The War with Siam

Feilding Star, Volume XV, Issue 25, 29 July 1893, Page 2

The War with Siam

4- _ (PER PBESfI ASSOCIATION.) London, July 28. Lord Rosebery, in reply to a question in the House of Lords, said the Government had not been informed of the date or extent of the blockade of Bankok. He regretted that the French regarded the presence of the English gunboats as an indication to assist Siam, whose resistance was hopeless. He had advised that the quarrel should be settled by compromise, as it was important to have a neutral zone between French and English territories in the Peninsula. The French Government hud not defined whether the blockade was pacific or warlike. He said M. Deyelle had eluded any interview which the British Ambassador sought, alleging preßsnre of business. Sir E. Grey, replying to Viscount Curzon, as to the nature of " pacific blockading," said it was a debatabe question, but France had promised safe conduct for ships loaded before the blockade began. The English operations would be confined to the protection of Pabis, July 28The French press continues to goad the Government on to flout England in the matter of Siam. Two cruisers and two torpedo boats are being added to the French fleet in the Gulf of Siam, making 14 vessels in all. life and property.