L’Écho annamite
- Open letter to Mr. Nguyên-phan-Long
- Soviet activity in China
- The British withdraw their gunboats from Canton
An open letter disputes the paper director’s appeal for justice and argues for education and self-reform. Nearby Asian briefs report Soviet transport links and British gunboat withdrawal following Canton’s assurances.
Selected letter paragraphs and two complete Asian briefs; uncertain strike-group wording marked, not reconstructed.
Translation
Open letter to Mr. Nguyên-phan-Long
“Justice! We have never asked, and will never ask, for anything else.” That is what you wrote in your article of 13 August. Yet you seem to forget that justice is not of this world, especially between conquerors and conquered! And you sincerely believe that we deserve something better!
Look carefully at the photographs your newspaper published on the 14th. Those are Annamites treating other Annamites that way.
How would you expect the French to treat us when they see scenes like these every day? What respect would you have them feel for Annamites of that sort, or for us who stand watching them?
Think about it, and stop blaming politics, which can do nothing about it. Stop trying to bring people together: that is impossible until our compatriots have changed. You have another task, nobler and surely more fruitful. It is for men like you, whom the country reveres, to educate it and show it its duty, so that one day it may deserve greater consideration.
[...]
When speaking of education, we must not forget that the lycée in Hanoi was being enlarged and the Indochinese University built while rain was falling into the chemistry laboratory at the Collège de France.
Soviet activity in China
Harbin.—Japanese sources announce that the Soviets are beginning construction of a railway to connect Mongolia with the Trans-Siberian Railway.
The Soviet merchant marine has established a weekly express service between Vladivostok and Shanghai and a twice-monthly service between Vladivostok and Tientsin, calling at ports in Korea and Manchuria.
The British withdraw their gunboats from Canton
Following assurances from the Canton government that it would protect cargoes and passengers and police the river against interference by the strike [unclear], the British naval authorities have withdrawn their gunboats.
British river vessels are now carrying their cargoes from Hong Kong to Canton.
Context
Education and the right to demand justice
The open letter answers a demand for justice by making better treatment conditional on the conduct and education of the colonized population. That is a political argument about where responsibility lies. Education in colonial Vietnam was itself contested: French-language institutions spread knowledge and administrative skills, while intellectuals also used cultural exchange to pursue emancipation. The letter’s comparison of schools in Hanoi and Paris belongs to that struggle over whether education justified colonial rule or helped people challenge it.
Soviet influence through transport connections
The Harbin brief presents rail and shipping as complementary links. A railway would connect inland Mongolia with the Trans-Siberian system; services from Vladivostok would connect Soviet shipping with Chinese ports and calls in Korea and Manchuria. Together they describe a network joining inland routes and maritime commerce. That network explains why transport developments were reported under the broader heading of Soviet activity in China.
Who would secure the Hong Kong–Canton route?
Cargo protection was also a question of authority on the river. British gunboats supplied one form of security, while the Canton government offered to protect passengers and goods through its own policing. The withdrawal described here followed that assurance. Resumed cargo traffic therefore marked a change in who undertook to keep the route open, linking the commercial consequences of the strike to negotiations over local control.
Original
Lettre ouverte à M. Nguyên-phan-Long
Lettre ouverte à M. Nguyên-phan-Long
« La justice ! Nous n’avons jamais demandé et nous ne demanderons jamais autre chose. » Voilà ce que vous disiez dans votre article du 13 août. Et vous avez l’air d’oublier qu’elle n’est pas de ce monde, surtout entre vainqueurs et conquis ! Et vous croyez sincèrement que nous méritions autre chose !
Regardez bien les photographies que votre journal a publiées le 14. Ce sont des Annamites qui traitent des Annamites.
Comment voudriez-vous que les Français nous traitent quand ils ont tous les jours sous les yeux des tableaux de ce genre ? Quelle estime voudriez-vous qu’ils aient pour des Annamites de cette sorte et pour nous qui les regardons faire ?
Réfléchissez-y et n’accusez plus la politique, qui n’y peut rien. Ne tentez plus une œuvre de rapprochement, impossible tant que nos compatriotes n’auront pas changé. Vous avez une autre tâche plus noble et sûrement plus féconde à accomplir : C’est à des hommes comme vous, que le pays révère, de l’éduquer, de lui montrer son devoir, afin qu’il puisse un jour mériter plus d’égards.
[...]
Il ne faut pas oublier, quand on parle d’Enseignement, qu’on agrandissait le lycée d’Hanoï, qu’on bâtissait l’Université Indochinoise, tandis qu’il pleuvait dans le laboratoire de chimie au Collège de France.
L’activité des Soviets en Chine
Harbin. — On annonce de source japonaise que les Soviets commencent la construction d’une ligne de chemin de fer qui doit relier la Mongolie au Transsibérien.
La Marine marchande soviétique a organisé un service rapide hebdomadaire entre Vladivostock et Shanghai et bimensuel entre Vladivostock et Tientsin avec escales dans les ports de la Corée et de la Mandchourie.
Les Anglais ont retiré leurs canonnières de Canton
A la suite de l’assurance donnée par le Gouvernement de Canton de protéger les cargaisons et les passagers et d’assurer la police dans la rivière contre l’immixtion des [lecture incertaine] de grèves, les autorités navales anglaises ont retiré leurs canonnières.
Les bateaux anglais de la rivière apportent maintenant leurs cargaisons de Hongkong à Canton.