FRENCH INDO-CHINA

as its soldiers the most undesirable of its citizens and
with them the state had perforce to be content, imposing upon the
only responsibility for their good behaviour. In all such ways
the commune slipped through the imperial hands and treated with the
power as one state to another. If such a system was a salutary
upon and the autocracy of an Oriental government, there

was no redress for the masses within the commune itself. The Notables
the laws and executed them, and there was no check upon their
power. I» theory it was age and ability, but in practice solely property,
qualified them for this office, so naturally they governed in
the of their own class. These Notables, whose number varied

the importance of their commune, were subdivided into the leaders
directed general policy, and their subordinates who carried out
decisions. Their meetings, which took place in the pagoda or
house* dealt with the cult of the village genii, the settle-
of local disputes, the requisitioning of labour, the voting of the
budget, and the recruiting of soldiers. Neither the number of
nor the amounts they paid could vary because of harvest
It is an Annamite axiom that a taxpayer never dies. The
drawn up as a guarantee of property titles, as an aid to
the taxes, and as a method of permitting the sovereign to
the amount of land under cultivation in his empire.
as the young eofnmime can never break away from the mother
the central government, so the individual can never
from the hold of his family and native village. Not only
m he by the imperious ritualistic demands of the ancestral

but he is also drawn by the security which the commune off ers to
itt nourish, even the village paupers. This feeling

of to and shelter is, as a by-product, a main cause

of and lack of altruism. The state encourages

are returned to their commune after they have
m bodies are sent back there for burial

H Bxie m a more severe penalty than death.

effort to1 relncorporate the vagabond into

Ms • If disaster forced villagers to take flight the

fcsiitei'tees, sent food to the dispossessed,

tftd to A* Special kws 'were made to insure

tifte harvest season, Qianging communes was

bet ^c^o^^'owMA^^a^mteinpomriy, was treason,

fe social oblations into which

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