Farther particulars which have come to haud by the Bangkok papers plice the action of the French gunboats, which led to the regrettable encounter at the mouth of the Meinam on the 13th July ina very peculiar light. The hasty and bellicose conduct of the French representatives was it would appear induced by the belief that the British government "had decided to send several ships to Siam," and accor ingly, to use a colloquial phrase, they wished fo steal @ march" upon the British vessels, The correspondence which passed between the Siamese authorities and the French representatives, prior to the xct is certainly creditable tw the former. assumed a dignitied attitude and protested against Siam being deprived of the natural Tight of #ny nation to protect itself, and endeavoured to prevent France making a demonstration which could not but be regarded as a hostile one, and particularly after the friendly assurances from Paris, On the 10th July, M. A. Pavie, the French Minister at' BangkoR, wrote to Prince Devawongse, the Ministerfur Foreign Affairs, stating that he had been invited by his government to make known to the government of the King of Siam, that the government having decided to send ships to Siam, alleging as the for this measure the disturbed situation and the necessity of protecting their countrymen, the government of the Republic had resolved to follow their example. Two ships of the naval division had in consequence been ordered to join the Lutin xt Banzkok, and he therefore asked for the necessary orders to be given for these—the Cométe and the Inconstant—to be provided with pilots, In rely to Prince Devawongse wrote that th ent had not received any the uglish governme of any inten 1 to send to Bangkok, evento Paki or anywhere in the Mei naw other men-of-war than the Swift, which was then anchored before the British Legation in the same condition as the Lutin was anchored before the French Legation. Ho reminded M. Pavie that the first of-war that went to Bang which were there at the time of writing, was the Lutin, and he added that there was a general conviction that, if the Lutin left Bangkok, no other foreign men-of-war would remain and the disturbed situation would be changed into " very quiet one, In conclusion, the Minister "for Foreign Affuirs objected to an interpretation of the Treaty which would give to avy Power an absolute right to send into the territorial waters of Siam and to the capital of the kingdom as many war vessels as they should like. The following: day Pavie asked for a personal interview, and in appointing the time Prince Devawongse again protested against the thres-tened demonstration, On the 12th the interview took place, and after it Prince Deva-wong se sent a communication to M. Pavie in which he said; "Notwithstanding your insistence in our interview otto-day, on having the Inconstant and the Cométe admitted to anchor at Paknam, it is my duty to main tain my peremptory objections, which I made in my preceding letter, against their entering the waters of the Muinam, and to declare that under present circumstances, the government of His Majesty is unable to consent to the presence in this river of more than one war-vessel of any State, All necessary instructions to that effect have been given to our naval and military authorities." Meanwhilethe Minister of Foreign Affairs had telegraphed to the Siamese Atbassador in Paris informing him of the facts of the case, and asking him to represent: the matter to the French government. In reply, a telegram dated Paris, 12th July, was received in which the Siamese Ambassador said he was assured by the French Minister for Foreign Affairs that the French government had no to send gunboats to Bangkok for menacing urpnses, but only to act the same as the ritish Government would dv, The Minister for Foreign Affairs," the telegram continued, tin _consequence of my representations he will telegraph immediately to countermand order with regard to gunboats, and His Excel-Teney also assures me that France had no intention to send troops or attack Siam in any manner.
This, 20 far, was reassuring, but the French representatives in Siam were not so reasonable. On the evening of the 13th the two French gunboats Cométe and Inconstant took the captain of the French stexner J. B. Say to pilot thou: up the river, and they left their anchorage shortly utter six o'clock. The weather at the time was overcast and rainy. Seeing two men-of-war approaching contrary te instructions, the defenders of the Siamese fort fired Dank charge and afterwards sent eight or nine shots wide of the approaching vessels s0 as to afford full warning, After this the firing began in earnest, the Siamese gunboats joining in, The fire was returned spiritedly by the two French ships. The J. B. Say was struck, and was put ashore in order to have her shot-holes stopped. Chat was done satisfactorily, and she lay at anchor quietly. Subsequently a Siamese force frou the fort boarded her, seized her eaptain, mate, engine-r, and native crew, rat up the White Elephant," and then, reopening the shot-holes, sank her with all her freight and official despatches, The men were brought up as prisoners. to the Naval Yard during the night, but liberated later.
The ganboate did not slacken their_pace until they were opposite the French Leyation when they dropped anchor, Their arrival crested profound surprise, it being at first thought the Austrian Archduke Dad arrived. The next day—the 14th—Bangkok was gaily decorated in honour of the French fete, and it is a striking comry on the whole business that even the Siamese boats were dressed in enn pliment. The same day the Frenchmen who were killed in the encounter were ferred in the European cemetery. Three French swlors had been killed "wud two wounded, while on the Siamese side fifteen had been killed and thirty wounded, in-including ® Siamese woman who" was shot dead while in a railway cartings by " French bullet, H.M.S. Linnel ntrived the same day, and two of the nese gunboats which had been in the engagement, They had evidently been pretty severely hit as their sides were bearded up in places and several shut-huies were observable.
The general feeling among the foreign community is that Ube dispute will be settled by the Siamese meeting the demands unde upon their and " termination of the altair is expected speedily. A gued number of foreigners, and Siamese nis in view ofthe trouble, have left Bangkok for Singapore and other places, to. be away from the scene of disturbance, Those who remain do not fear vielence from the Siamese, but they wre undoubtedly very anxious as to the attitude of the large Chinese population, who are believed to be ready to loot the place on, the first opportunity. They are mostly of the coolie class xnd doubtless would be only too glad to take advantage of any active hostilities to seize the plunder which would be at their mercy. On the night of the 14h " wild rumour was circulated to the effect that a Chinese mob intended to loot the palace and not a little alarm was felt, Fortunately this lawlessness was not attempted. All the British residents have sent in lists of the property they possess so that in case of lose they will ave chim upon the indemnity. When the Mongkut left on the 16th all was quiet and business was proceeding much the same as usual. The Swift and Linnet are both at Bangkok.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.