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Rh which of right belonged to France as the overlord of Cochin China and Annam, resulting in a declaration by the French ambassador in London in the spring of 1893 that his Government claimed for Annam the whole of the country on the left bank of the Mekong—a declaration at which Lord Rosebery "could not conceal his surprise."

The story of the subsequent operations between France and Siam, which were brought to an abrupt conclusion by the appearance of two French gunboats at Bangkok, need not be retold here. The British Government had not the slightest intention of burning their fingers by intervening on behalf of Siam; but with the collapse of that country before the determined attitude of France, French claims showed a disconcerting tendency to expand, and before the summer of 1893 was through, embraced the whole of the territory on the left bank of the Mekong, including consequently a portion of the state of Kiang Cheng already conditionally presented by Great Britain to Siam. Once more was there a flutter of excitement in the Foreign Office dovecot, and