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During early May 1845, the frigate Constitution, under the command of Captain John Percival, left Borneo and sailed for Cochin China. The frigate was on a world cruise which began a full year earlier and lasted until July 1846. On 10 May the ship anchored in Touron Bay to take on water and victuals, and to “observe the commerce and wants” of the peoples of the region. The next morning a six-gun salute was exchanged with the local fort and preparations made for water-
148 U. S. Naval Institute Proceedings, February 1969
ing the ship. The first four days of the ship’s visit passed normally enough; food and water were taken aboard, and a landsman, one William Cook, who died at 3 p.m. on the 11th, was interred ashore on the 12th at 1 p.m.
Shipboard routine changed abruptly on 14 May when a delegation of officials from Tou- ron visited the ship “with some little pomp usually affected by these people on such occasions and were received with courtesy, and treated with kindness and attention. . . . After remaining some time in the Cabin they expressed a desire to examine the managements, etc. of the Ship and an officer was directed to attend them.” After a few moments, one of the visitors nervously sought out Captain Percival and handed that astonished officer a letter, and at the same time cautioned that discovery would cost the messenger his head.
After the party left the ship, Captain Percival had the letter translated from the French in which it was written. The missive was addressed to the French admiral commanding his nation’s forces in the China Sea, and was a plea for succor from a French Catholic missionary, Dominique Lefevre, Titular Bishop of Isauropolis. In spite of local laws forbidding missionaries to enter the country and preach Christianity, a restriction Lefevre failed to mention, he had indeed done so and, subsequently had been arrested and condemned to death by Thieu Tri, the Emperor of Cochin China.
Thus, on the afternoon of 15 May, Captain Percival landed in Touron with a force of 80 sailors and Marines. After giving the local mandarins a letter to King Thieu Tri, which demanded the instant release of Monsignor Lefevre, Percival arrested three of the city’s officials and took them aboard the Constitution as hostages for the Bishop. The following day, since no reply had been received concerning the release of Lefevre, Percival seized three junks in the harbor which he believed were the property of the Cochin Chinese ruler. Still no communication came from Thieu Tri, so several additional vessels were taken and added to the hostages. At last, on 19 May, a message from shore was received on board, which indicated that a Court official had arrived in Touron to settle the issue on the following day. However, a visit to the city by the
Captain disclosed no mandarin nor anyone else who could provide satisfactory information as to the condemned missionary.
By this time, Percival was beginning to suspect that his letters had not been forwarded to the court at Hue, so he released his three prisoners on the basis of their promise to take another message to the King. Eight days later, with no word from Hue and reluctant to initiate actual hostilities in the interest of a foreign national, though certain of his ability to carry out rescue operations should it become necessary, Percival released the captive vessels and left Touron hopeful that his actions had restrained Thieu Tri from executing Bishop Lefevre. i
Captain Percival served in an age when naval commanders, lacking instantaneous communications with higher authority, frequently were required to exercise broad powers in areas now reserved for diplomats. In his report to the Secretary of the Navy, he explained his actions.
I was convinced that if aught could be done to prevent the catastrophe awaiting the Bishop, it should be done promptly. Great excitement prevailed through the ship, created by the . . . letter. What caused me the greatest anxiety was to decide how far I might proceed, and not overstep the limits of obligation in the cause of suffering humanity, towards a subject of a National united to us by the bonds of treaty stipulations, and bygone though not forgotten acts of kindness in the days of our national infancy. This was a case to which I knew no parallel, but believing that a generous sympathy was a prominent characteristic of our Government, and that exerting its influence through its agents in the cause of humanity was typographical [«£■] of its normal energies and usages since the adoption of the Federal Constitution, I proceeded to use my endeavors to effect the release of Bishop Dominique Lefevre, a distinguished subject of France.
My impression is that every Nation has the right to regulate its own intercourse with others, not denying to each just and proper privileges, in such a manner as would be most conducive to its own interest and prosperity.
In respect however to foreigners, particularly those who have been invited to reside within its domains, and instruct its people in the arts, sciences and religion, every nation it
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seems to me is under a moral obligation to treat them with respect, kindness and humanity during their sojourn: any interference with the ordinary pursuits of the persons thus invited, on the part of the Nation, appears to me a harsh exercise of power, and to condemn them to death unheeded and undefended, by an arbitrary tribunal, is inconsistent with the moral law, by which every Nation should be governed.
If a Nation invites and allows for foreigners to enter into its territories, it is bound to respect the rights of such, so long as they conduct peaceably; if in breach of good faith it proceeds to punish them vindictively, when no offense has been committed, such a Nation is justly responsible for its conduct, more particularly if it is one semi-barbarous, and that refuses to have treaties or social intercourse with the other Nations of the earth.
No doubt could have arisen in my mind how far to have proceeded, had the Reverent Bishop been an American citizen, for the cry of an American held in Bondage, groaning under the oppression of his chains, points to but one course, (in my mind) for an American officer to pursue, and that is to free him at all hazards. I looked to my instructions to bear me out: how far the Department may coincide in the view I have taken of the extract below, is a matter of much anxiety.
“Every incouragement and assistance in your power will be afforded to American Commerce and American citizens and to those of friendly nations you meet during your cruise.”
The motives which influenced me were humane; exerted in the cause of suffering humanity, to aid a subject of a Nation long in amity with the United States. If I have erred, it is an error of the head and not the heart, which at all times is devoted with its best blood to my country’s honor and prosperity.
Nine days later, the Constitution arrived at Atacao where the French China Sea naval force was based. Percival immediately notified Admiral Cecille, the French commander, of lhe missionary’s plight. At the same time, he outlined the activities of the Constitution and
The Old Navy 149
indicated that a force of similar strength should have no difficulty in seizing Touron and rescuing Lefevre.
A French warship, the Alcmene, commanded by Captain Fornier-Duplan, soon was dispatched to Touron to rescue Bishop Lefevre, who was thereupon released with the admonition, “The Emperor considers that you, a foreigner, had not full knowledge of the laws prohibiting the Christian religion. Therefore, the Emperor pardons you and sends you back to your king.”
A year later, J. Balestier, the U. S. Consul at Singapore, the American diplomat nearest Cochin China, reported that a delegation of mandarins had demanded reparations for the 17 men, women, and children allegedly killed during the destruction of numerous ships and the assault on Touron by the forces from the Constitution. Consul Balestier apparently felt some doubt as to the validity of the allegation, for he asked the mandarins to obtain a written claim from their King addressed to the President of the United States. No letter was forthcoming and Balestier’s official report of the incident eventually was appended to a request for the award of gifts and recognition to the ruler of a small Indonesian island for his assistance in rescuing the crew of a wrecked American merchant vessel. The Consul used the Touron incident to point out the “bad press” which can result from the most obscure event and to emphasize the importance of his request on behalf of the Indonesian ruler as a means of combatting the “unfavorable impressions” created by the Constitution's visit to Cochin China.
More than a century later, the “unfavorable impressions” apparently overcome, Americans returned to Cochin China, now called Vietnam, at the request of the local government and, on 8 May 1965, Marines of the 9th Marine Expeditionary Brigade landed across the same beaches, now known as Da Nang, that Captain Percival had vainly watched for some sign of Lefevre’s release.
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