Lord Lamington, who has travelled in Siam, on Thursday brought
up the question of French aggressions there, and asked Lord Rosebery what he meant to do. He himself believed that the French meant to extend their dominion over the whole of -the great territory between Anam and the Mekong, pleading ancient rights of the Anamese Empire ; and be thought if the demand were conceded, they would next demand the country between the Mekong and the Menam, thus reducing Siamese territory to Bangkok and a strip. Lord Rosebery, in reply, 'admitted that the French had reached the Mekong, but stated, with a certain satiric intention, that even the Siamese did not know what their demands were ; while as for himself, so far -from stirring-up trouble, he was ignorant of everything as to the whole business. He thought it best, therefore, just at present not to talk too much,—a little intimation which the French Ministry for Foreign Affairs will do well to ponder, Lord Rosebery talks freely enough,—when he is retreating.
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