Favoritism of Catholics in the colonial adminstration
Dear friends,
I'm trying to find some sources to help gauge the oft-cited claim that
the French favored Catholics over other Vietnamese for positions in the
colonial administration. I'm particularly interested in the interwar
period, when there actually was a French administration to speak of. My
research on Catholicism in this period so far hasn't at all confirmed
this point, and just the fact that the administration was biggest in the
region with the fewest Catholics (Cochinchine) suggests that Catholic
influence within the administration might not have been as significant
as people often assume. Any thoughts appreciated.
Best,
Charles Keith
Yale University
Dear Charles and list:
One place in which Catholics did wield a measure of administrative power
during the interwar period was at the imperial court in Hue. They also were
well-represented in the provincial administrations of Annam. However, as
Bruce Lockhart explains in THE END OF THE VIETNAMESE MONARCHY, this Catholic
influence in the region was not purely and simply the result of any French
favoritism for Catholics. The main Vietnamese powerbroker at the court
during the 1920s and early 1930s was the Catholic minister Nguyen Huu Bai.
Other Catholics in Bai's faction included Ngo Dinh Diem and his older
brother Ngo Dinh Khoi, both of whom served as province chiefs in Annam
during the interwar period. Diem was briefly elevated to the post of
Interior Minister in 1933, but resigned soon after to protest the French
refusal to permit the court a greater degree of administrative autonomy--a
move which Bai counselled him to make. This last point is significant,
because it shows how the relations between French officials and Vietnamese
Catholic administrators was much more complicated that the conventional
wisdom would have it. French officials considered Bai and his cronies to be
an annoyance, and the appointments that the latter received were given
mainly in the hope of mollifying the old mandarin, rather than because of
any French preference for Catholics. See especially chapters 4 and 5 of
Lockhart's book for more info.
Cheers,
Ed Miller
Department of History, Dartmouth College
Charles,
I agree entirely with Ed's comments about the intricacies of the
relationship between Church and colonial state. Although it largely
deals with an earlier period than the pre WWI, it might nevertheless be
helpful to have a look at some of the correspondence in Patrick Tuck's
book, which gives a lot of the flavour of the relationship (Masonic
Adulterers vs. Meddling Religious Fanatics).
Peter Hansen
My understanding of the relationship between French administration and
Catholicism was always that in terms of the laicité French civil servants
had a strong inclination for freemasonry. There have been "loges" in
Indochina. Paul Beau was a Freemason and even a number of Vietnamese became
member. A description can be found in Jacques Dalloz, FRANCS-MACONS
D'INDOCHINE 1868-1975. Edimaf, 2002 and his article in the Revue française
d'histoire d'Outre-Mer Vol. 85, No. 320 (1998), p. 103-118. I wonder how
strong freemasonry in reality was and, even more, important how these
"loges" internationally have been cooperated e.g. in India and in the
Netherlands-Indies. I haven't seen any Ph.D project about this.
Best,
John Kleinen
Dear Charles and List,
I would like to follow up on the previous emails and suggest a few more
titles (from memory):
1) Patrice Morlat seems to be the other main scholar on freemasonry in
French Indochina. He has published an article in his co-edited book (La
religion dans l'empire, or something similar, Les Indes savantes, Paris,
roughly 2002). In Morlat's other books on the top-level French
administrators in Indochina, it is likely that he refers to their political
or religious affiliations as well. If I recollect, GGs Pasquier or Robin
were freemasons, and so was Louis Marty (and, as a result, apparently Pham
Quynh as well). There were Vietnamese members too, which is discussed in the
Dalloz book.
2) Henri Eckert's article on the creation of the French colonial army in
French Indochina (South-East Asia Research, Nov. 2002) refers to the many
political streams within the army (generally more republican and
anti-Church) and the navy (generally more royalist and Catholic), but then
dissects these positions further, so that we do not have only the Catholic -
Masonic divide, but a far more complex mosaic of royalists, Gambettists,
republicans, naturalists, etc.
3) David Gilbert (or Gilbert David?) has published two books with
L'Harmattan, Paris, narrating the story of a freemason network from about
1930 to 1945, with an emphasis on the WWII years. He is not a professional
historian, but he does draw on masonic sources, though many of his claims
are not footnoted. The book also provides some information on the
co-operation across colonial boundaries, as the author argues that some
Force 136 (or was it the OSS) members were freemasons.
4) Point 3 makes me wonder whether Eric Jenning's recent book, Vichy in the
Tropics (title?), refers to the freemasons as well, as many of them would
not have been happy with the Vichyist project.
Finally, Dalloz mentions the competition between different lodges, as well
as different political positions represented in them or in individual
chapters, for instance with regard to the membership (or not) for
Vietnamese.
Best wishes,
Tobias