The French Chamber, on Wednesday, granted the Govern- ment a
credit of £1,250,000 for the occupation of Tunis, and the establishment of French tribunals, The motion was re- sisted by the Ultras, who demanded an immediate evacuation, which, they said, would cost only £160,000; but after a speech by the Premier, in which he pledged himself to reduce the army of occupation from 33,000 to 25,000 men, the vote was carried, by 424 to 52. It is doubtful if the occupation is liked by the people, the popular journals opposing it as a job ; and all other occupations seem to have been given up.. The expedition against Madagascar is to be limited to a despatch of 1,200 men and two ships from Reunion ; and only 750 men are to be sent to Tonquin, to enable the French commandant in Hanoi to defend himself, The Govern- ment promise in their papers to send an expedition by-and-by ; but as they admit a disinclination to ask the Chamber for a vote, and as M. Grevy is heartily opposed to all colonial pro- jects, which he thinks absurd while the population does not increase, the promises are not worth much. If it be true, as seems probable, that M. G-ambetta is ill of a dangerous intestinal disorder, they are worth nothing at all, for Colonial expansion is his idea. The French have never cared for it, and in the last 200 years have forgotten more territories across sea than they possess now. They had Canada once, and Louisiana, and Haiti, and a dominant position in Southern India.
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