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the correspondent of the London Times, and Mr Cameron, the correspondent of the London Standard since their return to Hong Kong from their recent visit to the scene of warfare in Tonquin. They both declare that France will require an army of at least ten thousand French soldiers to conquer and hold Tonquin; and I find that this is also the strong opinion of Admiral Meyer and of the other chief officers now of the French Squadron here.
So far as the proceedings of the French in the Indo-Chinese peninsula are concerned they are not unfavourably regarded by the Mercantile Community of this Colony; for, as the French themselves admit, there is hardly any French trade in that quarter (as I have pointed out in Foreign Office No.9136 of the 31st July ultimo), it is English and not French commerce; it is the English Colony of Hong Kong and not the French Colony of Saigon, which will profit by the opening up of the country through the success of...