enthroned at age fourteen as Emperor of Vietnam in 1884. Some were worried that the Emperor had not had a traditional education in the classic style of China, but Emperor Ham Nghi proved that even as a young man he was aware of the nature of politics and national leadership.
It was not long before the Emperor realized that the people who ruled Vietnam were not the Vietnamese, but the colonial authorities. He became determined to free his people from their foreign rulers and restore Vietnam to its greatness as a free and indepndent imperial monarchy. Guns were moved into the Forbidden City and aimed at the French military headquarters. Tensions grew and the French increased the number of armed patrols while Emperor Ham Nghi spoke out with greater force on the need for true Vietnamese liberty and the removal of foreign troops in Vietnam.
Finally, on July 4, 1885 Emperor Ham Nghi, two of the Nguyen Queens and the leading officials left the Forbidden City and moved to the jungles and mountains to carry out a war of liberation against the colonial authorities. Emperor Ham Nghi issued the famous Can Vuong, or Save the King edict. Although he was not at fault, Emperor Ham Nghi took responsibility as emperor and accepted the blame for the condition of Vietnam and called on his people to rally around the Emperor and drive the foreign troops from Vietnamese soil. Large numbers of faithful and patriotic people, from farmers to scholars rushed to defend Emperor Ham Nghi and fight for the liberation of Vietnam.
Some who had first plotted with the Emperor left, but the heroic Ham Nghi continued his struggle despite being at a disadvantage against the powerful French army. His troops lacked supplies, modern weapons, ammunition and supplies of every kind, but still they fought on to achieve victory for the land and the Emperor. However, in 1888 the French bribed some local officials to betray Ham Nghi and captured him after killing his noble guard. Despite everything he had been through, the Emperor refused to betray his friends and would not cooperate with the French investigation. He knew the struggle for freedom would continue. Taken into custody by the colonial authorities, at the age of only eighteen, the brave Emperor Ham Nghi was exiled from his beloved country and forced to live in north Africa.
Without the moral leadership and unifying force of the Emperor the Can Vuong Movement eventually collapsed. However, the name and heroic legacy of the Emperor Ham Nghi would live on for many years to come. The Emperor's ideal of a free Vietnam, and his great courage toward that goal inspired all of the other great patriotic movements which followed in the years to come, all of them working together to eventually give Vietnam freedom from France in a democratic constitutional monarchy. The dream of Emperor Ham Nghi had come true. It is now up to us to restore the freedom of Vietnam, with all of its ancient traditions and ideals to fulfill the solemn duty of carrying the heroic Emperor's dream into the future. |
