The Times of Thursday publishes a remarkable account of 'the
"Empire" of Anam, the secluded Indo-Chinese country —now, perhaps, reduced to ten millions of people—of which so little is known in Europe. It is under French protection ; but the Emperor retains, at all events, the nominal govern- ment of the interior, and maintains a Court which rivals in its stately ceremonial that of Pekin. Ha, the capital, is a great fortress, two thousand yards in length on each face, surrounded by village suburbs, probably containing fifteen thousand inhabitants. Within the fortress is the palace, con- taining the Hall of Audience, a vast wooden pavilion, where all mandarins are received twice a year to prostrate them- selves before the Emperor, and the e Reception Hall, which is filled with objects of priceless value. The Emperor is absolute as a deity, but at present he is a lad of fourteen, and the Government is really conducted by a secret Council of Five, called the Komat. The French ascendency appears to be complete ; but the people, who are a branch of the Chinese variety of Mongolians, retain the dislike of Europeans and the desire for exclusiveness. The French authority has, in fact, not penetrated beyond the mandarins ; and if France were heavily defeated in Europe, we might hear of a great massacre in Anam, if not throughout French lade-China.
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