Diplomatic Career
In 1879, Pavie came to the attention of Charles Le Myre de Vilers, governor of Cochinchinan governor of Cochinchinan and closely involved with the colonial lobbyists in France. Pavie became his protegé and was entrusted to lead a five year expedition to explore the region extending from the Gulf of Siam to the great freshwater lake Tonlé Sap in Cambodia and beyond to the Mekong River. During this period he honed his skills of observation that would stand him in good stead for future missions as explorer and diplomat. These were the so-called "Missions Pavie" conducted over the 16 year period 1879-1895 during which Pavie, accompanied by his assistants, would explore the whole Indochinese Peninsula. At the end of his first mission, Pavie was put in charge of building a telegraphic line between Phnom Penh and Bangkok, a major project.
So impressed were his superiors by his skills in managing this major project, that Pavie was transferred to the diplomatic service as the first vice-consul in Luang Prabang in 1886. Pavie's appointment reflected the desire of the French to continue their colonial expansion in Indochina and their rivalry with Britain, the other main colonial power in the region. The British had already preempted French expansion into Burma with the Third Anglo-Burmese War; the new French diplomatic office in Luang Prabang was a concession by the Siamese amid continuing demands to apportion territories bordering the Mekong River. Pavie was enchanted by his new posting:
| “ | Conquered and charmed, an impression remains with me: dry fishermen's nets strung up along scaffolding; boats pulled half out of the water onto the strand; rafts crossing noisily over the Nam Khan's rapids into the Mekong; white and gold pagodas roofed with coloured varnished tiles; tall houses built in wood and huts constructed with palm leaves, their roofs covered with thin strips of bamboo; lightly dressed men and women climbing up and down the muddy and steeply rising banks between small gardens and providing an appropriate splash of colour; as a final note, and not too far distant, high mountains, dark green in colour, with tufts of cloud rising from the Nam Khan and dispersing about them. | ” |
Pavie went on to become consul in 1889 and consul general in 1891. In 1887, Luang Prabang was sacked by Chinese and T'ai bandits, hoping to liberate the brothers of their leader Đèo Văn Trị, held prisoner by the Siamese; Pavie prevented the capture of the ailing local ruler Oun Kham by ferrying him away from the burning city to safety in Bangkok, Siam, thereby winning his gratitude and building his trust in French colonial plans, which were to be one of Pavie's major preoccupations from 1888 onwards. Pavie subsequently established friendly relations with Deo Van Tri, negotiating the release of his brothers; as a result a protectorate treaty was signed with the French in 1889 making Deo Van Tri Lord of Lai Chau, the main town in the feudal Black River region of Tonkin that he controlled. Pavie referred to this kind of diplomacy as la conquête des coeurs, which became the title of his autobiography.
In 1892 he became resident minister in Bangkok, and played an important role in the gunboat diplomacy of the Franco-Siamese War in 1893, which resulted in the establishment of the French protectorate over Laos. He was the first commissioner general of the government of the newly formed republic of Laos in 1894, before becoming plenipotentiary minister. At that time, Laos became a part of French Indochina, joining Annam, Tonkin, Cochinchina (which together form modern Vietnam) and the Kingdom of Cambodia; and the Mekong, long referred to as "our river" by French politicians and colonial lobbyists, became wholly controlled by France.
All these posts allowed Pavie access to Cambodia and Laos at every possible level.
Read more about this topic: Auguste Pavie
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