The morning call., 1893-06-30
THE FRENCH ADVANCE ON SIAM.

The French have thrown off their dis
| guise and menaced Bangkok in Siam.
This step will be likely TO bring matters
to head in the Cambodian peninsula.
When Captain de Riviere counseled the
occupation of Cochin China, lie did not
disguise from his Government that it must
expect to contend not only against the
Annamese. but likewise against the
Chinese and the English. Events are vim
dicating his foresight
Thirty-two years have passed since
France annexed Cochin China. CAM
bodia followed in 1862. and AMMAN and
Tonouin twenty years later. By that
operation France threw Gordon around
Siam and placed her troops within striking
distance of the Burmese territories, which
England was annexing. and Of the warlike
Chinese province of Yunnan. Further ex-
tension of the French colonial empire
was mere question of time 1t seems
that the Siamese did not walt to be at
tackled. The peninsula which terminates
in the territory of Lower Cochin China
is biSected by the River Mekong; Siam,
claiming the territory through which the
river flows, fortified its banks, thus con-
fning the French to the narrow strip of
territory between the coast and the coast
range. 1t appears that the French have
taken some of these ports and have en-
trenched themselves at Khong and Stung-
treng, which are on the parallel of Bang
kok. Their design is. of course. to march
across the country from a base On the
Mekong River 10 the capital at Siam.
simultaneously. probably. in the hope of
provoking a pretext for war, they have
sent gunboat up the Menam to threaten
Bangkok.
1t is hardly likely that Siam can success
fully resist their advance. The geogra PHI
ers credit the empire with a popu alton of
some six millions, and a standing army of
but 1900 men. The people belong t0
various heterogeneous races, and by re-
sorting TO the tactics which the English
have used in India the French will prob
ably be able to conquer them in detail. If
they do they may extend their colony or
protectorate over the whole peninsula,
from the border of Kwangsi to the Salwen
River and from Yunnau to the capes nf
Cambodia. That would be a challenge
both to England and China; the one
would have to take it UP, or relin quish its
policy of extending its Indian empire;
IL
thoughtful regard for its southern prov
inces.
The incest question of contemporaneous
French politics is whether France can
colonze successfully. Until forty years
ago even Frenchmen admitted that colo
nization was one of the arts which the
French did not possess in so great a meas
ure as the English and some other peoples.
But of late years France has established
stable and prosperous colonies in Algeria,
Tunis and Senegal. and it has been III
ferred that it could do in a STA what it had
done in Africa. 1t is by the adroit use of
this argument that successive French
Ministers have persuaded Chamber after
Chamber TO vote enormous sums for the
maintenance of an unproductive colony in
Tonquin. The reasoning of the annexa-
tionists has been that France must secure
market for its surplus products; little
attention has been paid to the replication
that if it costs dollar to sell a jackkuife
there is not much profit in the transaction.
We shall now see what England will say
to the menaced attack on Bangkok. If
France captures the country to the Salwen
it will not be long before she is heard OF
on the Irawaddy. and that will mean that
England must go so far and no further.
On the other hand. If the French plant
their banners on the southern bo rder of
China n OF many seasons will elapse before
they find their way into the best provin ces
of the Flnwery Land. 1t looks a little as
though the southeastern corner of the
Asiatc con tin ent was going to become the
most interesting part. of the world to
watch