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Nguyen Truong To: A Catholic Reformer at Emperor Tu-duc's Court
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 April 2011
Abstract
This paper analyses the thought of Vietnamese reformer Nguyen Truong To as he formulated his unique response to the nineteenth-century French aggressions against Vietnam. It intends to show that he was a sincere and patriotic reformer whose reform proposals presented a greater challenge to the Confucian monarchical system than is generally recognized.
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- Copyright © The National University of Singapore 1994
References
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11 Tran Van Giau, Su phat trien 1: 383. Indeed, France seized three additional southern provinces in 1867, forcing Vietnam to acknowledge French sovereignty over them by treaty in 1874 (Treaty of Ha-noi).
12 Nguyen Truong To, Thien ha dai the luan, in Truong Ba Can, Nguyen Truong To, p. 111.
13 For convenient lists of Nguyen Truong To's proposals, see Duong Quang Ham, Viet Nam van hoc su yeu, pp. 331–35; Truong Ba Can, Nguyen Truong To, pp. 497–99.
14 Pham Van Son, Viet su tan bien 5: 265.
15 Truong Ba Can, Nguyen Truong To, pp. 44–47, 99–100.
16 Ibid., pp. 54–63.
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37 Ibid.
38 Ibid.
39 Ibid., p. 175. It is doubtful that Nguyen Truong To really believed that Westerners were so forgiving of their rulers' foibles. He was probably taking liberties with historical reality in order to reassure the Tu-duc Emperor that adoption of European political theories would increase the security of the throne rather than jeopardize it, as was generally believed by the Vietnamese elite.
40 Ibid.
41 Ibid., p. 174.
42 Ibid., p. 175.
43 Cao Huy Thuan has exposed the missionaries' campaign, led by Fathers Huc, Pellerin, and Legrand, to convince French Emperor Napoleon III of the necessity, relative ease, and ultimate profitability of French military action against the Nguyen dynasty. The missionaries did not hesitate to advocate the overthrow of the Tu-duc Emperor and his replacement by a Catholic Vietnamese pretender claiming descent from the defunct Le dynasty. Cao Huy Thuan, Les Missionnaires et la politique coloniale française au Vietnam (1857–1914) (New Haven, Connecticut: Center on Southeast Asia Studies, Yale Center for International and Area Studies, 1990), pp. 20–27. And Vo Duc Hanh has shown that Father Puginier persuaded one of the Le pretenders, Pierre Le Duy Phung, to organize an anti-Nguyen rebellion to coincide with the Franco-Spanish invasion of 1858–62, creating a two-front conflict that prevented the Tu-duc Emperor from concentrating his forces against the European invaders and contributed to the Hue court's capitulation and the signing of the Treaty of Sai-gon. Vo Duc Hanh, La Place du catholicisme dans le relations entre la France et le Viet-nam, 1851–1870, 1: 192, 226–39.
44 Rhodes, Alexandre de, Cathechismus/Phep giang tam ngay (Sai-gon: Group Litteraire Tinh Viet, 1961), pp. 206–207. The Cathechismus was originally published in Rome in 1651.Google Scholar
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48 Ibid.
49 Ibid., p. 176.
50 Nguyen Thruong To, Ke hoach gay nen nhan tai, in Vo Duc Hanh, La Place du Catholicisme dans les relations entre la France et le Viet-Nam, 1851–1870, 2: 256.
51 Ibid., p. 257.
52 Nguyen Truong To, Te cap bat dieu, in Dang Huy Van and Chuong Thau, Nhung de nghi, p. 179.
53 Ibid., p. 101.
54 Ibid., p. 179.
55 Ibid., pp. 200–206.
56 Ibid.
57 Ibid.
58 Nguyen Truong To, Te cap bat dieu, in Tu-Ngoc Nguyen-Lan, Nguyen Truong To, p. 33. The tu-tai (“flowering talent”) and cu-nhan (“selected man”) were lower-level academic degrees awarded by competitive examination in the civil-service examination system.
59 Ibid., pp. 33–34.
60 Nguyen Truong To, Te cap bat dieu, in Dang Huy Van and Chuong Thau, Nhung de nghi, p. 206. Imperial Vietnam, of course, already had a Ministry of Justice known as the Hinh Bo (literally, the “Ministry of Punishment”); but the Ministry of Laws proposed by Nguyen Truong To was to have a much wider scope and, significantly, was to be independent from monarchical authority, which was not the case in the existing structure. Vietnam's Six Ministries (Luc Bo) included the Lai Bo, Ministry of Public Office; Ho Bo, Ministry of Finance; Le Bo, Ministry of Rites; Binh Bo, Ministry of War; Hinh Bo, Ministry of Justice; Cong Bo, Ministry of Public Works. See Philippe Langlet, “Essai sur les institutions du pouvoir central au Viet Nam au milieu du XIXè siècle”, Cahiers d'études vietnamiennes, no. 6 (1963/64): 18–19.
61 Tu-Ngoc Nguyen-Lan, Nguyen Truong To, p. 117.
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