Phan Đình Phùng
Phan Đình Phùng 潘廷逢 | |
---|---|
Cần Vương | |
Awards | 1st place, Metropolitan imperial examinations, 1877 |
Notes | |
Imperial Censor of Emperor Tự Đức |
Phan Đình Phùng (Vietnamese:
Born into a family of
Upon Tự Đức's death, Phan almost died during a power struggle in the imperial court. The regent Tôn Thất Thuyết disregarded Tự Đức's will of succession, and three emperors were deposed and killed in just over a year. Phan protested against Thuyết's activities, was stripped of his honours and briefly jailed, before being exiled to his home province. At the time, France had just conquered Vietnam and made it a part of French Indochina. Along with Thuyết, Phan organised rebel armies as part of the Cần Vương movement, which sought to expel the French and install the boy Emperor Hàm Nghi at the head of an independent Vietnam. This campaign continued for three years until 1888, when the French captured Hàm Nghi and exiled him to French Algeria.
Phan and his military assistant
Court official
Phan was born in the village of
Phan was never known for his scholarly abilities; it was his reputation for principled integrity that led to his quick rise through the ranks under the reign of Emperor
Phan was transferred to the Huế court as a member of the censorate, a watchdog body that monitored the work of the mandarinate. He earned the ire of many of his colleagues, but the trust of the emperor, by revealing that the vast majority of the court mandarins were making a mockery of a royal edict to engage in regular rifle practice.[5] Tự Đức later dispatched Phan on an inspection trip to northern Vietnam. His report led to the ousting of many officials who were deemed corrupt or incompetent, including the viceroy of the northern region.[5] He rose to become the Imperial Censor (Sino-Vietnamese: Ngự Sử), a position which allowed him to criticise other high officials and even the emperor for misconduct.[6] Phan openly criticised Tôn Thất Thuyết, the foremost mandarin of the court, believing him to be rash and dishonest.[6] Aside from his work in rooting out corruption, Phan also compiled a historical geography of Vietnam, which was published in 1883.[7]
Despite his prominent position in the
Upon his death in 1883, the childless Tự Đức had named his nephew, Kiến Phúc, as his successor,[5] rather than Dục Đức, his most senior heir. Tự Đức had written in his will that Dục Đức was depraved and unworthy of ruling the country.[17] However, led by Thuyết, the regents enthroned Dục Đức under the pressure of the ladies of the court.[5][17] Phan protested against the violation of Tự Đức's will of succession and refused to sanction anyone other than Kiến Phúc. Lucky to escape the death penalty, Phan was stripped of his positions.[5] Later, Dục Đức was deposed and executed by Thuyết on the grounds of ignoring court etiquette, ignoring the mourning rites for Tự Đức and having affairs with the later emperor's consorts.[17] Phan again protested the regents' actions and was briefly imprisoned by Thuyết, before being exiled to his home province.[5]
Revolutionary career
Cần Vương
Phan rallied to the cause of the boy Emperor
Thuyết had already decided to place Hàm Nghi at the head of the
In any case, the Cần Vương revolt started on July 5, 1885, when Thuyết launched a surprise attack against the colonial forces after a diplomatic confrontation with the French.[23][24][25] Thuyết took Hàm Nghi northwards to the Tân Sở mountain base near the border with Laos after the attack failed. The campaign was launched when the emperor issued the Cần Vương edict that had been prepared by the regent.[22][26]
Phan initially rallied support from his native village and set up his headquarters on Mount Vũ Quang,
The strategy of attempting to pressure Phan into capitulating was a classical strategy of coercion. The French used an old friend and fellow villager to make an emotional and deeply Confucian appeal for Phan to surrender in order to save his brother, his ancestral tombs and his entire village. Phan was reported to have replied:[29]
(Original Vietnamese)[30]
Nay tôi chỉ có một ngôi mộ rất to nên giữ là nước Việt Nam.
Tôi chỉ có một ông anh rất to là mấy triệu đồng bào.
Nếu về mà sửa sang lại phần mộ tổ tiên riêng mình thì ngôi mộ cả nước ai giữ?
Về cứu sống ông anh của riêng mình thì còn bao nhiêu anh em trong nước ai cứu?
(English)[29]
From the time I joined with you in the Cần Vương movement, I determined to forget the question of family and village.
Now I have but one tomb, a very large one, that must be defended: the land of Vietnam.
I have only one brother, very important, that is in danger: more than twenty million countrymen.
If I worry about my own tombs, who will worry about defending the tombs of the rest of the country?
If I save my own brother, who will save all the other brothers of the country?
There is only one way for me to die now.
Phan was later reported to have simply retorted, "If anyone carves up my brother, remember to send me some of the soup".[29] However, he held no illusions about the prospect of successfully driving out the French, stating "It is our destiny. We accept it."[28]
This incident and Phan's response are often cited as one of the reasons why he was so admired by the populace and among future generations of Vietnamese anti-colonialists: he adhered to the highest personal standards of patriotism. He identified with a countrywide cause, far removed from the questions of family and region.[29]
Phan's men were well-trained and disciplined, and the military inspiration behind his rebellion was derived from
Nevertheless, the weaponry used by Phan's rebels was far inferior to that of their adversaries, and their inland positions were within firing range of the French Navy.[7] The Vietnamese could not rely on China to give them material support, and other European powers such as Portugal, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom were unwilling to sell them weapons for various reasons. Thus, Phan had to explore overland routes to procure weapons from Siamese sources—using seafaring transport was impossible due to the presence of the French Navy.[7] He instructed his followers to create a secret route from Hà Tĩnh through Laos into northeastern Siam; one such route from Mount Vũ Quang was believed to have been created around 1888.[31] It is unclear if Phan himself went to Thailand,[31] but a young female supporter named Cô Trâm was his designated arms buyer in Tha Uthen, which boasted a substantial expatriate Vietnamese community.[31][33] In 1890, the Siamese Army transported around 1,000 Austrian repeating-rifles from Bangkok to Luang Prabang in Laos. However, it is unclear whether the weapons found their way into Vietnamese hands or whether they were related to Cô Trâm's activities.[31]
After Cần Vương
In 1888, Hàm Nghi's
When Phan returned from the north in 1889, his first order was to track down Hàm Nghi's betrayer Ngọc.
Late in the year, the burden on Phan increased after the loss of two Cần Vương allies. In September, Tống Duy Tân—who led the royalists in Thanh Hóa—was captured and publicly executed.[28][39] Nguyễn Thiện Thuật, who had been active in the northern provinces of Hưng Yên and Hải Dương, fled to Guangxi in China. The supporters of Tân and Thuật moved south and integrated into Phan's force.[28]
In mid-1893, Cao Thắng proposed a full-scale attack on the provincial seat of
Downfall
Hoàng Cao Khải, the French-installed viceroy of Tonkin, perceived Phan's intent to a degree that his French masters did not.[40] Khải was from a scholar-gentry family from the same village as Phan.[41] He became the main backer of a determined effort to crush Phan's forces, using every means available: political, psychological and economic.[40] By late 1894, relatives and suspected sympathisers of the insurgents were intimidated and more resistance commanders had been killed. Communications were disrupted, and the rebel hideouts became increasingly insecure. In an attempt to force Phan to surrender, the French arrested his family and desecrated the tombs of his ancestors, publicly displaying the remains in Hà Tĩnh.[6][40]
Khải delivered a message to Phan via a relative. Phan sent a written reply, allowing their exchange to be studied. Khải recalled the common origins of the pair and promised Phan that he would lobby Governor-General Jean Marie Antoine de Lanessan and other French officials for an amnesty in return for Phan's surrender.[42] Khải credited Phan with righteousness, loyalty and dedication towards the monarchy.[40]
The situation has changed and even those without intelligence or education have concluded that nothing remains to be saved. How is it that you, a man of vast understanding, do not realise this?... You are determined to do whatever you deem to be righteous... All that matters indeed is giving of one's life to one's country. No one therefore can deter you from your goal.[40][43] I have always been taught that superior men should consider the care of the people as fundamental; who has ever heard of men who were loyal to their King but forgot the people's aspirations?... As of now, hundreds of families are subject to grief; how do you have the heart to fight on? I venture to predict that, should you pursue your struggle, not only will the population of our village be destroyed but our entire country will be transformed into a sea of blood and a mountain of bones.[43][44]
According to Marr, "Phan Dinh Phung's reply was a classic in savage understatement, utilizing standard formalism in the interest of propaganda, with deft denigration of his opponent".[44] Phan appealed to Vietnamese nationalist sentiment, recalling his country's stubborn resistance to Chinese aggression. He cited defensive wars against the Han, Tang, Song, Yuan and Ming dynasties, asking why a country "a thousand times more powerful" could not annex Vietnam.[45] Phan concluded that it was "because the destiny of our country has been willed by Heaven itself".[44][45]
Phan placed the responsibility for the suffering of the people at the feet of the French, who "acted like a storm".[44][46] After analysing his own actions, Phan concluded with a thinly veiled attack on Khải and his collaborators.[44][46]
If our region has suffered to such an extent, it was not only from the misfortunes of war. You must realise that wherever the French go, there flock around them groups of petty men who offer plans and tricks to gain the enemy's confidence. These persons create every kind of enmity; they incriminate innocent persons, blaming one one day, punishing another the next. They use every expedient to squeeze the people out of their possessions. That is how hundred of misdeeds, thousands of offenses have been perpetrated.[44][46]
Khải's appeal was rebutted with an appeal to history, nationalist sentiment and a demand that the blame for death and destruction lay with the colonial forces and their Vietnamese assistants. Phan raised the stakes above family and village to the entire nation and its populace.[47]
With Phan's rebuke in his hands, Khải translated both documents into French and presented them to De Lanessan, proposing that it was time for the final "destruction of this scholar gentry rebellion".
Legacy
Phan's remains were disturbed after his death.
Phan is widely regarded by Vietnamese people as a revolutionary and national hero.
Notes
- ^ Marr, pp. 61–62.
- ^ a b c d e f Marr, p. 61.
- ^ Hodgkin, p. 117.
- ^ Hodgkin, p. 116.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Marr, p. 62.
- ^ a b c d e f Karnow, p. 121.
- ^ a b c d e Goscha, p. 24.
- ^ McLeod, p. 43.
- ^ McLeod, pp. 44–45.
- ^ McLeod, p. 54.
- ^ Karnow, p. 119.
- ^ McLeod, p. 55.
- ^ Karnow, p. 90.
- ^ McLeod, pp. 51–53.
- ^ Marr, p. 55.
- ^ Karnow, p. 98.
- ^ a b c Chapuis, p. 15.
- ^ Chapuis, pp. 15–18.
- ^ Chapuis, p. 16.
- ^ a b c Chapuis, p. 17.
- ^ a b Chapuis, p. 21.
- ^ a b Chapuis, p. 20.
- ^ Marr, p. 47.
- ^ Karnow, p. 99.
- ^ Chapuis, p. 19.
- ^ Marr, p. 43.
- ^ "Vụ Quang pre-2000, Vụ-Mist, not Vũ-Rain". nhandan.vn. 22 August 2007. Retrieved 29 January 2022.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Chapuis, p. 93.
- ^ a b c d e f Marr, p. 63.
- ^ "Back to Vũ Quang, recall Sir Phan". bienphong.com.vn. 5 August 2017. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Goscha, p. 25.
- ^ a b c d e Marr, p. 64.
- ^ "The woman who was named Little Trưng by Phan Bội Châu". baonghean.vn. Nghệ An newspaper. 7 March 2019. Retrieved 28 February 2024.
- ^ Chapuis, p. 62.
- ^ Marr, p. 57.
- ^ Karnow, p. 100.
- ^ a b c Marr, p. 65.
- ^ Marr, pp. 64–65.
- ^ Marr, pp. 60–61.
- ^ a b c d e f g Marr, p. 66.
- ^ a b Hodgkin, p. 113.
- ^ Lam, p. 123.
- ^ a b Lam, pp. 122–124.
- ^ a b c d e f Marr, p. 67.
- ^ a b Lam, p. 125.
- ^ a b c Lam, pp. 126–127.
- ^ a b c d Marr, p. 68.
- S2CID 161998265.
- ^ "Historical data on Phan Đình Phùng's death". vanvn.vn. 30 August 2021. Retrieved 24 February 2022.
- ^ Marr, p. 117.
- ^ Marr, p. 85.
- ^ Duiker, p. 252.
- ^ Duiker, p. 13.
- ^ Karnow, p. 173.
- S2CID 162810338.
- ^ McLeod, p. 51.
- ^ Li, p. 13.
- ISBN 0-7946-0070-0.
References
- Chapuis, Oscar (2000). The last emperors of Vietnam: from Tu Duc to Bao Dai. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-31170-6.
- Duiker, William J. (2000). Ho Chi Minh: A Life. Crows Nest, New South Wales: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 1-86508-450-6.
- Goscha, Christopher E. (1999). Thailand and the Southeast Asian Networks of the Vietnamese Revolution, 1885–1954. Surrey: Curzon. ISBN 0-7007-0622-4.
- ISBN 0-670-84218-4.
- Li Tana (1998). Nguyen Cochinchina. Ithaca, New York: Cornell Southeast Asia Program. ISBN 0-87727-722-2.
- McLeod, Mark W. (1991). The Vietnamese response to French intervention, 1862–1874. New York: Praeger. ISBN 0-275-93562-0.
- Marr, David G. (1970). Vietnamese anticolonialism, 1885–1925. Berkeley, California: University of California. ISBN 0-520-01813-3.
- Truong Buu Lam (1967). Patterns of Vietnamese response to foreign intervention: 1858–1900. Monograph Series No. 11. New Haven, Connecticut: Southeast Asia Studies Yale University.