The son and heir of Emperor Minh Mang, Thieu Tri became the Vietnamese Son of Heaven in 1841. Much of his early reign was peaceful and rather uneventful. Emperor Thieu Tri was known as a thoughtful and artistic monarch who was very dedicated to the principles of Confucius as his father was and his father before him. However, Thieu Tri had to deal with problems that those before him had not. France was becoming more and more agressive towards the Vietnamese Empire and the Annamite court. While King Louis Phillipe had no grand imperialist designs and was unwilling to lead France into every squabble that trespassing priests got themselves into, the French navy wanted an empire to match Great Britain's and with poor communications in those days, operated largely on their own authority.
Emperor Thieu Tri was though, despite was His Majesty's detractors may say, a very open-minded and peace-loving man. He certainly had no desire to provoke a great power, especially with evidence of the consequences in China and to a lesser degree Japan. However, the constant involvement of French missionaries in palace intrigues was a major problem and one that no government would tolerate. Still, he was not a harsh or cruel emperor as can be easily seen. His intellectual curiosity made him wish to learn from the west and though he did not want anyone ruling his country, he certainly did not want to make enemies. In 1840 a French naval captain demanded the release of five missionaries in Danang. Emperor Thieu Tri ordered them to be released and tried to be friendly with the French. The emperor was wise enough to know that an all-out war would be disasterous while still trying to keep the French at a distance. He hoped good intentions would be shared and did not order missionaries to be deported or imprisoned. However, certain crimes against the nation still demanded the death penalty. In 1845 the French Bishop Lefabvre was sentanced to death but released at the request of a French admiral with the Emperor's permission. Unfortunately, his meddling did not cease and in 1847 he was captured again.
Emperor Thieu Tri was begining to run out of patience with the foreigners and in March of 1847 two French ships under Captains Lapierre and Rigault de Genouilly entered Vietnamese waters. They demanded that Thieu Tri anounce in public religious freedom for Christians. This was the final straw; a foreign power with warships telling the Son of Heaven what he had to do in his country. Thieu Tri responded by reinforcing his garrisons on the coast and sailing eight junks into the harbor to face the French warships. It was hoped that the French could be drawn from their ships and defeated but, despite a heavy fire from the junks and fortresses the French set about methodically bombarding the coastline and in a few hours had destroyed the Vietnamese defenses.
The outraged Emperor Thieu Tri was untroubled by the defeat, he was not cowed but angry. He fired back with an Imperial Decree that all Europeans in Vietnam were to be put to death. However, the officials were so demoralized by their defeat they saw little point in this backlash and the order was never carried out. France was unprepared to occupy Vietnam and eventually left anyway. Only a few months after the battle Emperor Thieu Tri died, leaving the throne to his son Emperor Tu Duc. |
