The Viện cơ mật or "Secret Institute" (

chữ Nôm Chữ Nôm (, ) is a logographic writing system formerly used to write the Vietnamese language. It uses Chinese characters to represent Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary and some native Vietnamese words, with other words represented by new characters ...

: 院機密;

chữ Hán ( , ) are the Chinese characters that were used to write Literary Chinese in Vietnam, Literary Chinese (; ) and Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary in Vietnamese language, Vietnamese. They were officially used in Vietnam after the Red River Delta region ...

: 機密院; French: ''Conseil privé'', ''Conseil d’État'', ''Chambre haute''), established in 1834, was the Privy Council and key mandarin agency of the imperial court of Vietnam's final

Nguyễn dynasty The Nguyễn dynasty (, chữ Nôm: 茹阮, chữ Hán: 朝阮) was the last List of Vietnamese dynasties, Vietnamese dynasty, preceded by the Nguyễn lords and ruling unified Vietnam independently from 1802 until French protectorate in 1883 ...

Huế Huế (formerly Thừa Thiên Huế province) is the southernmost coastal Municipalities of Vietnam, city in the North Central Coast region, the Central Vietnam, Central of Vietnam, approximately in the center of the country. It borders Quảng ...

, until the end of the dynasty in 1945.

History

The

Minh Mạng Minh Mạng (), also known as Minh Mệnh (, vi-hantu, 明命, lit. "the bright favour of Heaven"; 25 May 1791 – 20 January 1841; born Nguyễn Phúc Đảm, also known as Nguyễn Phúc Kiểu), was the second emperor of the Nguyễ ...

Emperor established the Viện cơ mật (Privy Council) along with the '' Nội các Viên'' (Cabinet, Grand Secretariat) as the main agencies of the court's administration. The Privy Council, or Secret Institute, comprised four of the most senior mandarins.The Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War: A Political, Social, and ... - Page 757 Spencer C. Tucker - 2011 "At the capital of Hue, Minh Mang established the Noi Cac Vien (Grand Secretariat) and the Co Mat Vien (Privy Council). The rest of the bureaucracy was also re- organized with the creation of a nine-rank mandarin corps. It was also under Minh Minh Mạng based the relationship of the ''Nội các'' and the ''Cơ mật viện'' on the relationship of the ''Nội các'' and the '' Quân cơ xứ'' (軍機處) within the bureaucratic framework of the

Manchu The Manchus (; ) are a Tungusic peoples, Tungusic East Asian people, East Asian ethnic group native to Manchuria in Northeast Asia. They are an officially recognized Ethnic minorities in China, ethnic minority in China and the people from wh ...

-led

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

in China. In the year 1834, Minh Mạng's political project (''dự án chính trị'') was expanded to

Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...

, the Siamese army attacked from the Vietnam-Laos border down to Hà Tiên province. At the same time there were widespread rebellions from

Cao Bằng province Cao Bằng is a province of the Northeast region of Vietnam. The province has borders with Hà Giang, Tuyên Quang, Bắc Kạn, and Lạng Sơn provinces within Vietnam. It also has a common international border with Guangxi province in Chi ...

to Gia Định province. These situations forced the Minh Mạng Emperor to work with a smaller and more flexible close-knit group as he needed to discuss classified communications, military emergencies, and rapid response to the war situation. This was the reason why the ''Cơ mật viện'' was established. In 1897 the Resident-Superior of Annam was granted the power to appoint the Nguyễn dynasty Emperors and presided over the meetings of the Viện cơ mật.Trần Gia Phụng. ''Trung Kỳ Dân biến 1908''.

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, Canada, 2008. Pages: 35-40. These moves incorporated French officials directly into the administrative structure of the Imperial Huế Court and further legitimised French rule in the legislative branch of the Nguyễn government.

Bắc ty and Nam ty

The Cơ mật Viện was divided into two offices, the ''Bắc ty'' (北司, "Northern office") and the ''Nam ty'' (南司, "Southern office").''Từ điển chức quan Việt Nam'', Đỗ Văn Ninh, 2002, trang 158 mục 205. Cơ mật viện. (in

Vietnamese Vietnamese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia * Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam ** Overseas Vietnamese, Vietnamese people living outside Vietna ...

). The ''Bắc ty'' was in charge of affairs relating to the area ranging from everything north of the southern border of the

Hà Tĩnh province Hà is a Vietnamese given name, male or female, meaning "river". Hà is a Vietnamese 'surname' (during French colonialism). The name is transliterated as He in Chinese and Ha in Korean. Ha is the anglicized variation of the surname Hà. It is ...

and the ''Nam ty'' was in charge on everything south of the northern border of the

Quảng Bình province Quảng Bình was formerly a southern coastal Provinces of Vietnam, province in the North Central Coast region, the Central Vietnam, Central of Việt Nam, Vietnam. It borders Hà Tĩnh province, Hà Tĩnh to the north, Quảng Trị province, ...

. Each ''Ty'' had 1 Deputy Director of the Bureau (員外郎, ''Viên Ngoại lang''), trật Chánh ngũ phẩm, 1 Chủ sự trật Chánh lục phẩm, 2 Tư vụ hoặc Biên tu, trật Chánh thất phẩm, and an inspector (Kiểm thảo), trật Tòng thất phẩm.

Seals

Immediate after the Cơ mật Viện was established during the reign of the Minh Mạng Emperor a

seal Seal may refer to any of the following: Common uses * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, also called "true seal" ** Fur seal ** Eared seal * Seal ( ...

was issued for the institution, this seal bore the

seal script Seal script or sigillary script () is a Chinese script styles, style of writing Chinese characters that was common throughout the latter half of the 1st millennium BC. It evolved organically out of bronze script during the Zhou dynasty (1 ...

inscription ''Cơ mật viện ấn'' (機密院印), was made from

silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

, and had a seal knob shaped like a

camel A camel (from and () from Ancient Semitic: ''gāmāl'') is an even-toed ungulate in the genus ''Camelus'' that bears distinctive fatty deposits known as "humps" on its back. Camels have long been domesticated and, as livestock, they provid ...

. The great seal of the Cơ mật Viện during the reign of the Minh Mạng Emperor was 7 cm by 7 cm in size, while the ''Cơ mật viện ấn'' seal seen during the reign of the

Đồng Khánh Đồng Khánh (, vi-hantu, 同慶, lit. "collective celebration"; 19 February 1864 – 28 January 1889), born Nguyễn Phúc Ưng Kỷ (阮福膺祺) or Nguyễn Phúc Ưng Đường (阮福膺禟), also known as Chánh Mông (正蒙), was the ...

Emperor was only 5 cm x 5 cm. During the reign of the Đồng Khánh Emperor a new great seal was made with the inscription ''Cơ mật chi ấn'' (機密之印) and a ''kiềm ấn'' (small seal) with the inscription ''Cơ mật'' (機密) that was 3 cm x 3 cm. During the reign of the

Bảo Đại Bảo Đại (, vi-hantu, , , 22 October 191331 July 1997), born Nguyễn Phúc (Phước) Vĩnh Thụy (), was the 13th and final emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty, the last ruling dynasty of Vietnam. From 1926 to 1945, he was ''de jure'' em ...

Emperor the great seal had an inscription that read ''Cơ mật viện ấn'' (機密院印) and was 6,7 cm x 6,7 cm and the ''kiềm ấn'' was 2,8 cm x 2,8 cm.

Gallery

File:Annam - Hué - Ecran devant le Palais du Comat.jpg, Bình phong wall (屏風) of privy council. File:Viencomat.jpg, Privy council of the Nguyen dynasty (Cơ Mật Viện: 機密院). File: Viện cơ mật- Tam Toà Huế.JPG, The entrance of the privy council. File:AP0653-Sogny-Marien Hué, 1936 – Voeux des Ministres au Résident Supérieur.jpg, Maurice Fernand Graffeuil, governor of Annam visited privy council in 1936. File:Un grand mandarin en costume de cour (Ông Hồ Đắc Trung quan đại thần Cơ Mật Viện).jpg, Hồ Đắc Trung, member of Nội các council that governed the privy council.

References

Sources

* ThS. Hà Văn Huề, ThS. Nguyễn Thị Thu Hường, ThS. Đoàn Thị Thu Thuỷ, PGS.TS Nguyễn Công Việt - ''Ấn chương trên Châu bản triều Nguyễn''. - Năm xuất bản : 2013 Nhà xuất bản : (NXB Hà Nội Cuốn sách). (in

). {{DEFAULTSORT:Vien co mat Government of the Nguyễn dynasty 1834 establishments in Vietnam Privy councils