8n SIAM.

THE FRENCH ON THE MENAM RIVER. THE French have never forgotten that they were once the rivals of England for the Empire of India, and they have for many years been striving to obtain some compensation for their failure in India itself by securing a share of Asiatic territory in Indo-China. Hence the conquest of Annam under the Second Empire, the expedition to Tonquin in the 'eighties, the openly avowed designs on Southern China, and tlae successful annexation of a considerable part of Siam during the period dealt with in this work.

composite built; that is, with iron frames and woodensides and decks. Either could be sunk by a well-placedshell from a modern gun.

The arrival of the French squadron alarmed the Siamese Court. They had sent nearly all their available troops to watch the Mekong frontier. They ought to have foreseen that if the French attackedit would be by the Menam, but they overlooked this obvious possibility. On the 10th of July M. Pavie handed Prince Devawongse, the Siamese Minister of Foreign Affairs, a note in whichhe informed him that as it was reported that the British Government intended sending some of its ships to Bangkok to protect the interests of its subjects on account of the disturbed state of affairs in Siam, the French Government had decided on similar steps, and that two ships of AdmiralHumann's squadron would join the Lutin in tlae Menam River. ()n the 12th Prince Devawongsereplied that his Governmentcould not consent to more than one ship of any foreign power lying off Bangkok, adding that instructions to this effect had beengiven to the Siamesenaval and military authorities at the river mouth, and suggesting that M. Pavie should countermand the orders he had given to Admiral Humann. At the same time telegrams were sent to the Siamese envoy in Paris urging him to obtain the intervention of the French Home Government in order to avoid a conflict.

In the summer of 1893 the dispute between the Siamese Government and the French administration of Cochin China came to a crisis. The Frenchalleged thatthe Siamesehad violated the frontier of Annam, and then claimed that this western frontier of their empire should be carried forward to the Mekong River. The Siamese not unnaturally saw in this exaggerated claim the prelude to tlae dismemberment of theirkingdom. Annam to the east had bi a French possession; Burma to the west was British territory. They mighl well fear that the same process of annexation wasimpending over them, and they appealed to England to save their state from extinction.

Rear-Admiral Humann, an energetic officer, commanded the French squadron in Eastern waters. Knowing that negotiations were in progress between London and Paris, and fearing a diplomatic intervention might prevent any results being obtained in Siam, he resolved to press matters forward. Early in July his squadron appeared off the mouth of the Menam Fiver, on which the capital, Bangkok, stands, only a few miles from the sea. The bar at the river mouth madethe water so shallow that only light vessels drawing 13 feet of water or less could go up to Bangkok. There was already a small French gunboat, the lutin,Ling in the river at the orders of M. Pavie, the French envoy to the Siamese Court. Admiral Humann had only twoother vessels in his squadron that could pass the bar. One was a despatch vessel of about 1,200 tons, the Inconstant;the other was a small gunboat, the Conte'te. Both were M. Pavie and Admiral Humann took no notice whatever of these communications. Nor were they much impressed by the preparations forresistance madebythe Siamese. At Paknam, near the mouth of the river,anumber of heavy modern guns hadbeen mountedin the oldforts. The chief direction of the defence was in the hands of Commodore Plessis de Richelieu, a Danish officer of French Huguenot extraction. He had four armed steamers and a despatch boat lying near the Menam bar. These ships were mostly commanded by Danes. Some coasting craft had been sunk on the bar to narrow the fairway, and near this obstruction animprovised submarine mine with anelectrical fuse had been placed inposition.