The British effort to mediate between France and China has
as yet come to nothing, and, indeed, is reported to have been broken off. Lord Granville, it is said, demanded a preliminary agree- ment between the two Powers—" the well defined conditions" at which he hinted in his speech of Monday—which it was found impossible to arrange. The demand for an indemnity has been given up, but the Chinese statesmen are well aware of M. Ferry's difficulties, and, as urinal, consider time of no importance. They are pushing on defensive preparations as if they did not expect peace ; and according to the best accounts, though not the only accounts, are pressing the French sharply in Tonquin, where General Briere de l'Isle suffers greatly from the crowded con- dition of his hospitals. The main obstacle to peace, how- ever, is still M. Ferry's Parliamentary position. He is afraid to face his electors except as a victor, after spending so much money, and cannot obtain a victory by mere nego- tiation.
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