FRANCE AND SIAM.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXXX, Issue 10103, 31 July 1893, Page 5

FRANCE AND SIAM.

[Special to Association.]

LONDON, July 28. The China correa pendent of the Standard wires tib,t the Chinese

have decided to oppose the French advance beyond dqgree twenty-one, and will charter troop ships in tbe event of emergency. The Standard’s Paris correspondent telegraphs that the French Foreign Minister has informed the British Ambassador that France has assented to a compromise in connection with the Siam difficulty. Telegrams from Bangkok state that the blockade began on Wednesday. Neutral ships were ordered to leave three days before. The blockade embraces the entrance to the bay of Bangkok and the entire coast. July 29. In the Hons© of Commons to-day Sir E. Grey stated that the Crown law officers were enquiring into the legality of the French blockade in Siam. He said there was great perplexity as to the actual date of the blockade. The French Foreign Minister had informed the British Ambassador in Paris that it would begin on July 31, while the British Minister in Bangkok had wired that it began on Wednesday last. Siam has accepted the French ultimatum in its entirety, and France accepts the reply, leaving tbe provinces in the Upper Mekong, which England ceded to Siam, subject to separate negotiations between France and England.