ABSTRACT
As for the Red River, the Chinese government was disposed to facilitate commerce by opening the waterway from the sea as far as Sontay, and establishing a trading station opposite that city on the northern bank. In other words, the whole of Tongking would have to be given to Chinese administration: the neutral zone would lie entirely beyond, in what was the central part of Vietnam. The exchange of messages found an echo in the Chamber of Deputies. More credits had to be voted, this time nine million francs; and there was a heated debate, during which the government, although it got its way, was denounced by its opponents —most eloquently by Clemenceau on the left—for leading the country into war with China. Chinese sources insist that in the confusion more than two hundred thousand silver dollars were left behind: the victors on the other hand, who as a rule had a keen nose for such matters.
