The French are evidently about to take strong action in
Tonqnin. On Tuesday, M. de St. Valuer argued in the Senate that the possession of Cochin China ought to be made "more fruitful," by the seizure of territory in Tonquin, "in which a French colony might be planted ;" and the Foreign Minister, M. Challemel-Lacour, said he agreed with him. France must make her influence felt among distant populations, who had misread the events of 1870. The Sovereign of Anam had violated the Treaty of 1874, and recognised the suzerainty of China, and the Government was therefore resolved to pursue an energetic policy, to show that French occupation was not temporary. The Ministry would, therefore, after Easter, demand a credit for an expedition which would permanently occupy certain points of Tonqnin, the division of Anam nearest to China. M. Challemel-Lacour, it is clear, does not understand China. If he really uttered the absurdly incautious words we have italicised, and is prepared to make the Chinese suzerainty over .Anam a ground of war, he will be compelled to dictate terms of peace at the gates of Pekin. The Chinese will pour an army into Anam, and will defend the Sovereign to the last, wearing out the French soldiery by their numbers. What can have induced M. Challemel-Laconr voluntarily to place the quarrel upon a ground so offensive to Chinese pride, it is difficult to imagine. It was only necessary to say, as he did say, that the Sovereign of Anam encouraged brigandage in French Cochin-China, to localise the war. Now, the Chinese Empress will eonsirder it war against herself.
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