Jacques Stern was a wealthy French banker, politician and a member of the Stern banking family. He was Minister of Merchant Marine in 1933 and Minister of the Colonies in 1936. While in exile in the United States during World War II (1939–45) he wrote a passionate defense of France's colonial mission.

Antoine Benoît François Deloncle was a French orientalist, journalist, diplomat and politician who was Deputy for Basses-Alpes from 1889 to 1898, Deputy for Cochinchina from 1902 to 1910, and again Deputy for Basses-Alpes from 1912 to 1914. He was a member of the groupe colonial, in favour of expanding and consolidating the French colonial empire and opposed to the rival British Empire. He portrayed the British as oppressive despots compared to the civilized and tolerant French.