Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume III.djvu/646

 640 CAMBODIA OAMBON Panomping or Namwang, a town of about 50,- 000 inhabitants, on the Cambodia river, is the seat of all the chief courts and offices of govern- ment. Decapitation for grave offences, im- prisonment and tines for lesser crimes, and confinement at hard labor for debt, are among the punishments allowed by law ; but torture is rarely employed. The revenues of the king- dom are chiefly derived from land taxes, cus- toms dues, taxes on junks and boats, and mo- nopolies in the hands of the government. Mexican piastres brought from China, Cam- bodian coins of similar size and value, masses of silver valued by weight, and small zinc coins pierced like the Chinese cash, form the cur- rency. The kingdom of Cambodia, which in- cluded until the latter part of the 17th century the region now known as Cochin China, is first mentioned in Chinese works as the country called Tchinla, which about A. D. 616 became tributary to China, and formed a dependency of Tonquin, then subject to Chinese rule. In 625, however, Tchinla regained its indepen- dence, and by 1016 it had become so powerful that in that year the emperor of China applied to its king for help against Tonquin, which had itself rebelled. Soon after this, according to the Chinese chronicler, the people began to call their country Kamphoutchi, from which name the Kambodia of the early Portuguese explorers, and the modern Cambodia, are evi- dently derived, though the native name is now Sroc Khmer (the country of the Khmer). The Siamese accounts of Cambodia's early history differ from the Chinese, and the whole subject is involved in great obscurity. Toward the end of the 17th century the country was over- run and conquered by the Anamese, and it was at this time that the emperor of Anam set apart a portion of the south of Cambodia for the settlement of the Chinese who had fled from their own homes for political reasons, and were so numerous and turbulent as to cause great anxiety to the Anamese government. Thus the country was divided into the two parts which have ever since been more or less dis- tinct that now called Cambodia, and the mod- ern Lower Cochin China. Aided by Anamese settlers, the new inhabitants maintained their position and kept the Cambodians proper in the north. In 1787 the king of Cochin China, Gya-Long, was dethroned by a revolution, and through French missionaries who were in the country, and had converted him to Christianity when very young, applied for help to the court of France. Though the French revolution prevented the execution of a treaty made at Versailles with Gya-Long's emissaries, several French officers entered his service, and with their aid he not only recovered his kingdom, but possessed himself of all Cambodia and the Anamese territory, and established the govern- ment of the whole under the name of the em- pire of Anam. He reigned with skill, and favored Christianity in his dominions, allow- ing the French missionaries many privileges. Under his successors, however, this state of affairs was changed, and persecutions and quarrels with France followed, leading to that series of events which ended in 1862 with the subjection of Cochin China by the French. (See COCHIN CHINA.) During the decade pre- ceding the French conquest, Cambodia had been several times compelled to seek help from Siam against its other neighbors; and the Siamese government had indemnified itself by taking possession of several northern provinces of the country. When, in 1860, Norodom, the rightful heir to the Cambodian throne, hud been duly crowned, but almost immediately dethroned by a party headed by his younger brother, he increased the obligation by again demanding Siamese aid in recovering his power. This help he could only obtain on such condi- tions as reduced his kingdom to a mere de- pendency of Siam ; but he accepted them, and was restored to a nominally independent throne. The uncertain position thus given to Cambodia seemed to make its possession a special object of intrigue for the English and French in the East. The king, galled by his relation to Siam, was willing to accept almost any conditions which would free him from the Siamese rule, and both the European nations showed evi- dence of wishing to take advantage of this dis- position. France obtained the opportunity through its conquest of Cochin China, and after some negotiation a French protectorate was established over Cambodia on Aug. 11, 1863. For an account of the reasons given by France for this step, see an article by one of the French diplomatists concerned, in the Sevue de deux Mondes for February, 1869, entitled Le royaume du Cambodge et I 'etablissement du protectorat Jranfdis. See "Travels in Indo-China and the Chinese Empire," from the French of Louis de Carne (London, 1872). CAMBODIA U1U.K. See MEKONG. CAJUBON, Joseph, a French revolutionist, born at Montpellier, June 17, 1754, died in Brussels, Feb. 15, 1820. He was engaged in commercial pursuits when the revolution broke out. Upon the flight of Louis XVI. in 1791, Cambon caused the republic to be proclaimed in Montpellier. In September he was sent to the legislative assembly, promoted the confiscation of the estates of the emigres in 1792, and made after Aug. ] a report in which he argued that Louis XVI., having held a secret correspondence with the enemies of France, was guilty of high treason. He presided over the last sittings of the legislative assembly, and afterward took his seat as a member of the convention, where he voted for the immediate death of Louis XVI. and against the appeal to the people. He opposed the creation of the revolutionary tribunal, and insisted upon trial by jury. At the opening of the convention he had been ap- pointed member of the committee on finances; on April 7, 1793, he entered the committee of public safety. On June 2, when the Giron- dists were threatened by the mob, he endeav-