L’Écho annamite
- On the Progressive Union of the Annamite People
- Dresses, Sports, Theater and Floods
- A Bloody Drama in Saigon
This page of L'Écho Annamite for 27 October 1926 opened with a signed column by "V. G." answering a Saigon Républicain article on the newly formed Progressive Union of the Annamite People. The writer granted that the article's pessimism was justified by past experience, but to the question of whether nationalism was reawakening he answered a plain "Yes!" An editorial note accepted the denial of An-Giang Sport's president that he had asked a Mrs. Thoàn to lend dresses for Tonkin flood-relief evenings, and blamed an impostor using his title. A short news item reported a street fight in Saigon's Ruelle Duranton between about ten tirailleurs and three artillerymen, which the paper put down to rivalry over prostitutes in nearby houses.
Translation
On the Progressive Union of the Annamite People
Not having the leisure to read all the local newspapers, it was only in the Echo Annamite that I noticed the Saigon Républicain article concerning the formation of the Progressive Union of the Annamite People. I will not criticize it, for its author's pessimism is, unfortunately, justified by the lessons of the past. In any case, I am going to set out the ideas that certain of its passages have suggested to me. "Is nationalism awakening, then? Is this a sign of new times?" Mr. Alpha asks, after saying that the wind of reform is blowing across all of Indochina. To this I answer him squarely: Yes!
Dresses, Sports, Theater and Floods
The president of An-Giang asserts — and we believe him — that he never asked Mrs. Thoàn, in the name of the society over which he presides, to lend dresses for evening events organized for the benefit of the Tonkin flood victims. We conclude from this that some nasty prankster must have adorned himself with the unwarranted title of president of An-Giang Sport in order to play on Mrs. Thoàn the mean trick we all know of, all the more so since, by Mr. Huynh-van-Chinh's own account, members of the aforementioned society have fallen into the unfortunate habit of regarding their president's personality as nonexistent. Whoever this joker may be, he has committed an act for which honest people will not congratulate him.
A Bloody Drama in Saigon
The day before yesterday, at about a quarter past seven in the evening, in the Ruelle Duranton, some ten tirailleurs clashed with three of their compatriots from the artillery. For what reason? That is not yet known. The fact remains that there were houses of hospitality in the neighborhood. From this it is deduced that the disciples of Mars fought over daughters of mercenary Venus.
Context
Varenne's reforms, the Annam chamber and the interim of Pasquier
V. G. accepts Mr. Alpha's premise that a wind of reform was blowing across Indochina. The governor-general in office since 1925 was Alexandre Varenne, a French politician and journalist who held the post until 1928. One concrete measure of his tenure was a decree of 24 February 1926 creating the Chambre des Représentants du Peuple de l'Annam, an advisory body attached to the colonial government of the Annam protectorate, whose president from 1926 to 1928 was Huỳnh Thúc Kháng, a leading figure of the anti-colonial movement. The chamber was only consultative and covered Annam rather than Cochinchina, where this paper appeared, but it was one of the limited representative openings of the year in which a Saigon columnist could speak of an awakening nationalism. When this column was printed, however, Varenne was not at his post: from October 1926 to May 1927 Pierre Pasquier governed Indochina as his temporary replacement, so any new Annamite association in late October 1926 dealt with an interim administration. V. G.'s confident "Yes!" is his own judgement about the national mood, not a record of how the authorities treated the Progressive Union.
L'Écho Annamite and the Constitutionalist Party
V. G. remarks that he found the Saigon Républicain article only through the Echo Annamite itself, the paper in which his reply appears. L'Écho Annamite was a liberal newspaper founded in 1920 by the journalist Nguyễn Phan Long, who had earlier worked, from 1917, for La Tribune Indigène. Long was also deputy leader of the Parti Constitutionnaliste Indochinois, a nationalist party founded in 1923 and led by Bùi Quang Chiêu. The column therefore appeared in a French-language paper whose founder sat in the leadership of an organized Vietnamese nationalist party. Its stance fits that setting: it concedes that the past gave grounds for pessimism, yet it takes up the formation of a new Annamite association and openly affirms that nationalism is reawakening.
The tirailleurs of the colonial army
The brawl in the Ruelle Duranton set about ten tirailleurs against three "compatriots" from the artillery, that is, local soldiers serving France in different branches. The tirailleurs indochinois, known in Vietnamese as lính tập, were regiments of local infantry organized by the French colonial authorities, starting in Vietnam on 15 March 1880, and such regiments were raised in Tonkin, Annam and Cambodia. They served under officers seconded from the French Marine, later Colonial, Infantry, and under that command became an effective corps, although in their early years they were often charged with being prone to desertion. The newspaper itself did not establish why the soldiers fought. Its explanation, rendered in mock-classical language about Mars and Venus, is an inference drawn only from the presence of "houses of hospitality" nearby.
Original
A propos de l'Union progressiste du peuple annamite
N'ayant pas le loisir de lire tous les journaux locaux, c'est seulement dans l'Echo Annamite que je me suis aperçu de l'article de Saigon Républicain concernant la formation de l'Union progressiste du peuple annamite. Je ne le critiquerai pas, car le pessimisme de son auteur se trouve, par malheur, justifié par les leçons du passé. En tout cas, je vais exposer les idées que m'ont suggérées certains de ses passages. «Le nationalisme se réveille-t-il donc? Est-ce un signe des temps nouveaux?» se demande M. Alpha. après avoir dit que le vent des réformes souffle sur toute l'Indochine. A cela, je lui réponds carrément: Oui!
Robes, sports, théâtre et inondations
Le président d'An-Giang affirme - et nous l'en croyons, - que jamais il n'a demandé, au nom de la société qu'il préside, à Mme Thoàn de prêter des robes pour des soirées organisées au profit des inondés du Tonkin. Nous en déduisons que quelque mauvais plaisant se serait paré du titre indu de président d'An-Giang Sport pour jouer à Mme Thoàn le vilain tour qu'on sait, d'autant qu'au dire même de M. Huynh-vanChinh, des membres de la société susnommée ont pris la fâcheuse habitude de considérer la personnalité de leur président comme inexistante. Quel que soit ce farceur, il a commis une action dont ne le félicitent pas les honnêtes gens.
Un drame sanglant à Saigon
Avant-hier, vers 19 heures et quart, ruelle Duranton, une dizaine de tirailleurs entrèrent en collision avec trois de leurs compatriotes de l'artillerie. Pour quelle cause? On l'ignore encore. Toujours est-il que, dans le voisinage, étaient des maisons hospitalières. On en déduit que les disciples de Mars se sont battus pour des filles de la Vénus mercenaire.