We cannot say that colonization is a part of the French tradition. It is a process that had taken place outside of the life of the French people. The Algerian venture was on the one hand a matter of dynastic prestige; on the other, a part of Mediterranean security policy; as often happens, defense is transformed into conquest. Later, the acquisition of Tunisia and Morocco was – as one of those who played a great part in the latter remarked – largely the reflex of the peasant enlarging his patch of land. The conquest of Indochina was a reaction of revenge against the humiliation of 1870. Having been unable to resist the Germans, and taking advantage of temporary unrest, we compensated by depriving of its fatherland a people with an age-old tradition, peaceful and well organized. But Jules Ferry’s government carried out that act by an abuse of its powers and in open defiance of French public opinion; other aspects of the conquest were carried out by ambitious and amateurish officers who were disobeying the strict orders of their leaders.