Telegraph lines and French imperialism in Cochinchina

From: David A Biggs <david.biggs@ucr.edu>

Date: Oct 25, 2006 7:12 PM

Subject: [Vsg] telegraph lines and french imperialism in cochinchina

Dear Group-

In re-reading materials on the French conquest of Cochinchina, I came

across P. Vial's map enclosed in his two-volume account of French naval

operations from 1858 to 1873. It's a re-edit of an earlier Charpentier map

(1868) and what's interesting about it is that Vial has added bright red,

bold lines indicating newly laid telegraph wires that linked up such

distant posts as Rach Gia and Ha Tien with Saigon and, via Singapore,

Paris. A similar map is painted as a mural in the Saigon GPO (look up to

the side when you first walk in the lobby) with the same telegraph lines

painted boldly over an older map of Cochinchina with its sinuous waterways.

I assume that like British India and Dutch Java, telegraph lines in French

Cochinchina in the 1860's were essential tools of colonial domination --

rapid communication -- yet I know of nothing published in primary sources

or more recently on this topic.

Does anyone know of work that has been done, perhaps in French or

Vietnamese, on the telegraph network in Cochinchina? Was it run by the

French Navy before 1879, by a private company, or British Telegraph? Who

laid the cables?

Regards,

David

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

David A Biggs

1212 HMNSS Building - History

University of California - Riverside

Riverside CA 92521

Phone (951) 827-1877

Fax (951) 827-5299

From: Ken MacLean <kmaclea@emory.edu>

Date: Oct 26, 2006 6:04 AM

Subject: Re: [Vsg] telegraph lines and french imperialism in cochinchina

Dear David,

I do not know of anything Vietnamese specific, unfortunately. But you should take a look at the book below. The first half is on the creation of a telegraph network across China and will, no doubt, provide "food for thought."

Zhou Yongming. 2006. Historicinzing Online Politics: Telegraphy, The Internet, and Political Participation in China. Palo Alto: Stanford University Press.

Cheers

Ken

From: swomack@umich.edu <swomack@umich.edu>

Date: Oct 26, 2006 8:55 AM

Subject: Re: [Vsg] telegraph lines and french imperialism in cochinchina

David,

Sarraut's 1923(I think) La mise en valeur des colonies francaises

has at least one section on the state and future of telegraph & other

communications in Cochinchine and the rest of Indochine-- it's also

useful for comparing Indochine to other French colonies.

Other sources you may consider checking are Doumer's Situation de

l'Indochine and de Galembert's Les administrations et les services

publics indochinois. De Galembert especially is great for all things

administrative, though I confess I don't remember how much he discusses

their histories. I would love to hear what you find out!

hope this helps,

Sarah Womack

From: David A Biggs <david.biggs@ucr.edu>

Date: Oct 26, 2006 11:02 AM

Subject: [Vsg] telegraphs and conquest

Thanks to everyone who responded to my email. Just today I came across a

very interesting source that I'll share for those interested:

A. Bouinais and A. Paulus. Cochinchine Contemporaine (Paris: Librairie

Algerienne et Coloniale, 1884)

A couple of notes on telegraphs in the colony: First lines were laid in

1863 by the military from Saigon to administrative posts and forts as well

as to Phnom Penh in 1864. The lines were generally of poor quality, and

transmitting 20 words in 1863 cost 5.50 fr (or 1 mexican piastre - not sure

why this is mentioned - spanish allies?). telegraph bureaus typically

operated in conjunction with post offices - there were 9 in 1863. in 1865

the price per 20 words dropped to 2 france, and by 1871 there were 19

telegraph offices and over 1000 km of lines. on Aug 1, 1871, the colony

contracted with Extension Telegraph Submarine Company to extend the firt

trans-oceanic cables to Singapore and across India to Paris. The author

notes that many Alsace-Lorraine people serving in the colony did not hear

about the loss of their home territory to the Prussians for several months,

and that development of telegraph lines to Tonkin would be essential for

aiding the military expeditions going on there since 1883. It apparently

was a force that promised to revolutionize warfare, but as of 1883 it had

not yet done so.

From: Erica Peters <e-peters-9@alumni.uchicago.edu>

Date: Oct 26, 2006 1:32 PM

Subject: [Vsg] Re: telegraphs and conquest

David, I don't know of secondary sources on this, but just wanted to make sure you knew of the archival resources on the PTT: ANSOM's Series geographique: Indochine section W on the PTT from 1886. Also see: GGI series K on PTT (1904-1938); Ressup Annam K on PTT (1894-1940)

Other tidbits:

The members of the Societe des Etudes Indochinoises were interested in the telegraph, so you could check their bulletin.

Auguste Pavie was an employee of the PTT in Cochinchina and Cambodia before leaving to explore Laos.

Annam was a late-comer apparently, but note the extension of your idea that conquest would require the telegraph: spiritual conquest as well apparently: 1903 Missions etrangeres' Etat des Missions : Cochinchine orient: Mgr Grangeon's report: "Depuis une dizaine d'annees, […], le service des postes et telegraphes fonctionne chez nous [in Annam] d'une maniere satisfaisante et facilite singulierement l'administration spirituelle."

Searching Google Books, I was charmed by this anecdote in Henry Norman's The Peoples and Politics of the Far East (1895), p 79-80:

It is a curious little colony at Cape St. James, a dozen Englishmen for the service of the English cable, three or four Frenchmen for the French cable, half-a-dozen pilots, and the few invalid Saigonnais who come to the hotel. The electricians get their supplies in a launch from Saigon every Sunday morning, and for the rest of the week their only communication with the great world is by the zig-zag line which trickles interminably out of the tiny siphon of Sir William Thompson’s recorder. And this tells them little, for even news messages come in code. The great French mail steamers pass them twice a week, and the few other steamers which ply to Saigon for rice pick up a pilot. The Company keep them well supplied with newspapers, and they have an excellent billiard table, but their life is not a happy one. On Sundays, when the fresh supplies are in, they feast. On Monday they feast again, for all meat must be cooked at once. On Tuesday, cold meat. On Wednesday, hash. On Thursday, back to tinned meats, and by Friday there is probably neither bread nor ice at the Cape. Then, too, fever makes its regular round among them. Their pale faces, scarred with prickly heat and other physcial nuisances of a damp tropical climate, are a painful reminder that our convenient telegrams, like everything else we enjoy, mean sacrifices on somebody’s part. The staff of the Eastern Company are everywhere among the most intelligent and hospitable compatriots that the British traveller in the Far East can meet, and the station at Cape St. James became like a home for me for a few days. A good deal of romance is connected with this remote pulse of the great world. [...] [O]n one occasion the night operator [was] visited by a tiger while working at his instrument.

Great topic, David!

Erica

From: Paul Sager <paul.sager@nyu.edu>

Date: Oct 27, 2006 4:46 AM

Subject: Re: [Vsg] Re: telegraphs and conquest

David,

I have a copy of a French dissertation that contains some research on telegraphy in Cochinchina:

Herve Tenoux, Des nouvelles de L'Empire: La diffusion intercoloniale d'informations, Paris - Dakar - Saigon, 1887-1954. Universite Denis Diderot - Paris 7, 1995.

Its interests are more empire-wide, however, so it doesn't concentrate on local issues. Most of the study is concerned with the wireless or radio telegraphy that came into use mainly from the 1910s to the 1930s (Saigon was first connected for two-way communication with Paris in 1924), and especially with the role of the press, using cable and radio, in the colonies. It takes West Africa and Indochina as its case studies, but discusses the later mostly for later periods, especially the 1940s and 1950s. The only map of the telegraph network it contains is for 1903 and 1930.

Its Premiere Partie is titled "La formation du reseau telegraphique intercoloniale", including the chapters "Espaces et enjeux de la telegraphie (1885-1912)," "Les debats sur l'independance des transmissions telegraphiques (1894-1903)," and "Le developpement de la radiotelegraphie (1900-1939)"

This may not be the most useful source for you, but the bibliography contains the following:

Arbaumont (d'), Jean, Historique des telegraphistes coloniaux, Paris, 1955.

Cazaux, Lucine, "Le service des Postes et Telegraphes en Cochinchine depuis 1861 a 1880," Bulletin de la societe des etudes indochinoises a Saigon, Saigon, 1926, pp. 185-207.

Clusan (Lt-Col.), "Les telegraphistes coloniaux, pionniers des telecommunications Outre-mer," Tropiques, no. 393, mars 1957, pp. 3-8.

Meyer, Jean, "Les problemes fondamentaux de l'equipement des telecommunications Outre-mer", Industrie et travaux d'outre-mer, no. 12, novembre 1954, pp. 693-699. (There are a few more like this, probably discussing 1950s issues rather than early history.)

Montoriol, E., Les systemes de telegraphie et telephone - origine, evolution, etat actuel, Paris, Librairie Bailliere, 1922.

Papuchon A., Organisation et fonctionnement du service de la telegraphie militaire, Paris, Berger-Levrault, 1899.

Pavie, Auguste, "La ligne telegraphique de Phnom Penh a Bangkok," Excursions et reconnaissances, no. 18, 1884, pp. 487-504.

Tenoux also cites a Journal Telegraphique, Vol. III, no. 1., for the information that Cochinchina had 1692 kilometers of telegraph lines in 1882 (p. 26). He cites the same Journal, Vol. XV, no. 7, for information about the rest of Indochina in the late 19th century: Northern and southern networks of Indochina were connected via a submarine cable from Cap Saint-Jacques to Thuanan (near Hue), extended to Doson (near Haiphong). The line was open to traffic Feb. 1, 1884. A Phnom Penh - Bangkok overland line opened in 1883, and three connections to southern China were established in 1891 (p. 28). The telegraph rate for the press (according to ANSOM NF 103(993) and the Annuaire de l'Indochine), was 2,80 per word in 1901 and 1,34 per word in 1913, though the currency referred to is not noted (presumably French francs) (p. 36).

He reports that the network in Cochinchine was connected to a Far East international network in 1871 (to Singapore and Hong Kong via the British "China Submarine Telegraph Company"), not the Extension Telegraph Submarine Company your source reports. This was only one year after the first trans-Mediterranean cable connected France to Algeria (pp. 35 and 41). French-ruled Cochinchina was dependent on a private British company for its transoceanic communications until the mid-1880s when security needs related to war in northern Vietnam and with China militate for an independent state-owned submarine cable. The French state hired another British company to lay the cable, the Eastern Extension Australasia and China Company (p. 57).

There is an interesting passage regarding how this last event came about:

"...au cours de l'ete 1883, le gouvernement [francais -my note] propose l'approbation d'une convention en vue l'etablissement d'une liaison directe par cable cotier entre la Chochinchine et le Tonkin. La politique de conquete necessite une liaison rapide avec les troupes engagees. Le deuxieme gouvernement de Jules Ferry qui vient d'obtenir de la Chambre un nouveau credit de 5,3 millions de francs, entend donc agir en ce sens. Des tractations sont engagees avec l'Eastern Extension Australasia and China Company."

"Le rapport de Jules Blancsube, premier elu de la Cochinchine (1881), sert de base a l'octroi des credits precedemment cites. Au cours des debats le depute s'indigne de lcette pratique qui vise a remettre entre les mains d'une compagnie britannique les liaisons interieures indochinoises (cable Cap Saint-Jacques - Haiphong reliant le Tonkin a la Cochinchine). Malgre 'les stipulations precisant que les employes de la dite compagnie doivent etre agrees par lui [le gouvernement] et d'introduire des personnels francais pour moitie' [Footnote 3: JO du 1er aout 18983, no. 2052, p. 2053.], le depute avance une contreproposition portant sur l'achat du cable par l'Etat. L'exploitation serait assuree par les P. & T. locales. La colonie consentirait, selon l'elu, a participer au paiement puisque l'exploitation en serait francaise. La facture est alors estimee a 2,5 millions de francs; les frais d'entretien et d'exploitation a 140 milliers de francs. Ares un premier agrement de l'assemblee, faisant suite aux discussions du 1er aout 1883, la proposition de loi du gouvernement est rejetee. Mais la situation tendue qui prevaut dans la peninsule remet la question a lordre du jour avant la fin de l'annee. L'evocation d'une guerre avec la Chine annoncee comme imminente lors de la campagne du Tonkin suffisent pour alerter la Chambre. Le 10 decembre, le gouvernement obtient 9 millions de francs et 6.000 hommes puis le 17, un nouveau credit de 11 millions. Lorsque le debat reprend le 18 decembre, l'heure n'est plus aux tergiversations. Le ministre de la Marine et des Colonies, reprend les arguments du gouvernement. Il rappelle que 'l'entretien d'un parail engin est tres onereuse et necessiterait l'aquisition d'un navire special...' [Footnote 4: JO du 18 decembre 1883, no. 2689, p. 2890.] et d'un savoir-faire dont l'industrie francaise ne dispose pas. Le discours ne convainc pas reellement. C'est avant tout pour parer au plus presse que les deputes agreent le projet de convention. Comme l'exprime Jules Blancsube, les circonstances imposent d'elles-memes aux deputes la decision a prendre. Faute de pouvoir disposer d'une cablier, le gouvernement s'ent remet a la compagnie du groupe Eastern. Cette derniere est payee annuellement a hauteur de 300.000 francs pour la fourniture, la pose, et l'entretien du cable." (all p. 57).

Good luck with this,

Paul

From: Dan Tsang <dtsang@lib.uci.edu>

Date: Oct 27, 2006 7:06 AM

Subject: Re: [Vsg] Re: telegraphs and conquest

This index to the online history of Cable and Wireless gives links to some

brief background and dating of the various subsidiaries, including some of

the telegraph companies mentioned in Paul Sager's detailed email below:

http://www.cwhistory.com/history/winxinx/azIndexA.html

For example, this brief entry:

http://www.cwhistory.com/history/html/EEACTelCo.html

Eastern Extension Australasia & China Telegraph Co.

IN 1873 JOHN Pender amalgamated three telegraph companies, the British

Indian Extension, The China Submarine and the British Australian, to form

the Eastern Extension Australasia and China Telegraph Company (E.E.A. &

C.). It was this company, combined with the Eastern, that formed the core

of the telegraph empire established by John Pender. The first major

project undertaken was the laying of a cable from Australia to New Zealand

in 1876. Many local cable links followed, vastly improving the telegraph

communications of the South East Asia area.

and

http://www.cwhistory.com/history/html/China.html

IN 1869, THE Cable & Wireless family of companies made its first links

with China with the formation of The China Submarine Telegraph Company by

John Pender. The company was formed to lay a 1,700 mile cable between

Singapore and Hong Kong via Shanghai.

dan

From: David A Biggs <david.biggs@ucr.edu>

Date: Oct 27, 2006 8:16 AM

Subject: Re: [Vsg] Re: telegraphs and conquest

Paul,

Thanks very much for this *very* informative response. I would think that

the later sections of Tenoux's work on radio offer a lot for further

thought on development of public sphere(s) in Indochina. I found similar

information on Saigon's international telegraph link in 1871. Sir John

Pender, founder of the British telecom company Cable & Wireless, created

the China Submarine Cable Company to link Singapore with Hong Kong with the

stop in Saigon. His companies also operated the ships that laid thousands

of miles of cable to Java, to Darwin Australia, and Japan. The colonial

government in Cochinchina covered the costs of extending their own

submarine cable about 12 naut. miles offshore from the point at Vung Tau

where it connected with the Singapore-Hong Kong line.

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