ABSTRACT
Later, proponents of an active French policy in Southeast Asia and China would deplore the fact that after establishing a protectorate over Tonkin France had lost interest in colonial expansion. Étienne (1897: 20) wrote about France having become ‘indifferent if not hostile for such a long time’ towards colonial adventures. Ferry (1890: 5), in his effort to defend his past policy, detected an ‘anticolonial monomania’ in France, while a Lyon trade mission to the south of China would deplore the almost complete lack of interest in and enthusiasm for French endeavours abroad (Chambre 1898a: 443).
