Gulf of Tonkin
Subsequently, he left Dakota Territory and returned to France. He was commissioned by the French army to build a proposed railroad in Vietnam, from the Chinese frontier to the Gulf of Tonkin, and arrived in Asia to lead railroad construction in the fall of 1888. He observed the Vietnamese people, and cautioned the French to be kind to them. He wrote, "The colonization of Tonkin will not be accomplished with rifles, but with public works."
He believed a railroad was needed there, and hoped to have one extending all the way to Yunnan Province in China. This was partly a reaction to a British railroad being built from Burma to China.
Political intrigue, being notorious in France in that day, impeded construction of the railroad. A prime minister was deposed, which led to a new undersecretary of the navy, Jean Constans, who opposed de Morès' plan from the start. The Marquis was recalled to France in 1889, and the railroad project was ruined.
Read more about this topic: Marquis De Mores
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