The Franco-Siamese difficulty increases in seriousness. The French Government declare
that a Siamese officer on the Mekong treacherously murdered a party of Frenchmen to whom he had apparently surrendered ; and the French squadron in Asia is concentrating off the Menam with a view to threaten Bangkok. The Siamese Court has blockaded the Mens.m by sinking three vessels in the channel, the protecting fortresses have been repaired, and a strenuous resistance appears to have been resolved on. The door of con- ciliation has not, however, been closed, as the French Admiral intends to visit Bangkok to request reparation for the massacre, and the Siamese express their profound regret for an incident which, if it occurred, they did not authorise and will not defend. The worst signs are that the French in Siam and Tonquin are wildly excited by the hope of war, and that there is a native party in the Siamese capital which does not understand the ridiculous disparity between the strength of their country and that of France. The Siamese have only two war-vessels of any use, and thirty thousand men, of whom perhaps a third are well disciplined and armed.
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