At the time of the insurrection, a French missionary, named Adran, resided at the court of Cochinchina, tutor to the son of the king, and from the general wreck and slaughter lie rescued the queen, and the prince, with the princess, and their infant son. Their first conceal ment was in a wood, under the branches of a royal ban yan tree ; and after the ardour of search had subsided, the fugitives proceeded to Sai-gong, where the prince was crowned as king, under the name of Caung-shung. A large army, however, sent by Yin-yac the merchant king, compelled the royal family again to flee, and they embarked on the river of Sal-gong, and landed in a small uninhabited island in the gulf of Siam. There the king was joined by about 1200 of his adherents ; but tho usur per preparing an expedition against him, Caung-shung resolved to throw himself on the protection of the king of Siam. This monarch granted an asylum to the exiled prince ; and, being at war with the Birmans, he accepted of his proffered assistance, which, by the aid of the Euro pean tactics taught to Caung-shung by Adran, was so effectual, that, in a short time, the Birmans were com pelled to sue for peace. Jealousy of his talents, however, and suspicion of ambitious views, raised in Siam a party against poor Caung-shung ; and he was obliged, at the head of his faithful followers in arms, to force his way out of the capital of Siam, to re-embark on some Siamese vessels and Malay prows seized in the harbour, and again to occupy his old island ; which, with the guns taken from the vessels, be fortified in such a manner as to be equally secure against the king of Siam and his own rebellious subjects.
While these events were passing, Adran had visited the southern provinces of Cochinchina, and finding the sentiments of the people hostile to the usurper, he resolv ed to sail for France, and to apply to its court for effec tual assistance in reinstating the king on his throne. Ile took with him from Pondicherry the son of Caung-shung, and arrived at Paris in 1787. his project was presented and adopted ; and, in the course of a few months, a treaty was signed at Versailles between Louis XVI. and the ambassador of the king of Cochinchina, a full copy of which is given by Mr Barrow. In that treaty, it is sti pulated among other things, that France shall immedi ately furnish to her' ally a fleet of 20 ships of war, with five regiments of French, and two of colonial forces, to be under the absolute command of the king of Cochin china ; and shall also immediately advance one million of dollars, half in specie, and the other in arms and am munition. In return, the king of Cochinchina ceded, in perpetuity to France, the bay and peninsula of Turon, with the adjacent islands ; stipulated to furnish 14 ships of the line, with stores and tackling ; to admit an estab lishment of officers of the marine in his dominions ; and to allow the French consuls to build any number of ves sels in his ports ; and, for that purpose, to fell any quan tity of timber in his forests. And in the event of the king of France being at war with any power in India, he ie permitted to raise and discipline in the European man ner 14,000 Cochinchinese soldiers ; and the king is to provide 60,000 more, disciplined in the manner of their country.
It is unnecessary to point out the policy of the court of France in framing that treaty, which, happily for the interests of the British East India settlements, was frus trated, partly by the influence of the mistress of Conway, the governor of Pondicherry, but principally by the event of the French revolution. Adran, created bishop by the court of France, and appointed plenipotentiary, proceed ed to Pondicherry, and although he was then crossed in his purposes by the intrigues of Madame de \gentle, as already mentioned, yet he did not desist from his grand design of reinstating Caung-shung on the throne. With
the young prince lie proceeded to the coast of Cochin china, where he learned that the king, after a miserable subsistence of two years on the island, had been induced, by the circumstance of the two usurpers contending with each other, to land in his kingdom ; that the people had risen in his support ; and that the royal party had pro ceeded to Sai-gong, the wen ks of which they had put into a good state or defence. There they were joined in 1790 by bishop Adran, and measures Were taken during that year for equipping an army and a fleet.
1791, the rebel Long-niang, alias Quang-tung, died, and Caung-shung immediately commenced his opera tions, by surprising, attacking, and destroying the fleet of Yin-yac, the merchant king; and in 1793, the southern part of the kingdom had submitted to the lawful sove reign. Yin-yac did not long survive the destruction of his fleet, for he died that same year. llis son succeeded, and was dispossessed of his capital in 1796. Against the 5!)11 of the other usurper, who kept possession of the king dom of Tung-quin, this Gustavus of Cochinchina was preparing an armament in 1800. " Although no authen tic accounts since that period have reached Britain, there is good m eason to believe, that he has rcconquercd the whole of that country." From what Caung-shung has achieved, it must be acknowledged that lie is a great and extraordinary man. By the aid of an education, which may be called Euro pean, he has risen superior to those around Win ; and his superiority does not consist merely in patience, in forti tude under suffering, or in the achievement of victory, but by civil regulations, and by the introduction of arts, he has done much to civilize his country : the industry, ingenuity, and energy of his people arc excited, and pro bably they will soon be enabled to assume a more elevat ed rank among the nations of Asia. During the short in tervals of peace which lie has been permitted to enjoy, he has laboured, by the wisest institutions, to promote the peaceful as well as the warlike arts among his sub jects. Ile has encouraged agriculture and manufactures of every denomination ; lie has established public schools in every part of his dominions ; he has caused a regular survey to be made of the whole sea-coast, and buoys and land-marks to lie erected in the dangerous places ; lie has opened mines, and erected smelting furnaces. With a view to the military improvement of his country, he employed the faithful Adran to translate into the Chinese language, a system of European tactics for the regula tion of his army ; and applied himself to the erection of a marine with such indefatigable activity, that, in 1800, he had actually a fleet of no less than 1200 vessels, seve ral of them of European construction, and the whole trained to manceuvre by signals, according to the most approved methods of modern times. lie is very desirous to have the assistance of European officers, and men of science, in the different departments of his government ; and has himself no mean knowledge of many of our use ful arts. To ship-building in particular, lie has applied himself with such persevering industry, that lie is said to have purchased a Portuguese vessel, for the express purpose of taking it in pieces, plank by plank, with his own hands, fitting in a new piece of similar form and dimensions, till the whole had been completely renovat ed. he pays a scrupulous regard to the maxims of Confucius, he openly declares his great veneration for the doctrines of Christianity, and tolerates it and all other religions.