I have the honour to report that the French sloop of War, Kersaint, arrived at Hongkong last week from Tonquin, and, after laying in supplies here, proceeded to Shanghai, where this ship is to be at the disposal of the Minister of France, M. Tricou.
I entertained at the Government House the French Captain of the Kersaint, Count de Beaumont, as I had entertained the week before the Chinese Admiral Ting. We were told by me that the French garrisons in Tonquin are merely holding the places already in their possession until the arrival of the re-inforcements on their way from France, when active operations will be resumed.
Count de Beaumont, and all the other Frenchmen with whom I have conversed of late, concur in the admission of their countryman M. du Cailland, (in his recent published work, Histoire de l'Intervention Française au Tongking), to the effect that English and not French commerce, that the trade of Hongkong and not the trade of Saigon, will... really...
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