L’Écho annamite
- To the Voters of the Constituency
- The Lies of the "Progrès Annamite"
- Departure of the Governor General
This page of L'Écho annamite for 2 October 1926 carried the campaign letter of Bui Quang Chieu, the Constitutionalist leader, asking voters to send him to the Colonial Council. He recalled the welcome he received on 24 March, promised to strengthen a "frank and loyal" Franco-Annamite collaboration that respected the rights of both peoples, and called for more schooling, more dignity and a fairer regime, "without violence, but also without weakness". Just before the legible text breaks off, the letter invoked the body of Phan Chau Trinh. Lower down, a letter signed by Phan Van Truong, attacking the rival Progrès Annamite, insisted that he and his companions had been arrested not as anti-militarists but because the colonial government considered them enemies. A short notice announced that Governor General Alexandre Varenne would leave on 3 October on a mission and would receive callers before he sailed.
This is a partial reading of the page. The OCR does not reliably preserve the article bodies, and small type, clipped column edges and faint accents rule out a full transcription. Only three short, legible passages are translated, and [?] marks gaps. Bui Quang Chieu's letter is read with high confidence but breaks off mid-sentence. Phan Van Truong's letter and the Governor General notice were read with low confidence, and the notice is missing words, including the destination, the ship and the time receptions begin. The rest of the page is not covered.
Translation
To the Voters of the Constituency
[?] The enthusiastic reception the country gave me on 24 March last has amply rewarded me; it encourages me to persevere. What will my conduct be on the Colonial Council, if you do me the honour of sending me there? With the same ardour and the same conviction, I will continue the work I have begun. My programme? You know it. Everything that can help strengthen Franco-Annamite collaboration, frank and loyal on both sides, with constant care to respect the rights of both peoples in the collective life of the land of Annam. Without violence, but also without weakness, as in the past, I will pursue the realization of all our legitimate aspirations. I would like more education for our children, more dignity for the people — in short, a regime more in keeping with law and justice. Before the body of our eminent and lamented compatriot Phan-châu -
BUI-QUANG-CHIEU.
The Lies of the "Progrès Annamite"
[?] We were arrested not because we were anti-militarists, but quite simply because we were the bugbears of the colonial government. [?]
PHAN-van-Truong.
Departure of the Governor General
[?]. Departure of the Governor General. Governor General Alexandre [?], returning on a mission to [?], in the evening of [?] 3 October aboard the liner [?]. M. Alexandre Varenne will receive from [?] o'clock to 23:00 [?] the salons of the Agence des [?] Maritimes. [?]
Context
The March 1926 welcome and Phan Chau Trinh's funeral behind Bui Quang Chieu's appeal
Bui Quang Chieu opened his election letter by recalling the "enthusiastic reception" of 24 March and, as far as the text can be read, went on to invoke the body of Phan Chau Trinh. Both references point to the most charged weeks in Saigon's political life that year. Bui Quang Chieu led the moderate-nationalist Constitutionalist Party, and his return from France coincided with the arrest of the young journalist Nguyen An Ninh. One account dates that arrest to 21 March 1926, three days before the date Chieu gives for his welcome. The crowds accompanying Chieu through the streets of Saigon reportedly chanted "Free Nguyen An Ninh". On the same day, news arrived of the death of Phan Chau Trinh, a celebrated political convict and one of the so-called Five Dragons. His funeral on 4 April became an unprecedented demonstration against the government, with some seventy thousand people marching with the cortege. By recalling that welcome and turning to Phan Chau Trinh's body in a letter asking for votes, Chieu set his moderate programme of "Franco-Annamite collaboration" against the memory of a season of mass mobilization. His readers had lived through it only six months earlier.
Who Phan Van Truong was, and why his arrest mattered in 1926
The letter signed by Phan Van Truong answers the Progrès Annamite by insisting that he and his companions were jailed as the colonial government's "bêtes noires" rather than as anti-militarists. The account of the arrest is his own, and the fragment gives no date. Its force comes from his career in France. Truong was a Hanoi-born lawyer, the first Vietnamese to hold a doctorate in law. During his stay in France from 1908 to 1925, he belonged to the circle known as the "Five Dragons" (Ngũ Long), with Phan Chau Trinh, Nguyen Tat Thanh (the future Ho Chi Minh), Nguyen An Ninh and Nguyen The Truyen. That group attacked French colonial policy in the socialist press, and in 1919 Truong wrote the petition "Revendications du Peuple Annamite", which was sent to the Versailles Conference. When he wrote that the arrests had nothing to do with anti-militarism, he was defending that record against a rival paper that, judging by his headline, had described the episode differently. He was also presenting the exiles in France as targets of political persecution, not as anti-militarist agitators.
The 1926 repression that sharpened the Saigon press quarrel
The quarrel over who had been arrested, and why, came after a spring of repression in Saigon. Within months of his final return from France, Nguyen An Ninh, a fellow member of the Five Dragons, was arrested when the authorities suppressed his paper La Cloche Fêlée. Its appeals had drawn thousands of young workers and students to demand freedom of the press, education and assembly. When his 18-month sentence was announced on 24 April 1926, students and schoolchildren in Saigon and the surrounding region deserted their classes en masse, and more than a thousand were expelled. Against that background, the question of why nationalists were arrested was politically live. Truong's claim that he had been arrested simply for being one of the government's "bêtes noires" presented repression as aimed at political opponents rather than at any real offence such as anti-militarist agitation. Chieu's promise, on the same page, to act "without violence, but also without weakness" addressed the same readers in the same season.
Alexandre Varenne's place in Indochina's administration when he left on 3 October
The notice announced that Governor General Alexandre Varenne would sail on the evening of 3 October "on a mission" and would receive callers beforehand in the salons of a shipping agency. Varenne, a French politician and journalist best remembered as the founder of the newspaper La Montagne, was a politician of the French socialist party (SFIO). He was Governor-General of French Indochina from 1925 to 1928, so the October 1926 departure came roughly midway through his term. The notice calls it a mission, not a final leave-taking, and he did hold the post until 1928. The legible fragment does not state the purpose of the trip or name his destination. That the paper printed the times at which he would receive callers shows that the Governor General's comings and goings were treated as practical news for its readers, on the same page as a Colonial Council election appeal.
Original
Aux électeurs de la circonscription
[?] La réception enthousiaste que le pays m'a réservée le 24 Mars dernier m'a largement récompensé; elle m'encourage à persévérer. Quelle sera ma conduite au Conseil Colonial, si vous me faites l'honneur de m'y envoyer? Avec la même ardeur, la même conviction je continuerai le travail commencé. Mon programme? Vous le connaissez. Tout ce qui pourra contribuer à fortifier la collaboration franco-annamite, franche et loyale de part et d'autre, avec le constant souci de respecter les droits des deux peuples dans la vie collective au pays d'Annam. Sans violence, mais aussi sans faiblesse, comme par le passé, je poursuivrai la réalisation de toutes nos aspirations légitimes, je voudrais plus d'instruction pour nos enfants, plus de dignité pour le peuple, bref un régime plus conforme au droit et à la justice. Devant le corps de notre éminent et regretté compatriote Phan-châu -
Les mensonges du « Progrès Annamite »
[?] Nous avons été arrêtés, non pas parce que nous étions anti-militaristes, mais tout simplement parce que nous étions des bêtes noires du gouvernement colonial. [?]
Départ du Gouverneur Général
[?]. Départ du Gouverneur Général le Gouverneur Général Alexandre [?], rentrant en mission en [?] dans la soirée du [?] 3 Octobre sur le paquebot [?]. M. Alexandre Varenne recevra de [?] heures à vingt-trois heures [?] les salons de l'Agence des [?] Maritimes. [?]