French parliamentarians ignored colonial-mandate abuses once military need for African soldiers grew

Evidence

Carpot’s final remark brilliantly pinpointed a central ambiguity about the Third Republic’s particular approach to colonizing. It was, however, a truth to which few cared to listen. Most members of Parliament, along with the colonial minister himself, did not share either Veillat’s interest in or Carpot’s firsthand knowledge of conditions in the West African colonies. In response to Veillat’s concerns about potential abuses, the minister assured the Assembly that Panty had been warned to supervise the chiefs involved in the mobilization effort. In the ensuing years, as the demand for military manpower mushroomed because of enormous casualties and the war’s duration, the tirailleurs’ popularity with the public grew stronger. The only remaining voice of dissent came from within West Africa, where a reduced administrative staff watched with alarm the excesses, wide-scale flights, and simmering discontent that the repeated demands for African soldiers were generating. — Alice L. Conklin, A Mission to Civilize_ The Republican…, 503

Categorization

• XREF: The ‘civilizing mission’ rhetoric vs. wartime manpower exploitation echoes the book’s core theme of republicanism imposed on West Africa while its ideals were betrayed in recruitment.