiral Dupré's motives, it is easy to account for what he actually did. He wanted to bolster up the Colony of Saigon by making it a depôt for trade with the neighbouring countries. He saw that it would be vain to trust to French enterprise to effect this, and he therefore determined to open the Kingdom of Annam to foreign trade, and to the trade of all European nations. But there was no natural reason why the trade thus opened should come to Saigon, and therefore he resolved upon endeavouring to attract it to this French Colony by making all merchandise not passing that way liable to double duty. It was partly, perhaps, from the love of minute regulations and restrictions which characterises the French administration, but mainly, no doubt, in order to take every possible precaution with a view to making the trade accrue to the special advantage of Saigon, that the arrangements were devised, by which the control of every commercial transaction in Annamese ports is placed in the hands of French officials.\n\nTo return, however, to the Memorandum given me yesterday by the Duc Decazes, it may suffice to observe shortly that it disposes of the objections made to this control over the commercial transactions of other nations in Annam, and to the jurisdiction given to French agents over the subjects of those nations in that country, by saying that the exercise of this control and jurisdiction will be to the advantage of those who are to be submitted to it. No reason is assigned to justify the assignment of these powers over foreigners in a country not belonging to France to French officials, to the exclusion of the Consular or other authorities of the nation to which such foreigners belong.\n\nStrong objections to this jurisdiction in principle were put forward in the English communication, but no answer on the point of principle is contained in the French Memorandum.\n\nIt is, however, the questions of principle which are, at the present moment, apparently the most important. There is, I suppose, no British trade with Annam at this time, and it may be doubted, considering the spirit in which these Treaties have been made, and in which they will probably be executed by the French, whether they are ever likely to develop a commerce of any importance. If, however, circumstances, independent of the Treaties, should ever make it possible or advisable for Great Britain to establish commercial relations with Annam, the French privileges would be a considerable obstacle to doing so, and might then become as objectionable in practice as they now are in principle.\n\nIt is affirmed in the French Memorandum that the Treaty of the 14th January, 1874, between England and Perak has a wider scope than would appear from the summary of it given in the English communication of the 15th November.\n\nIt would be a natural conclusion, from the fact of the Duc Decazes having given me the French Memorandum unofficially, and as open to amendment, that he himself is not disposed to set aside the observations of Her Majesty's Government, and proceed to submit the Treaty to the Assembly for ratification without further communication with them. If, however, he goes out of office, his successor may take a different view, and, even if he remains in, he may be overruled by the Department of Marine and his colleagues.\n\nI purpose to wait for instructions from your Lordship as to what observations Her Majesty's Government desire me to make before I comply with the Duke's invitation to talk his Memorandum over with him; and, although he seems to propose only an oral discussion, I should nevertheless be disposed to take with me some written paper and give it to him.\n\nUnless Her Majesty's Government deem it advisable to let the matter drop, and thus, without further remonstrance, to leave the French Government to take its own course, it will be advisable that the Memorandum should not be too long unnoticed, lest silence should be construed into acquiescence, and at the same time that there should exist...", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-172 - Public Offices & Others - 1875.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 297112, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-172 - Public Offices & Others - 1875", "page_number": 210, "title": "CO129-172 - Public Offices & Others - 1875", "content_text": "204\n\n22\n\nI put the Memorandum into the Duc Decazes' hand this morning, and I do myself the honour to transmit a copy of it to your Lordship herewith.\n\nI observed to the Duke that he would perhaps find the language I had used a little crude, but that I had thought it well to take advantage of the character and form of the communication, to place the English view of the matter before him in clear and simple terms.\n\nThe Duke said that this was just what he wished, and he added that, without waiting to read the Memorandum, he should like to have a little conversation with me on the subject. What, he would ask, was it that Her Majesty's Government chiefly objected to in the Treaty?\n\nI answered, that, in the first place, Her Majesty's Government deeply regretted this first departure from the principle which had proved advantageous in the dealings of the European and American Governments with the countries in the Chinese and Japanese Seas. Until these unfortunate French Treaties with Annam, no nation had sought to obtain exclusive privileges and advantages for itself; what had been obtained by one had been obtained for all, and had been thrown open without reserve to all the world.\n\nThe Duke observed that it was France alone who had opened the trade with Annam, and that the privileges, such as they were, which she had secured to herself were only a fair compensation for the sacrifices she had made.\n\nI replied that, without expressing an opinion as to the extent of these sacrifices, I would simply remark that if, in the negotiations with China and Japan, each Power had endeavoured to secure exclusive advantages in proportion to its own estimate of its own services in the cause, a state of things would have been produced which would have been incompatible with harmony among the Powers themselves, and with any proper and satisfactory political or commercial relations with the countries in question.\n\nThe Duke rejoined that, in the cases of China and Japan, the Powers had acted in common, and were therefore entitled to common advantages; but I reminded him that the advantages secured had been freely extended to all the world, to those nations which had made no sacrifices to obtain them as much as to those which had made the greatest.\n\nPassing to details, the Duke observed that he did not suppose that Her Majesty's Government could have any great objection to the small differential duty in favour of Saigon which had been provided by the Treaty, France had given up very large sums of money which were due from Annam, and surely this was not an unreasonable compensation to ask. Nor did he imagine that England, or any other European Power, could view with displeasure a provision calculated to increase the prosperity of Saigon. In fact, almost all the ships which resorted to that Colony were either English or American, and Foreigners there were many more foreign than French merchants established there. would have an ample share of any advantages which the differential duties would bring to Saigon; it was of the greatest benefit to them to have that civilized station maintained in Cochin China; and, in fact, commercially, the interest of foreigners in the Colony was greater than that of Frenchmen.\n\nI answered that I could not but consider that the monopoly in favour of Saigon, which the Treaty endeavoured to effect, was extremely objectionable in principle, and would prove to be equally so in practice. If it was convenient and advantageous for foreign ships and foreign merchants to resort to Saigon, they would do so without compulsion, and any efforts of the French authorities to attract them by fair means would be justifiable and praiseworthy; but it was quite a different thing for France to compel them to come by obliging Annam to levy double duties upon all merchandise not passing that way. England could certainly entertain no jealousy of the French Colony of Saigon, and I was entirely of the Duke's opinion that a thriving civilized station at that place would in all probability be of great use to British and other traders. No doubt a brisk trade with the adjacent countries, whether it was in French hands or not, was likely to increase the prosperity of Saigon; but, for my own part, I doubted very much whether these attempts to establish a monopoly, and to fetter trade by the minute regulations so much in favour with French officials, were not likely to prevent such a trade springing up, and, in the end, to do more harm than good to the Colony which it was sought to benefit by these factitious means.\n\n23\n\nThe Duke went on to say that he was at a loss to understand the objections which Her Majesty's Government seem to feel so strongly with regard to the stipulations providing for the intervention of the French Consuls at the Annamese ports in commercial transactions. One of these stipulations—that requiring foreign ships to report to the French Consul, and deposit their papers with him—he himself thought questionable: but it was to be remembered that there would at first be no European officers, except Frenchmen, in Annam; that, while this continued to be the case, it was surely for the interest of foreigners to have the assistance of the French Consuls, rather than be left entirely at the mercy of the native authorities, and that, after all, Great Britain, in order to free her traders from the obligation to resort to the French Consuls, had only to make a Commercial Treaty herself with Annam, and station Consuls of her own there. The same observations would, the Duke conceived, apply to the objections of Her Majesty's Government to the jurisdiction assigned to the French Consuls, in conjunction with the Annamite authorities. All this would disappear directly England chose to send officers of her own; and, for his part, he would promise Her Majesty's Government the cordial assistance of France in negotiating a Commercial Treaty between Great Britain and Annam.\n\nI observed to the Duke that he seemed to lose sight of the fact that the King of Annam was distinctly prohibited from making any Treaty of Commerce not in accordance with that concluded with France; that all these stipulations respecting the intervention and jurisdiction of French Consuls were included unconditionally in the French Treaty, and that no mention of their ceasing to take effect, at any time or under any circumstances, was made in any part of that Treaty.\n\nThe Duke said that certainly he had not so understood the French Treaty; that, on the contrary, his impression was that these arrangements would lapse, as a matter of course, in the case of any European Power which made a Treaty of Commerce of its own, and sent out its own officers in consequence. It was a question of interpretation, and he thought that the Governments of France and England might come to an understanding on the basis of his interpretation.\n\nI answered that no doubt his interpretation very much lessened the objections to the stipulations in question, but that it seemed to me to be in direct contradiction to the wording of the Treaties as they now stood, and that, therefore, it would be absolutely necessary to alter that wording very materially in order to make it consistent with his views, and to satisfy foreign Governments that they could and would be carried into effect.\n\nI proceeded to remark to the Duke that he appeared to me to treat very lightly the important question of principle involved in the assumption of jurisdiction by French authorities over foreigners in a territory not French. Was he sure, I asked, that other Governments (that of the United States, for instance) would be willing to admit it?\n\nHe replied that, so long as there were no other European officers in Annam, the intervention of the French authorities was certainly for the advantage of Europeans resorting thither. For his own part he should be quite willing that the French Assessor to the Annamite Magistrates should be excluded in the case of any European who demanded his exclusion.\n\nI remarked that if the intervention of the French official was intended solely to confer a favour and an advantage on the European, this would appear more clearly if the wording of the stipulation was that it should be afforded in any case in which the European asked for it, and in such a case only.\n\nLastly, I spoke of the clause in the Political Treaty confining the protection of missionaries to Roman Catholic missionaries only, and reminded the Duke that he had more than once told me that he himself thought this clause objectionable.\n\nThe Duke appeared to have somewhat changed his opinion, for on this occasion he defended the clause on the ground that there were none but Roman Catholic missionaries in Annam; that it was very undesirable, with a view to the progress of Christianity, that dissensions among its professors should be brought to the knowledge of the natives; that it had always been found in countries of the kind that the Roman Catholic missionaries were the best pioneers, and that those of other denominations followed in their wake; and, lastly, that it was only natural that France should stipulate only for those missionaries who belonged to or were in connection with herself.\n\nI thought it right to remind the Duke that, by assuming the extraordinary control over Annam which France seemed disposed to arrogate to herself, she assumed also a serious responsibility towards other nations, and could hardly reply to their remonstrances that she intended to consider exclusively her own citizens and her own interests and sentiments.\n\nThe Duc Decazes then referred to M. de Rochechouart's Treaty with Burmah, and seemed disposed to contrast the conduct of France in refusing to ratify that Treaty, because it might be a source of difficulty to England in Burmah, with the present proceedings of England, whose objections to the Annamese Treaty were, he said, calculated to involve France in difficulties in Annam. He appeared, however, to have entirely forgotten the purport of M. de Rochechouart's Treaty; for he supposed that, by refusing ...\n\nPage 210\n\nPage 211", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-172 - Public Offices & Others - 1875.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 297113, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-172 - Public Offices & Others - 1875", "page_number": 211, "title": "CO129-172 - Public Offices & Others - 1875", "content_text": "24\n\nto ratify it, France had placed her citizens in Burmah under the jurisdiction of British officials.\n\nI pointed out to him the real state of the case, and reminded him that M. de Rochechouart's Supplementary Treaty had appeared to him quite as objectionable from a French as from an English point of view.\n\nYour Lordship may observe that I did not feel precluded from going back to the Political Treaty in speaking to the Duc Decazes; and, in fact, there does not seem to be a necessity for treating it as absolutely beyond the reach of remonstrance, until we know that the ratifications of it have been actually exchanged. It is true that by obtaining from the Assembly a law authorizing them to ratify it, the Government have virtually pledged themselves to it; but in form the law does not itself constitute the ratification, it only authorizes the President of the Republic to ratify the Treaty if he thinks proper.\n\n\"\n\nInclosure in No. 8.\n\nI have, &c.\n\n(Signed) LYONS.\n\nProjet de Note\" in answer to Lord Lytton's communication of the Observations on a\n\n15th November, 1874, respecting the Treaty between France and Annam.\n\nTHE Duc Decazes invited an opinion on this \"Projet de Note.”\n\nIt has been already represented to his Excellency that an answer in the terms of this 'Projet' to the remonstrances of Her Majesty's Government could not but be regarded by them as most unsatisfactory, and an earnest hope has been expressed that this matter, which may hereafter, if allowed to follow its present course, lead to such grave questions between the two countries, may receive further consideration at the hands of the French Government.\n\nIn addition to this general statement, it may perhaps be well to advert to some particular points in this \"Projet.\"\n\nIt was represented in the English communication that this appeared to be the first instance in which one of the European Governments had departed from the wholesome rule heretofore observed, in accordance with which every nation represented in Chinese and Japanese waters has hitherto been content, as regards its interests in those waters, to act in concert with other nations, seeking no exclusive privileges for itself, but co-operating in the common interests to obtain equal rights for all.\n\nseems to amount, in substance, to Projet\" The answer given on this point in the \" little more than that France stands in a peculiar position towards Annam; that she has purchased, by sacrifices on her side, the peculiar privileges she has arrogated to herself; and that, after all, the position of other nations with regard to commerce with Annam would be better under the Treaty than it would be without the Treaty.\n\nThis last allegation may well be questioned. It is true that the Treaty nominally opens certain ports of Annam to foreign commerce without distinction of flag or nationality; but its real purport seems to be to exclude other nations for ever from all commerce and all intercourse with Annam, except by the permission and under the control of French Agents, and under the disadvantage of different Customs duties in favour of a French Colony. It may certainly be doubtful whether, under the restraint thus imposed by the French Treaty upon Annam, the position of other nations would be as good as that in which they now stand, and in which they are free to form commercial relations with But that country, at their own time, by their own means, and upon equal terms. however this may be, it cannot be denied that this Treaty is based upon a principle the substitution of which for that on which European and American Governments have before acted in their negotiations with the countries of Eastern Asia would inevitably exercise a baneful influence not only on their relations with those countries, but also on their relations with each other.\n\nOn the special point of the differential export and import duties to be established by Annam in favour of the French Colony of Saigon, the proposed answer is that the trade of that Colony is not exclusively in French hands, and that ships of other nations might, by resorting thither, share the benefit of the reduced duties. It might be argued, on precisely the same grounds, that foreign nations would have no reason to feel aggrieved if France were to introduce into a Treaty with Italy an article binding the Italian Government to levy double duties upon all merchandize not passing through Marseilles.\n\nThe very important question of principle involved in the assumption by French agents of jurisdiction over British subjects in territory not French, is hardly touched upon in the\n\n25\n\nProjet. It is indeed suggested that the enforcement of this jurisdiction would probably, in practice, be of advantage to those over whom it would be exercised; but this is a point on which independent nations may reasonably insist upon judging for themselves. Certainly, in other cases in which an extra-territorial jurisdiction, independent of the local Sovereign, has been established, France, no less than other nations, has placed the jurisdiction over her citizens in the hands of agents of her own, not in those of the agents of a third Power. Great Britain, on her part, has at all times (as is stated in the English communication) maintained her rights, in virtue of which British Consuls, in places where extra-territorial jurisdiction exists, take cognizance of suits in which their countrymen are concerned, and she cannot be expected to allow that civil suits or criminal trials affecting British subjects can properly be submitted to the jurisdiction of a French Consul in a territory which is not French.\n\nIt is impossible to admit the correctness of the view taken in the Projet, that the engagement entered into between the Government of the Straits Settlement and the Chief of Perak in January 1874 can be compared with the proposed French Treaty with Annam. The engagement with Perak does not fetter commerce, impose differential duties in favour of a British colony, nor throw the entire control of the country into the hands of British officers.\n\nIt is to be feared that with regard to the points specially mentioned above, as well as in other respects, the proposed answer would not in any degree efface the painful impression made upon Her Majesty's Government, nor diminish the objections stated in the communication made under their instructions by Lord Lytton. It only remains, therefore, to repeat with earnestness the hope that the Treaty will be reconsidered by the French Government.\n\nNo. 9.\n\n17.)\n\nLord Lyons to the Earl of Derby.--(Received February 17\n\n(No. 150. Very Confidential.) My Lord,\n\nIT would appear to result from the conversation of which a report is given in my\n\nParis, February 16, 1875. immediately preceding despatch No. 149 of to-day, that the Duc Decazes does not consider the Commercial Treaty between France and Annam as beyond the reach of amendment, and that he is desirous to remove the objections of Her Majesty's Government; but that he is more disposed to do this by a strained interpretation of the Treaty than by an actual alteration of the wording.\n\nThe interpretation the Duc Decazes puts upon the Treaty appears to me to be so forced, so entirely incompatible with the present wording, that I do not think it would be prudent to trust to effect being given to it, even if the Duke should himself be the French Foreign Minister when the question arose. If, however, a distinct clause were introduced stating that the intervention of the French officials in Annam should continue only so long as other nations made no Commercial Treaties with the country, and sent no officials of their own thither, the objections to the French Treaty would certainly be much lessened. I think, too, that some weight is to be given to the suggestion in the French draft answer, that it is absolutely necessary that first a considerable control should be exercised over Europeans resorting to Annam, in order to prevent conflicts with the Annamese authorities and other natives, to whom the presence of foreigners would be a novelty, and probably a distasteful novelty.\n\nI must observe, however, that the Duc Decazes showed no disposition to give up the differential duties to be imposed in favour of Saigon. Nor can I conclude without reminding your Lordship that it has been apparent throughout the communications on this question, that the opinions of the Duc Decazes do not always prevail with the Department of Marine and Colonies, that this Department is wedded to the Treaties as they stand, and that it is apt to take its own line, without thinking it necessary to consult the Minister for Foreign Affairs, or even always to let him know what is about.\n\n[81]\n\nI have, &c.\n\n(Signed)\n\nLYONS.\n\nH\n\n205", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-172 - Public Offices & Others - 1875.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 297121, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-172 - Public Offices & Others - 1875", "page_number": 219, "title": "CO129-172 - Public Offices & Others - 1875", "content_text": "22\n\nI put the Memorandum into the Duc Decazes' hand this morning, and I do myself the honour to transmit a copy of it to your Lordship herewith.\n\nI observed to the Duke that he would perhaps find the language I had used a little crude, but that I had thought it well to take advantage of the character and form of the communication, to place the English view of the matter before him in clear and simple terms.\n\nThe Duke said that this was just what he wished, and he added that, without waiting to read the Memorandum, he should like to have a little conversation with me on the subject. What, he would ask, was it that Her Majesty's Government chiefly objected to in the Treaty?\n\nI answered, that, in the first place, Her Majesty's Government deeply regretted this first departure from the principle which had proved advantageous in the dealings of the European and American Governments with the countries in the Chinese and Japanese Seas.\n\nUntil these unfortunate French Treaties with Annam no nation had sought to obtain exclusive privileges and advantages for itself; what had been obtained by one had been obtained for all, and had been thrown open without reserve to all the world.\n\nThe Duke observed that it was France alone who had opened the trade with Annam, and that the privileges, such as they were, which she had secured to herself were only a fair compensation for the sacrifices she had made.\n\nI replied that, without expressing an opinion as to the extent of these sacrifices, I would simply remark that if, in the negotiations with China and Japan, each Power had endeavoured to secure exclusive advantages in proportion to its own estimate of its own services in the cause, a state of things would have been produced which would have been incompatible with harmony among the Powers themselves, and with any proper and satisfactory political or commercial relations with the countries in question.\n\nThe Duke rejoined that, in the cases of China and Japan, the Powers had acted in common, and were therefore entitled to common advantages; but I reminded him that the advantages secured had been freely extended to all the world, to those nations which had made no sacrifices to obtain them as much as to those which had made the greatest.\n\nPassing to details, the Duke observed that he did not suppose that Her Majesty's Government could have any great objection to the small differential duty in favour of Saigon which had been provided by the Treaty. France had given up very large sums of money which were due from Annam, and surely this was not an unreasonable compensation to ask. Nor did he imagine that England, or any other European Power, could view with displeasure a provision calculated to increase the prosperity of Saigon. In fact, almost all the ships which resorted to that Colony were either English or American, and Foreigners there were many more foreign than French merchants established there. They would have an ample share of any advantages which the differential duties would bring to Saigon; it was of the greatest benefit to them to have that civilized station maintained in Cochin China; and, in fact, commercially, the interest of foreigners in the Colony was greater than that of Frenchmen.\n\nI answered that I could not but consider that the monopoly in favour of Saigon, which the Treaty endeavoured to effect, was extremely objectionable in principle, and would prove to be equally so in practice. If it was convenient and advantageous for foreign ships and foreign merchants to resort to Saigon, they would do so without compulsion, and any efforts of the French authorities to attract them by fair means would be justifiable and praiseworthy; but it was quite a different thing for France to compel them to come by obliging Annam to levy double duties upon all merchandise not passing that way. England could certainly entertain no jealousy of the French Colony of Saigon, and I was entirely of the Duke's opinion that a thriving civilized station at that place would in all probability be of great use to British and other traders. No doubt a brisk trade with the adjacent countries, whether it was in French hands or not, was likely to increase the prosperity of Saigon; but, for my own part, I doubted very much whether these attempts to establish a monopoly, and to fetter trade by the minute regulations so much in favour with French officials, were not likely to prevent such a trade springing up, and, in the end, to do more harm than good to the Colony which it was sought to benefit by these factitious means.\n\n23\n\nThe Duke went on to say that he was at a loss to understand the objections which Her Majesty's Government seem to feel so strongly with regard to the stipulations providing for the intervention of the French Consuls at the Annamese ports in commercial transactions. One of these stipulations—that requiring foreign ships to report to the French Consul, and deposit their papers with him—he himself thought questionable; but it was to be remembered that there would at first be no European officers, except Frenchmen, in Annam; that, while this continued to be the case, it was surely for the interest of foreigners to have the assistance of the French Consuls, rather than be left entirely at the mercy of the native authorities, and that, after all, Great Britain, in order to free her traders from the obligation to resort to the French Consuls, had only to make a Commercial Treaty herself with Annam, and station Consuls of her own there. The same observations would, the Duke conceived, apply to the objections of Her Majesty's Government to the jurisdiction assigned to the French Consuls, in conjunction with the Annamite authorities. All this would disappear directly England chose to send officers of her own; and, for his part, he would promise Her Majesty's Government the cordial assistance of France in negotiating a Commercial Treaty between Great Britain and Annam.\n\nI observed to the Duke that he seemed to lose sight of the fact that the King of Annam was distinctly prohibited from making any Treaty of Commerce not in accordance with that concluded with France; that all these stipulations respecting the intervention and jurisdiction of French Consuls were included unconditionally in the French Treaty, and that no mention of their ceasing to take effect, at any time or under any circumstances, was made in any part of that Treaty.\n\nThe Duke said that certainly he had not so understood the French Treaty; that, on the contrary, his impression was that these arrangements would lapse, as a matter of course, in the case of any European Power which made a Treaty of Commerce of its own, and sent out its own officers in consequence. It was a question of interpretation, and he thought that the Governments of France and England might come to an understanding on the basis of his interpretation.\n\nI answered that no doubt his interpretation very much lessened the objections to the stipulations in question, but that it seemed to me to be in direct contradiction to the wording of the Treaties as they now stood, and that, therefore, it would be absolutely necessary to alter that wording very materially in order to make it consistent with his views, and to satisfy foreign Governments that they could and would be carried into effect.\n\nI proceeded to remark to the Duke that he appeared to me to treat very lightly the important question of principle involved in the assumption of jurisdiction by French authorities over foreigners in territory not French. Was he sure, I asked, that other Governments (that of the United States, for instance) would be willing to admit it?\n\nHe replied that, so long as there were no other European officers in Annam, the intervention of the French authorities was certainly for the advantage of Europeans resorting thither. For his own part, he should be quite willing that the French Assessor to the Annamite Magistrates should be excluded in the case of any European who demanded his exclusion.\n\nI remarked that if the intervention of the French official was intended solely to confer a favour and an advantage on the European, this would appear more clearly if the wording of the stipulation was that it should be afforded in any case in which the European asked for it, and in such a case only.\n\nLastly, I spoke of the clause in the Political Treaty confining the protection of missionaries to Roman Catholic missionaries only, and reminded the Duke that he had more than once told me that he himself thought this clause objectionable.\n\nThe Duke appeared to have somewhat changed his opinion, for on this occasion he defended the clause on the ground that there were none but Roman Catholic missionaries in Annam; that it was very undesirable, with a view to the progress of Christianity, that dissensions among its professors should be brought to the knowledge of the natives; that it had always been found in countries of the kind that the Roman Catholic missionaries were the best pioneers, and that those of other denominations followed in their wake; and, lastly, that it was only natural that France should stipulate only for those missionaries who belonged to or were in connection with herself.\n\nI thought it right to remind the Duke that, by assuming the extraordinary control over Annam which France seemed disposed to arrogate to herself, she assumed also a serious responsibility towards other nations, and could hardly reply to their remonstrances that she intended to consider exclusively her own citizens and her own interests and sentiments.\n\nThe Duc Decazes then referred to M. de Rochechouart's Treaty with Burmah, and seemed disposed to contrast the conduct of France in refusing to ratify that Treaty, because it might be a source of difficulty to England in Burmah, with the present proceedings of England, whose objections to the Annamese Treaty were, he said, calculated to involve France in difficulties in Annam. He appeared, however, to have entirely forgotten the purport of M. de Rochechouart's Treaty; for he supposed that, by refusing\n\n213", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-172 - Public Offices & Others - 1875.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 297122, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-172 - Public Offices & Others - 1875", "page_number": 220, "title": "CO129-172 - Public Offices & Others - 1875", "content_text": "24\n\nto ratify it, France had placed her citizens in Burmah under the jurisdiction of British officials.\n\nI pointed out to him the real state of the case, and reminded him that M. de Rochechouart's Supplementary Treaty had appeared to him quite as objectionable from a French as from an English point of view.\n\nYour Lordship may observe that I did not feel precluded from going back to the Political Treaty in speaking to the Duc Decazes; and, in fact, there does not seem to be a necessity for treating it as absolutely beyond the reach of remonstrance, until we know that the ratifications of it have been actually exchanged. It is true that by obtaining from the Assembly a law authorizing them to ratify it, the Government have virtually pledged themselves to it; but in form the law does not itself constitute the ratification, it only authorizes the President of the Republic to ratify the Treaty if he thinks proper.\n\nInclosure in No. 8.\n\n(Signed)\n\nI have, &c.\n\nLYONS.\n\nObservations on a Projet de Note\" in answer to Lord Lytton's communication of the 15th November, 1874, respecting the Treaty between France and Annam.\n\nTHE Duc Decazes invited an opinion on this \"Projet de Note.\"\n\nIt has been already represented to his Excellency that an answer in the terms of this \"Projet\" to the remonstrances of Her Majesty's Government could not but be regarded by them as most unsatisfactory, and an earnest hope has been expressed that this matter, which may hereafter, if allowed to follow its present course, lead to such grave questions between the two countries, may receive further consideration at the hands of the French Government.\n\nIn addition to this general statement, it may perhaps be well to advert to some particular points in this “Projet.\"\n\nIt was represented in the English communication that this appeared to be the first instance in which one of the European Governments had departed from the wholesome rule heretofore observed, in accordance with which every nation represented in Chinese and Japanese waters has hitherto been content, as regards its interests in those waters, to act in concert with other nations, seeking no exclusive privileges for itself, but co-operating in the common interests to obtain equal rights for all.\n\nThe answer given on this point in the \"Projet\" seems to amount, in substance, to little more than that France stands in a peculiar position towards Annam; that she has purchased, by sacrifices on her side, the peculiar privileges she has arrogated to herself; and that, after all, the position of other nations with regard to commerce with Annam would be better under the Treaty than it would be without the Treaty.\n\nThis last allegation may well be questioned. It is true that the Treaty nominally opens certain ports of Annam to foreign commerce without distinction of flag or nationality; but its real purport seems to be to exclude other nations for ever from all commerce and all intercourse with Annam, except by the permission and under the control of French Agents, and under the disadvantage of different Customs duties in favour of a French Colony. It may certainly be doubtful whether, under the restraint thus imposed by the French Treaty upon Annam, the position of other nations would be as good as that in which they now stand, and in which they are free to form commercial relations with that country, at their own time, by their own means, and upon equal terms. However this may be, it cannot be denied that this Treaty is based upon a principle the substitution of which for that on which European and American Governments have before acted in their negotiations with the countries of Eastern Asia would inevitably exercise a baneful influence not only on their relations with those countries, but also on their relations with each other.\n\nOn the special point of the differential export and import duties to be established by Annam in favour of the French Colony of Saigon, the proposed answer is that the trade of that Colony is not exclusively in French hands, and that ships of other nations might, by resorting thither, share the benefit of the reduced duties. It might be argued, on precisely the same grounds, that foreign nations would have no reason to feel aggrieved if France were to introduce into a Treaty with Italy an article binding the Italian Government to levy double duties upon all merchandise not passing through Marseilles.\n\nThe very important question of principle involved in the assumption by French agents of jurisdiction over British subjects in territory not French, is hardly touched upon in the\n\n25\n\nProjet. It is indeed suggested that the enforcement of this jurisdiction would probably, in practice, be of advantage to those over whom it would be exercised; but this is a point on which independent nations may reasonably insist upon judging for themselves. Certainly, in other cases in which an extra-territorial jurisdiction, independent of the local Sovereign, has been established, France, no less than other nations, has placed the jurisdiction over her citizens in the hands of agents of her own, not in those of the agents of a third Power. Great Britain, on her part, has at all times (as is stated in the English communication) maintained her rights, in virtue of which British Consuls, in places where extra-territorial jurisdiction exists, take cognizance of suits in which their countrymen are concerned, and she cannot be expected to allow that civil suits or criminal trials affecting British subjects can properly be submitted to the jurisdiction of a French Consul in a territory which is not French.\n\nIt is impossible to admit the correctness of the view taken in the Projet, that the engagement entered into between the Government of the Straits Settlement and the Chief of Perak in January 1874 can be compared with the proposed French Treaty with Annam. The engagement with Perak does not fetter commerce, impose differential duties in favour of a British colony, nor throw the entire control of the country into the hands of British officers.\n\nIt is to be feared that with regard to the points specially mentioned above, as well as in other respects, the proposed answer would not in any degree efface the painful impression made upon Her Majesty's Government, nor diminish the objections stated in the communication made under their instructions by Lord Lytton. It only remains, therefore, to repeat with earnestness the hope that the Treaty will be reconsidered by the French Government.\n\nNo. 9.\n\nLord Lyons to the Earl of Derby.---(Received February 17.)\n\n(No. 150. Very Confidential.) My Lord,\n\nParis, February 16, 1875.\n\nIT would appear to result from the conversation of which a report is given in my immediately preceding despatch No. 149 of to-day, that the Duc Decazes does not consider the Commercial Treaty between France and Annam as beyond the reach of amendment, and that he is desirous to remove the objections of Her Majesty's Government; but that he is more disposed to do this by a strained interpretation of the Treaty than by an actual alteration of the wording.\n\nThe interpretation the Duc Decazes puts upon the Treaty appears to me to be so forced, so entirely incompatible with the present wording, that I do not think it would be prudent to trust to effect being given to it, even if the Duke should himself be the French Foreign Minister when the question arose. If, however, a distinct clause were introduced stating that the intervention of the French officials in Annam should continue only so long as other nations made no Commercial Treaties with the country, and sent no officials of their own thither, the objections to the French Treaty would certainly be much lessened. I think, too, that some weight is to be given to the suggestion in the French draft answer, that it is absolutely necessary that at first a considerable control should be exercised over Europeans resorting to Annam, in order to prevent conflicts with the Annamese authorities and other natives, to whom the presence of foreigners would be a novelty, and probably a distasteful novelty.\n\nI must observe, however, that the Duc Decazes showed no disposition to give up the differential duties to be imposed in favour of Saigon. Nor can I conclude without reminding your Lordship that it has been apparent throughout the communications on this question, that the opinions of the Duc Decazes do not always prevail with the Department of Marine and Colonies, that this Department is wedded to the Treaties as they stand, and that it is apt to take its own line, without thinking it necessary to consult the Minister for Foreign Affairs, or even always to let him know what it is about.\n\nI have, &c.\n\n(Signed)\n\nLYONS.\n\nH\n\n2057", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-172 - Public Offices & Others - 1875.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 297211, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-172 - Public Offices & Others - 1875", "page_number": 309, "title": "CO129-172 - Public Offices & Others - 1875", "content_text": "No. 78.\n\n(No. 427.) My Lord,\n\nLord Lyons to the Earl of Derby.--(Received May 26.)\n\nParis, May 25, 1875.\n\nI HAVE the honour to transmit herewith to your Lordship a copy of a paper which was given to me yesterday by the Duc Decazes at the French Foreign Office. In putting it into my hand the Duke simply said that he hoped that I should find that it placed the questions respecting the French Commercial Treaty with Annam upon a ground upon which the British and French Governments might easily come to an understanding.\n\nYour Lordship will see that this paper purports to be an answer to the memorandum stating the objections of Her Majesty's Government, which was communicated to the French Government by Lord Lytton with his note of the 15th November last.\n\nIn that memorandum remonstrance was made against the French Treaties with Annam on general as well as on particular grounds. It was pointed out that these were the first Treaties wherein one of the great European Powers had departed from the wholesome rule, in accordance with which every nation represented in Chinese and Japanese waters had been content, as regarded its interests in those waters, to act in concert with other nations, seeking no exclusive privileges for itself, but co-operating in the common interest to obtain equal rights for all. It was argued that the practical effect of the political Treaty, when fully completed by the Commercial Treaty, would be to confer upon France unlimited control over the trade of Annam, to place the Custom-houses of Annam under the exclusive supervision of France, and their conduct under her special protection by means of French ships of war in the ports; to give to the same European Power exclusive command of access to the Chinese province of Yunnan by means of the Tongka River, and, in fact, to surrender to French agents exclusively whatever real authority the King of Annam might have before possessed in political as well as commercial matters. Finally, it was urged that such a result would constitute an unprecedented departure from the salutary understanding which had, up to that time, governed the common practice of the great European Powers in their commercial and political dealings with countries in the category to which Annam belongs.\n\nNo direct answer to these general remonstrances appears in the paper given me by the Duc Decazes.\n\nNor does the Duc Decazes' paper contain any specific answer to the particular objections made by Her Majesty's Government to the XVth and XVIIth Articles of the Commercial Treaty. Your Lordship may remember that the first of these Articles requires masters of foreign vessels to report their arrival to the French Consul, and place their ships' papers in his hands; while the XVIIth obliges foreign merchants having occasion to load or unload goods, to do so through the agency of the same Consul.\n\nThe Duc Decazes' observations are in fact confined to three special points :-- 1st. The jurisdiction attributed to the French Agents in Annam over the subjects of other European Powers; 2nd. The privilege in virtue of which those agents are empowered to decide disputes between foreigners and the Annamese Custom-house officials; and, 3rd. The differential duties in favour of the French Colony of Saigon.\n\nWith regard to these differential duties, the paper merely repeats the old arguments that they are established in compensation for pecuniary and other sacrifices made by France, and that foreign ships resorting to Saigon will share in the advantage to be derived from them. To the first of these arguments it may obviously be replied that it does not concern foreign nations to enquire what may be the consideration which France has given for a privilege which she has obtained to their detriment. While the second argument, if valid, would imply that foreign nations would not be aggrieved if (for instance) France were to insert in a Treaty with Italy a stipulation obliging the Italian Government to levy double duties on all merchandise not passing through Marseilles.\n\nThe Duc Decazes, while insisting in this paper upon the necessity of maintaining these duties for the present, suggests that when the tariffs are revised ten years hence, it may be considered whether they shall be enforced or not after that time.\n\nThe statements made in the paper respecting the jurisdiction of French Agents over foreigners, and their intervention in disputes between foreigners and Annamese Customs authorities, appear much more worthy of consideration.\n\nThe paper represents these privileges as only temporary, and seems to imply that any foreign nation may emancipate itself from their effects by making a Commercial Treaty of its own with Annam, and sending Consuls of its own to protect its subjects.\n\nThis is, I suppose, the basis upon which the Duc Decazes hopes that the two Governments may come to an understanding, and there does, in fact (setting the question\n\n302", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-172 - Public Offices & Others - 1875.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 297212, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-172 - Public Offices & Others - 1875", "page_number": 310, "title": "CO129-172 - Public Offices & Others - 1875", "content_text": "303\n\n68\n\nof principle aside), appear to be some reason for asserting that it might in practice be advantageous to foreigners to be protected by French Agents, in the absence of any Representatives of their own country, and, in such circumstances, to be liable to the joint jurisdiction of French and Annamnese authorities, rather than to be entirely at the mercy of the native officials.\n\nIt must be observed, however, that the language of the Duc Decazes' paper is rather vague with regard to this matter, and if an arrangement on this basis should be contemplated, it would be necessary to scrutinize the Treaties between France and Annam very carefully, in order to ascertain whether they admit of the interpretation put upon them. For it is to be remembered that in leaving to Annam the right to conclude Commercial Treaties, the French have been careful to stipulate that such Treaties must contain nothing inconsistent with the Treaties with France, and that the French Government must be informed before they are concluded.\n\nIt seems to me to be, in fact, doubtful whether the more liberal interpretation put by the Duc Decazes' paper upon the Commercial Treaty is warranted by the wording of it; and consequently if that Treaty were ratified as it stands by the French Assembly, it might hereafter be construed as conferring, perpetually and exclusively, upon French Agents the jurisdiction over foreigners, which, even as a temporary arrangement, seems to be in principle open to objection.\n\nI have, &c. (Signed). LYONS.\n\nInclosure in No. 78.\n\nMemorandum.\n\nLE Ministre des Affaires Etrangères a examiné, avec toute l'attention qu'il mérite, le memorandum du Gouvernement de Sa Majesté Britannique en date du 15 Novembre, 1874, relatif au Traité de Commerce conclu entre la France et le Royaume d'Annam. Les observations développées dans ce document portent principalement sur trois points: les droits de juridiction attribués aux Agents Français en tant qu'ils s'entendraient aux sujets des nations Chrétiennes; le privilège en vertu duquel ces mêmes fonctionnaires seraient provisoirement appelés à prononcer sur les difficultés pouvant survenir entre des étrangers et l'administration des Douanes; enfin, les faveurs stipulées au profit des bâtiments chargés de marchandises provenant ou à destination de Saigon.\n\nDes explications confidentielles ayant déjà été échangées à ce sujet avec son Excellence M. l'Ambassadeur d'Angleterre, le Duc Decazes a pu se convaincre qu'il s'était produit et qu'il existait encore un malentendu sur la portée de quelques-unes des clauses des arrangements intervenus entre le Gouvernement Français et la Cour de Hué.\n\nIl en est ainsi, notamment pour ce qui concerne les attributions dont les résidents Français se trouvent momentanément investis par le Traité Politique, à l'égard des étrangers, dans les nouveaux ports du Royaume d'Annam ouverts à la navigation. En effet, le Cabinet Français s'est proposé, par cette disposition, de satisfaire aux nécessités d'une situation temporaire en assurant à tous les étrangers sans distinction de nationalité qui aborderaient sur le territoire de l'Annam la protection que l'administration Annamite serait hors d'état de leur procurer dans les premiers temps qui suivront la mise à exécution des Traités. Le Cabinet Français a voulu ainsi réserver aux négociants étrangers, aussi bien qu'à ses propres nationaux, un recours contre l'inexpérience et l'animosité possibles de certains fonctionnaires Annamites, tant qu'aucune autre Puissance n'aurait encore d'Agents Consulaires dans le Royaume d'Annam.\n\nOn ne doit pas oublier que si le Gouvernement Annamite s'est engagé à conformer sa politique extérieure à celle de France et à ne rien changer à ses relations diplomatiques actuelles, cet engagement n'exclut ni la conclusion de Traités de Commerce ni l'établissement de Consuls étrangers, qui en serait la conséquence naturelle. Rien ne s'oppose, en effet, à ce que le Gouvernement de Sa Majesté Britannique ouvre à ce sujet des négociations avec le Royaume d'Annam s'il juge à propos de le faire, et le Gouvernement Français est même tout disposé à l'aider, dans ce but, de ses bons offices auprès de la Cour de Hué.\n\nCette stipulation, empreinte d'un esprit évident de libéralisme, ne saurait donc causer aucun ombrage, et nous pouvons ajouter qu'il en est de même de celles qui attribuent à l'Agent Français le droit de statuer, de concert avec un magistrat Annamite, sur les contestations entre les négociants étrangers et la Douane. Il suffira d'une simple observation pour écarter toute incertitude à cet égard; le Cabinet Français entend bien que les Consuls étrangers, dès qu'ils seront installés, auront la charge et le soin de pourvoir désormais par eux-mêmes à la protection de leurs nationaux dans les matières de Douane, aussi bien que dans les questions de juridiction.\n\n69\n\nEn ce qui concerne la clause relative au port de Saigon, nous devons constater que le Gouvernement de la Reine s'est mépris sur les raisons qui l'ont dictée comme sur la portée qu'il convient d'y donner. Elle est ainsi conçue: \"Les marchandises expédiées de Saïgon pour un des ports ouverts de l'Annam ou à destination du Yunnan, en transit par le Tsong-Koi et celles qui sont expédiées de l'un de ces ports ou du Yunnan pour Saïgon, ne seront soumises qu'à la moitié des droits frappant les marchandises de toute autre provenance ou ayant une autre destination.\"\n\nCe n'est pas à titre gratuit que le Cabinet Français a réclamé et obtenu ce régime spécial pour sa Colonie de Saigon. Il a dû préalablement renoncer au reliquat des sommes encore dues pour l'ancienne indemnité de guerre et qui ne s'élèvent pas à moins de 5,000,000. Il a dû prendre l'engagement de fournir au Gouvernement Annamite l'appui matériel qui lui est nécessaire pour maintenir chez lui l'ordre et la tranquillité et détruire la piraterie qui désole ses côtes; lui promettre 5 bâtiments de guerre à vapeur, 100 canons approvisionnés de 200 coups, et 1,000 fusils à tir rapide; c'est à ce prix que la France acquérait un droit difficile à contester, à des compensations temporaires, et qui n'atténuent qu'incomplètement l'importance de ses sacrifices. Les tarifs actuels sont établis pour une durée de dix ans; ce laps de temps s'écoulera certainement avant que le Gouvernement Français ne soit rentré dans ses déboursés et le privilège qu'il revendique pour le port de Saigon, pendant ces dix années, n'est qu'un faible dédommagement de la somme considérable qu'il abandonne aux Annamites, du matériel de guerre qu'il met à leur disposition et des dépenses qu'il prend à sa charge.\n\nA l'expiration des tarifs actuels, il y aura lieu d'examiner si l'état de choses qu'ils consacrent doit être maintenu ou abrogé. Mais il est d'autant moins possible aujourd'hui de renoncer au bénéfice de ces dispositions, qu'elles ne sont nullement exclusives. Elles seront, en effet, applicables aux bâtiments étrangers comme aux bâtiments nationaux; Saigon est un port franc, et il n'est que trop connu que les établissements de commerce Français créés dans ce port ne sont ni les plus nombreux, ni ceux qui font le trafic le plus étendu.\n\nLe Ministre des Affaires Etrangères de France se plaît à espérer que ces explications suffiront pour rendre aux Traités conclus avec le Royaume d'Annam leur véritable signification. Le Gouvernement Britannique mieux éclairé rendra donc pleine justice à des arrangements qui ouvrent au commerce de toutes les Puissances de nouveaux et précieux débouchés jusqu'à présent fermés à toutes les tentatives, et que la France n'a pu disputer à la barbarie qu'aux prix de longs et cruels sacrifices. Il serait, en vérité, inexplicable que celle des Puissances dont le pavillon occupe la plus grande place dans les mers de l'Inde et de la Chine, et qui est ainsi appelée à profiter le plus largement de cette conquête de la civilisation Européenne, voulût en contester les bienfaits, et pût méconnaître l'esprit dont nous avons été animés dans la poursuite de nos efforts.\n\nParis, le 24 Mai, 1875.\n\n(No. 428.) My Lord,\n\nNo. 79.\n\nLord Lyons to the Earl of Derby. Received May 26.)\n\nParis, May 25, 1875. IN the paper respecting the Annam Treaties which the Duc Decazes gave me yesterday, and of which a copy is inclosed in my immediately preceding despatch No. 427 of to-day, the Duke refers to his confidential communications with me respecting his answer to the Memorandum presented to him by Lord Lytton, on the 15th November last.\n\nYour Lordship may remember that these communications began by the Duc Decazes putting into my hand, confidentially, in the month of January last, a draft of the answer he proposed to send; that I informed him that an answer in the terms of that draft would be considered as most unsatisfactory by Her Majesty's Government; and that on the 16th February I had a long conversation with him on the question of the Annam Treaties, and put into his hand a Memorandum containing observations on the draft answer.\n\nThe answer which he gave me yesterday is certainly, both in tone and in substance, less unsatisfactory than the original draft; but I cannot say that it very much modifies the opinions I expressed in my despatches No. 58, of the 18th January, and No. 149, of the 16th February last.\n\n[81]", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-172 - Public Offices & Others - 1875.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 297219, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-172 - Public Offices & Others - 1875", "page_number": 317, "title": "CO129-172 - Public Offices & Others - 1875", "content_text": "Sanction the Commercial Treaty between France and Annam.\n\nNo.488\n\nI am to add that a Copy of Lord Lyon's Despatch has also been communicated to the India Office.\n\nI am, Sir,\n\n692075 Paris June 14th 1875\n\nMephard,\n\nWith ref. to Yh's Despatch No. 361 of the 10th inst., & to my Desps No. 448 of the 6th & 12th inst., I have the honour to report that although the Due Decazes has not distinctly told me that he is being pressed by the Dept. of Marine & Colonies to bring in a Bill to sanction the Coml Treaty with Annam, I have reason to believe that such is the case.\n\nIndeed the fact of the Duke's recurring so often to the subject of the Treaty in speaking to me, would of itself lead to this conclusion. The Duke has not made any explicit Engagement not to\n\nYour most obedient humble servant,\n\nTenterden\n\nTo Earl of Derby", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-172 - Public Offices & Others - 1875.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 297266, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-172 - Public Offices & Others - 1875", "page_number": 364, "title": "CO129-172 - Public Offices & Others - 1875", "content_text": "No. 79.\n\nLord Lyons to the Earl of Derby.-(Received May 26.)\n\n357\n\n(No. 428.) My Lord,\n\nParis, May 25, 1875. IN the paper respecting the Annam Treaties which the Duc Decazes gave me yesterday, and of which a copy is inclosed in my immediately preceding despatch No. 427 of to-day, the Duke refers to his confidential communications with me respecting his answer to the Memorandum presented to him by Lord Lytton, on the 15th November last.\n\nYour Lordship may remember that these communications began by the Duc Decazes putting into my hand, confidentially, in the month of January last, a draft of the answer he proposed to send; that I informed him that an answer in the terms of that draft would be considered as most unsatisfactory by Her Majesty's Government; and that on the 16th February I had a long conversation with him on the question of the Annam Treaties, and put into his hand a Memorandum containing observations on the draft answer.\n\nThe answer which he gave me yesterday is certainly, both in tone and in substance, less unsatisfactory than the original draft; but I cannot say that it very much modifies the opinions expressed in my despatches No. 58, of the 18th January, and No. 149, of the 16th February last.\n\n[81", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-172 - Public Offices & Others - 1875.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 297267, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-172 - Public Offices & Others - 1875", "page_number": 365, "title": "CO129-172 - Public Offices & Others - 1875", "content_text": "(Signed) LYONS.\n\n8531\n\n71\n\n357\n\nAfterwards, we went on to speak specifically of my note of the 26th ultimo, and of the position of the Commercial Treaty in the National Assembly.\n\nIn answer to a remark on the abrupt manner in which the Bill for ratifying that Treaty had been brought into the Assembly, and on the haste with which it was being pushed through that body, the Duke said, with some warmth, that it was really impossible to have shown more consideration for England than he had done in the matter; that he had waited nine months solely out of deference to England, and that it was not more than three weeks after he had given me his Memorandum of the 24th May, that he had laid the Bill on the table of the Assembly.\n\nI reminded the Duke that when he had given me that paper, he had said that he hoped that it placed the questions respecting the Treaty upon a ground upon which the British and French Governments might easily come to an understanding; I observed that subsequently I had more than once told him that the paper was under the consideration of the proper Departments of Her Majesty's Government, and I added, that under these circumstances it would have been natural that he should at least have given Her Majesty's Government some warning of his intention to bring the Bill into the Assembly.\n\nIn speaking of the differential duties in favour of Saigon, the Duc Decazes dwelt on the smallness of their amount, and on the limited extent of the commerce to which they were to be applied.\n\nI observed that certainly the trade was very small at present, so far as I knew; and I added that, in my opinion, it was not very likely to increase if the Treaty was to be executed in the same exclusive spirit in which it had been made. If, however, France persevered in the policy upon which she had acted on this occasion, and sought for exclusive commercial advantages for herself in her negotiations with the Governments of Eastern Asia, it must, I said, of course, become impossible to maintain in these regions the concert between the civilized nations of Europe and America which had produced such beneficial effects.\n\nThe Duc Decazes expressed in the strongest terms the desire and the determination of the French Government to continue to act in China, Japan, and other Eastern countries in entire harmony with Great Britain; and he affirmed very positively that the Annamese Treaties were no indication of a change of policy in this respect.\n\nFinally, the Duc Decazes said that he presumed that his Memorandum had removed the objections of Her Majesty's Government on the questions of the jurisdiction of French Agents over other foreigners in Annam, and the control of those Agents over the commercial transactions of foreigners. These objections rested (he affirmed) upon an interpretation of the Treaty entirely different from that put upon it by the French Government. He was quite willing to record and complete in an official note the explanations on these matters, which he had given in his Memorandum, and thus the true interpretation of the Treaty might (he said) be established by an exchange of notes between the two Governments.\n\nI begged the Duke to send me an official note as soon as possible.\n\nI have, &c.\n\n(Signed) LYONS.\n\nzm\n\nisc: ries\n\n\"\"\n\nH\n\n(No. 556.) My Lord,\n\nNo. 81.\n\nLord Lyons to the Earl of Derby.-(Received July 7.)\n\nParis, July 5, 1875.\n\nTHE Duc Decazes having in some measure recovered from his recent illness, I had an interview with him yesterday.\n\nWe had a long and animated conversation respecting the Annam Treaties; but I will not trouble your Lordship with a detailed Report of the often repeated arguments which were used on both sides.\n\nThe Duke spoke at some length of the political control over Annam given to France by these Treaties; of the exclusive protection for Roman Catholic Missionaries which they provided; of the jurisdiction over Europeans and control over their commercial transactions assigned to French Agents, and of the differential duties established in favour of Saigon. I did not, however, find that anything his Excellency said weakened the force of the objections which had been made on behalf of Her Majesty's Government to the stipulations of the Treaties on these points, and I therefore felt bound to maintain those objections without modification.\n\nNo. 82.\n\nLord Lyons to the Earl of Derby.(Received July 7.)\n\n(No. 557.) My Lord,\n\nIN the \"Journal Officiel\" of this morning are published the \"Exposé des Motifs\" which accompanied the Bill for the ratification of the Commercial Treaty with Annam; the Bill itself, and the text of the Treaty, I have the honour to inclose copies herewith.\n\nParis, July 5, 1875.\n\nThe Exposé des Motifs, which is very short, states little more than that this Treaty is the complement of the Political Treaty, the ratification of which was authorized by the Assembly last August.\n\nThe Bill is in the usual form, and authorizes the President of the Republic to ratify and execute the Treaty.\n\nThe text of the Treaty is not precisely the same as that which was communicated to me confidentially by the Duc Decazes last year, and transmitted by me to your Lordship with my despatch No. 605 of the 23rd June, 1874.\n\nIn the IInd Article the wording of the clause relative to the importation and exportation of grain is altered, and the duty on exportation is raised from 5 to 10 per cent.", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-172 - Public Offices & Others - 1875.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 299358, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-176 - Public Offices & Others - 1876", "page_number": 197, "title": "CO129-176 - Public Offices & Others - 1876", "content_text": "DOMESTIC.\n\nOffice or Individual.\n\nStrong trong\n\n(Subject.)\n\n22\n\n192\n\n1. Office The recent negotiations between France and\n\nDate.\n\n1876\n\nJur\n\n20\n\nForward\n\nLast previous Paper.\n\nCopy\n\n2003\n\nAnnam\n\nDespatch from Ambassador at Paris reporting a conversation with the Duc Decazes\n\non the subject in question\n\nIn haste\n\n(Minutes.)\n\nHe Duke Decazes says that\n\nThe\n\nthe recent Treaties with Annam are\n\ncomplete failures.\n\ntime.\n\nNot satisfactory if\n\nI would not send copies of this to the Governors of\n\nthe Straits\n\nand Hong Kong, because\n\nit may only serve to\n\nmake them\n\nrelax\n\nvigilance it may only serve to\n\nat Japan\n\nFOL\n\n17t\n\n(with the attitude of watchfulness\n\ncarefully enjoined\n\nso\n\nthem in our despatches of\n\nGWR No. 282, 28th of October last.\n\nPass over", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-176 - Public Offices & Others - 1876.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 299359, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-176 - Public Offices & Others - 1876", "page_number": 198, "title": "CO129-176 - Public Offices & Others - 1876", "content_text": "I think awaiting how intonate our relations with China in the 8.0. might have sent Land Camaro so information away of Lord Lyons other defeat 20:171. to which he refers in the defeat.\n\n少\n\nhow Lent.a 123.3 but not worth anything for RM 2 27/3 some Record tear by ༣ infidential 334176 22 193\n\nForeign Office March 20. 1876\n\nCorrespondence respecting the negotiations\n\nSir,\n\nI am directed by the Earl of Derby to transmit to you, for the information of the Earl of Carnarvon, a copy of a despatch from Her Majesty's Ambassador at Paris reporting a conversation which he has had with the Duke Decazes, in reference to previous negotiations which have lately taken place between France and Annam.\n\nThe Under Secretary of State Colonial Office", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-176 - Public Offices & Others - 1876.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 299360, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-176 - Public Offices & Others - 1876", "page_number": 199, "title": "CO129-176 - Public Offices & Others - 1876", "content_text": "- regard to the relations between France and Annam, and the alleged failure of French policy in regard to their recent transactions with that Country.\n\nParis March 13. 1876\n\nMy Lord,\n\n3341\n\nI have reported to Your Lordship in my preceding despatch of today some observations on the Duke Decazes made to me yesterday.\n\nI allude to the necessity of acting with great caution in all matters connected with China and these observations concur with the extreme views generally held.\n\nThe Duke took occasion from this to speak to me confidentially of the relations between France and Annam established by the new treaties.\n\nHe had, he said, always viewed with distaste & apprehension the proceedings of the Dept. de la Marine et des Colonie, at Paris.\n\nYour most obedient, humble servant\n\nBliste\n\nThe Earl of Derby\n\nPage 18\n\n172\n\n...\n\nPage 176\n\nIt appears that the original text was heavily affected by OCR errors, including incorrect spacing, missing or incorrect characters, and misplaced or jumbled text. I have made the following corrections:\n\n1. Rejoined broken sentences and reformatted the text into proper paragraphs.\n2. Corrected spelling errors (e.g., \"incrediatel\" to \"immediately\" was not done as it was not clear, \"witte\" to \"with\", \"aur\" to \"allude\", \"breived\" to \"viewed\", \"distike\" to \"distaste\", \"Dept\" was kept as it is, \"Marine TheEarl\" to \"Marine et des Colonie\", \"Yh\" to \"Your Lordship\").\n3. Removed extra spaces and added missing spaces to improve readability.\n4. Corrected line-break artifacts and hyphenation errors.\n5. Preserved the original page numbering lines (\"Page 18\", \"172\", \"Page 176\") as per the instructions.\n6. Removed or corrected text that was clearly OCR errors or unrelated to the main content (e.g., \"город\", \"کار\").\n7. Maintained the original content and structure as much as possible, without rephrasing or rewriting the text.\n\nThe output is in HTML format using `` tags for paragraphs.", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-176 - Public Offices & Others - 1876.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 } ]