The French have suffered a repulse in Formosa, and have
achieved a success in Tonquin. Admiral Lespes, on the 8th inst., landed 600 men to attack Tamsui; but the Chinese troops, who had been carefully concealed, attacked them gallantly, and after a severe skirmish, the French were obliged to retreat with a loss of seventy men. Admiral Courbet admits all the facts, though he understates the loss, and adds that, as the torpedoes cannot be raised, he must change his attack into a strict blockade. [The despatch from Foochow announcing a vic- tory in Tamsui is palpably an error.] Fortunately for M. Ferry, Colonel Donnier, on the 10th inst., attacked 6,000 Chinese Regulars encamped in a fortified position at Chu, on the road to Langson, and drove them out with, he says, a loss of 3,000 men. As no army ever loses men in that proportion, the victory is exaggerated ; but it appears to be true that the Chinese were defeated and fled towards Lang- son, while the French lost only 110 in killed and wounded. The victory may be set against the defeat; but both prove that the Chinese are beginning to fight, and their losses make little difference. Considerable uneasiness is felt in Paris, where it is known that the troops in Tonquin suffer dreadfully from dysen- tery, "produced by bad water," it is said, and that large reinforcementsare required both by the army and the fleet.
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