M. Ferry will now, it is believed, ask a large
vote of credit. He distinctly stated in the debate that it was the intention of his Government to seize Sontay and Bacninh, the two fortresses on the Songkoi, and that if China resisted he should employ the Fleet against her. He, however, ridiculed the idea of China fighting, and it would appear certain that after the debate all Securities in Paris rose. This result, like the vote of the Deputies, is mainly due to the profound ignorance of Frenchmen about distant countries. The peasantry do not know where Tonquin is, and the Deputies cannot get rid of the notion that China is a pig- tailed Power, rather comic than formidable as an opponent. This notion was common in England forty years ago, and in France has still the mastery of many educated men. They will probably be gravely undeceived, but not quickly, as the campaign will take the form of an advance up the Songkoi, resisted by European Generals in command of mixed Chinese and Tonquinese forces. The consumption of troops will, therefore, be slow ; and the Government, which already reiterates in every telegram that the " health of the troops is excellent," will be able for some time to conceal the extent of the effort to be made. It must, however, come out at last ; and then, we venture to predict, operations will slacken, until at last France has practically retired. She has never persevered in a scheme of Asiatic conquest.
