After the tragic events of 1870-71, the Third Republic resumed the work of expansion, thus proving that France possessed remarkable vi tality. Protectorate of Tunisia, progressive occupation of Senegal, of the Soudan, of the Niger and of the Guinea coast, of Kongo and Tchad, such were the new possessions to be added to France. The Somali coast became French at the very time when the Italian cam paign failed at Adua. Madagascar was occu pied in 1895. Indo-China was conquered from Chantaboun to Hainan. The appalling conflict of 1914 breaks out, The French Colonial troops occupy the greater part of the Came roons and the half of Togoland in co-opera tion with their British allies.
This brief historical sketch shows the im portance of the colonization work carried out by France since the 16th century. Comment is almost superfluous. It would, however, be in exact and imprudent to consider the successive conquests of France as a natural evolution of its expansion or as having been accomplished without trouble and difficulty. A famous French economist, Christian Schefer, in his re markable work France moderne et le prob Rme colonial' endeavors to show, and not with out success, "how the recent ardour for distant campaigns was not the result of a mere whim nor merely .of circumstances; to show, in fact, how the enterprises successfully carried out in the Second Empire and Third Republic were in many cases only the realization of long and carefully studied schemes, how, in a word, de spite the revolutions which break up our his tory, racial traditions have been maintained, and it is owing to such traditions that opposing governments have collaborated in a fraternal spirit in a common task." In this conception there is an optimism which undoubtedly will tend to assure the main lines of a very remarkable doctrine, but an examination of the historical facts render some modifications necessary. The truth is that in France, the colonial effort has from all time encountered a few zealous disciples, but often too stubborn opponents. At the very time when a Henri IV, or a Richelieu, foresaw that the future of the country depended on the exploita tion of distant possessions of countless wealth, at the moment when pioneers dreamed of a mythical and fabulous Eldorado—a false con ception perhaps but an excellent incentive to activity nevertheless — Colbert elaborates a Colonial Pact and draws a conception of the economical relations of the colonies and the motherland which still greatly hinders the de velopment of the French possessions. This
conception was too narrow and lost sight of the great evolutions to be realized in the cen turies to come. Following this we have the deplorable events of Louis XVth's reign re sulting in the great work accomplished by Martin and Dupleix being thwarted and re duced to nothing by a spiritual and sceptical king, by incompetent officials and all kinds of underhand intrigues and dishonest -practices which brought about the ruin of the India Com pany at the very time when Montcalm, inad quately protected against the prevaricator Bigot, and left to his fate in Canada, appeals vainly for support from his king and country. After the Seven Years' War we lost North America and Hindustan. We still possessed Louisiana but Napoleon I was shortly to sell it. After Voltaire's vaunting in his letter to Chardon re garding the cession of Canada's "acres of snow," Bernardin of Saint Pierre declared, "I shall be convinced that I have rendered service to my country if I prevent a single man from leaving the country and if I can persuade him to cultivate an acre of neglected land at home." On 13 May 1791, Robespierre, finely emulating Rousseau, said "Let the Colo nies perish, if they mean the loss of your wel fare, your glory, your liberty! Perish the Colonies, if colonists are to make us, by threats, decree laws for their own especial benefit !" On the other hand, Barrere, on 21 Sept. 1793, did not hesitate to write that "without a fleet you can possess no colonies, and without colonies there can be no commercial pros perity.° The Convention period, as regards colonial regime, made a highly important reso lution by decreeing the complete assimilation of the colonies and the mother country. Article 6 of chapter I of the Decree of Year III states : "The Colonies form an integral part of the Republic and are subject to the same constitutional laws. They are divided into Departments.° The Directoire government was hostile to over-sea expansion. Delacroix, Minister of Foreign Affairs, clearly stated: "I would much prefer that France • possessed four more villages on the frontiers of the Re public than the richest of the Antille Islands and I should even be sorry to see Pondicherry or Chandernagor again belong to France." However, it should be borne in mind that about the same time, Talleyrand read to the Institute on the 25th Messidor, Year V, his paper concerning the advantages to be gained by the possession of new colonies in the pres ent circumstances.