Governance
The chief French official in charge of the French Concession was the Consul-General of France in Shanghai. While the French initially participated in the Municipal Council of the Shanghai International Settlement, in 1862 a decision was made to exit the Municipal Council in order to preserve the French Concession's independence. From then on, a day-to-day governance was carried out by the Municipal Administrative Council (conseil d’administration municipale).
Security in the Concession was maintained by the garde municipale. Just as the British employed a large number of Indian police in the International Settlement, the French deployed a large number of personnel from its nearby colony of Annam. A militia, the corps voluntaires, was first raised in the 1850s to protect the Concession during the Taiping Revolution.
Read more about this topic: Shanghai French Concession
Famous quotes containing the word governance:
“He yaf me al the bridel in myn hand,
To han the governance of hous and land,
And of his tonge and his hand also;”
—Geoffrey Chaucer (1340?–1400)