lative Council that was called into being as recently as the 10th January, 1895. Its total membership is fifty-one, and its aim is to complete the legislative reforms of the kingdom.

FRANCE AND SIAM.

In order to understand the position which Siam now holds in the Indo-Chinese Peninsula it is necessary to go back to the first appearance of France and Great Britain vis-à-vis across the waters of the Upper Mekong. Inclined at first to regard with complacency the rise of powerful neighbours to the east and to the west, the Siamese Government anticipated for the future a period of peace. For centuries she had been distracted by wars with one or other of the neighbouring principalities. As first Annam, and then Cambodia and Cochin China, were converted into a French protectorate, and the unruly tribes of the Shan States passed beneath the sway of India, the outlook at least was reassuring. Unfortunately for the success of these hopes it was soon found that her neighbours to the east were likely to prove as troublesome as the States they themselves had replaced. While the western boundary of Siam was absolutely demarcated, the eastern borders of the kingdom were ill-defined, and for the most part in the keeping of races who had no very keen appreciation for diplomatic amenities. Frontier incidents, therefore, quickly arose, and between 1889 and 1893 were of constant occurrence. Difficulties in connection with the Burmo-Siamese frontier were soon adjusted, but the troubles which had broken out on the Franco-Siamese border rapidly assumed a grave complexion. As the upshot of these disturbances, France occupied in 1891 a number of points; and, although they were subsequently evacuated, from that year French policy has been distinguished by steady encroachment upon Siamese territory.

A POLICY OF ENCROACHMENT.

It was, however, not until 1893 that the aim of the French was really disclosed. Early that year, after a renewal of frontier complications, France, with a view to making the Mekong the dividing line between the British and French spheres, put forward the assertion that Siam was occupying territory which rightfully The contention was false, and belonged to Annam. disputed, but France's only reply was to insist upon the withdrawal of the Siamese from certain posts which they were holding on the east bank of the Mekong. The Siamese refused to yield to this claim, and a little later in the year fighting broke out between the Siamese and the French, when a few French soldiers were killed. Appealing to the kindly offices of the British Government, Siam continued to offer opposition to the French demands, the eventual outcome of an unhappy situation being that French gunboats were despatched to Bangkok and a blockade of the mouth of the Menam was established. By this time, of course, the demands of the French had greatly increased and, so far from confining them to

orders for the evacuation of the posts on the east bank of the Mekong, they now claimed the surrender of all Siamese territory to the east of the river, and, further, provided for the creation of a zone, twenty-five kilometres in breadth, on the west bank. Subsequently these terms were modified; but the Treaty of October 3rd, 1893, nevertheless conferred sufficiently important rights on France, while in a separate Convention it was agreed that, pending the fulfilment by Siam of her obligations, French troops should be permitted to occupy Chantabun.

THE ANGLO-FRENCH DECLARATION OF 1896.

With the close of these events the history of Siam passes to the stage in which the interests of France and Great Britain directly clashed. Since the terms of the Franco-Siamese Convention of 1893 had made it evident that the French advance towards Siam from Tong King and Annam was not to be limited to the region of the Lower Mekong, but would embrace all territory to the east, Great Britain was constrained to resume with France the negotiations in respect of the formation of a buffer State between the respective frontiers of France and India in northern Siam. In part through the action of the French themselves, and in part through inherent difficulties, the object of the British Government was not achieved. After the voluntary abandonment of some three hundred square miles of country by Great Britain, the French were permitted to regard the waters of the Upper Mekong as their dividing line. This arrangement, which necessitated our retirement to the west bank of the river, was ultimately to bear important fruit, insomuch that it directed attention once again to the proposal for the neutralisation of Siam, which the French Government had made originally in 1889. After protracted negotiations between France, Great Britain, and Siam, an agreement, known as the AngloFrench Declaration of 1896, was drawn up. As a consequence of this the kingdom of Siam was divided into three spheres, the French area being upon the east of the Mekong, the British upon the west of the Mekong, while the valley of the Menam river was reserved to Siam. Neither the Siamese Eastern provinces, bordering on the French possessions, nor the Siamese Malay States were included, however, and at a later date it was expressly stated by Lord Salisbury that the sovereign rights of Siam over these "extra areas" in no way were impaired. Siam, constituted a buffer State between the two Powers who alone held interests in Indo-China, was given an explicit engagement that the integrity of the areas, in which the King of Siam was to exercise his sovereign will, would be respected, while his independence was also guaranteed. For the moment, therefore, the Siamese Government was able to revel in the feeling that now at last the peace of its frontiers had been definitely established.

THE FRENCH COLONIAL PARTY.

Once again, nevertheless, it was to be proved to the Siamese Government that their optimism was mis

the

taken. At the instigation of the French Colonial Party-a moving, if not a controlling, influence over French policy in Indo-China-an agitation was promoted which was in favour of procuring the extension of the French sphere of influence from the east bank of the Mekong to the edge of the areas mutually guaranteed by France and Great Britain. It will be recalled that, under the Franco-Siamese Treaty of 1893, the limits of the French sphere were contained by the east bank of the Mekong; and that by the terms of the Anglo-French Agreement of 1896 there was a belt of territory, known generally as the Eastern and South-Eastern Provinces, which, although extra-territorial to the limits of the guaranteed area, had been expressly stated to belong to Siam by Lord Salisbury. Making no Making no difference between boundary of the 1893 Agreement (the Mekong river) and the almost hypothetical boundaries of the guaranteed area (the Menam Valley), the leaders of the French Colonial Party alleged that all territory beyond the borders of the guaranteed area was within the French sphere of influence. At the moment the good sense of the French Government prevailed, and the ventilation of the claim was confined to academic discussion in the press at Saigon, and to the Chamber in Paris. Moreover, as France had not yet found it convenient to observe her engagements under the Convention of 1893 and restore Chantabun, it was obviously impossible to put forward a demand which. had no justification. Undisturbed by this, the Colonial Party did not by any means relax their efforts to extract further concessions from Siam, but merely directed them through another channel.

AN UNRATIFIED CONVENTION.

In view of the fact that nearly ten years had elapsed since the Franco-Siamese Agreement of 1893 had been made, it was felt that the hour had now arrived when a fresh convention might be concluded. In the autumn of 1902 the opportunity was found. At the time there were certain questions in dispute between Siam and France in respect of the Siamese-Cambodian frontier. It was from this direction, too, that for some years the Colonial Party had entertained designs. against certain provinces on the Cambodian border, which, although then in the keeping of Siam, had been in the possession of Cambodia a hundred years previously. These provinces were Meluprey, Bassac, Battambong, Angkor, and Sisuphon, and from every point of view they were a most desirable acquisition. At the suggestion of M. Delcassé a compromise was effected by which France was to evacuate Chantabun and to suppress the clauses in regard to the twenty-five-kilometre zone that had figured in the Franco-Siamese Treaty of 1893, while Siam, for her part, admitted a re-arrangement of the Siamese-Cambodian frontier, by which Meluprey and Bassac, two of the five provinces, were restored to Cambodia. There is no doubt that this Convention was meant to effect a definite settlement of the

questions that had been a constant source of irritation since 1893. The Vice-Minister of the Interior, together with the French Minister in Bangkok, journeyed to Paris, and a treaty was signed on October 7th, 1902. In spite of the very large accession of territory which the French possessions in Indo-China were to secure, the period for its ratification was extended, at first until 8th February, 1903, then to the 31st March, and, finally, until the 31st December, after which the treaty was abandoned. Further negotiations were conducted, however, in

the summer and autumn of 1903; and, finally, on February 13th, 1904, another agreement was evolved.

THE FRANCO-SIAMESE TREATY OF 1904.

As in the abortive arrangement of 1902 Siam secured by the terms of the new treaty the abolition of the twenty-five - kilometre zone, and recovered Chantabun. In return for these concessions France not only obtained the provinces of Meluprey and Bassac, but in the Laos country extended her frontiers west of the Mekong so as to embrace the whole of Luang Prabang. At various points, too, along the west bank of the Mekong Siam agreed to concede territory to France for the establishment of river ports; while, in order to make clear the predominance of French influence in the Siamese portion of the Mekong Valley, it was laid down that railways, canals, and port improvements must be constructed by agreement with the French Government, unless these works could be carried out exclusively with Siamese capital by Siamese engineers and workmen. Only Siamese troops commanded by Siamese officers (an exception was made in favour of Danish officers) were to be sent into the Mekong Valley without the consent of France; and in the case of the provinces of Battambong, Siemreap, and Sisuphon, it was stipulated that only sufficient police to preserve order should be maintained, and that these police should not be drawn even from other parts of Siam, but should be recruited solely in the three provinces. A few months later a protocol, dated June 29th, was added to this convention, by which it was ordained that the port of Krat, and the territory situated to the south, should be surrendered to France. Krat was handed over on December 30th, 1904; and on January 8th of the following year the last detachment of French troops marched out of Chantabun. In Krat France obtained a first-class harbour, and its surrender was one of the most important features of the 1902-04 negotiations.

THE FINAL ENCROACHMENT.

In spite of the concessions which the Colonial Party had been successful in wringing from Siam, their appetite for unfettered conquest was in no way appeased. Between the signing of the Franco

Siamese Convention of 1904 and the Protocol of June 29th, an Anglo-French Declaration was drawn up on April 8th, which, while confirming the terms of the Anglo-French Treaty of 1896, provided for the extension of the French sphere of influence from the eastern bank of the Mekong to the edge of the Menam Valley. By this arrangement, although the Declaration disclaimed any intention of annexing territory Siam was undoubtedly deprived of all practical authority over the Eastern Provinces. With their claim to these areas thus acknowledged, there was left for acquisition by the Colonial Party only the three remaining provinces of Cambodia. As important advantages to French interests were offered by their possession, the French Colonial Party, since 1904, have concentrated their efforts upon obtaining them. Success here, as everywhere else where the interests of the French policy in Siam have been involved, was achieved, and on March 24th of this year Battambong, Siemreap, and Sisuphon were ceded to France in return for Krat. Other concessions of a minor character accompanied the restoration, but they need not be regarded as of account, since by the annexation of the Cambodian provinces France secured rather less than 16,000 square miles of territory and a provincial revenue of some 3,000,000 francs.

LORD ROSEBERY'S WARNING.

Before concluding it is of value to point out that it was in respect of these very provinces that Lord Rosebery enunciated the doctrine in 1893 that "their interests were our interests, and that the maintenance of their integrity was a British concern of high importance." It may be added, too, that Parliament endorsed this view. Lord Rosebery's utterances on the Siamese question were made fourteen years ago, but the provinces referred to by him have now gone by the board, while the blow which has fallen upon Siam undoubtedly is shared by Great Britain. France's position, therefore, is now endowed precisely with the same advantages that once exclusively belonged to Great Britain; and, while we still enjoy a commercial preponderance in the Menam Valley, it is more than ever necessary to be prepared against the time when she will make one more forward movement and place that valley itself under her protection.

ANGUS HAMILTON.

1,200 years. I am sometimes greatly amused by being asked whether we have chariot races. You will find on our programme every game that has any claim to be regarded as international. You will not find

cricket there, because it is a national rather than an international game. The cycle, on the other hand, though of so recent invention, has found its votaries in every civilised land. It therefore finds a place on our programme."

"What, then, are the games which have broken down national barriers ?"

"Athletics—that is, running, jumping and throwing; cycling, fencing, swimming, lawn tennis, archery, gymnastics, wrestling, riding, football, lacrosse, hockey, and skating, besides those I have already mentioned. These will all be the subject of competition at the Olympic games."

"And the reward of the victors-a crown of wild olive?"

"Not quite that. But there are no prizes of intrinsic money value. They consist solely of Olympic medals and certificates. The medals are cast in gold, silver, and bronze, but they are intended to be honourable tokens, and nothing more. There are also certain special challenge cups, and these will be held by the winning nations until the succeeding Olympiad."

"Will you attempt to adjudge the national victor in the games?'

"That is an exceedingly difficult matter to decide. Still I hope the difficulties are not insuperable and may be overcome. Some decision should be arrived at if only to obviate disputes. I believe France and

America are still at variance as to which did best at the games held at Athens last year."

"What method has been adopted in selecting the competitors?"

"We first of all secured the co-operation of all the great athletic associations in this country, who will be responsible for the control and management of their own particular game. We have now drawn up a draft programme which is being submitted for criticism and suggestions to the representative foreign associations in each country. These associations will select their own competitors, rigorously confined by our rules to amateurs, and these will be approved by the various national Olympic associations. In this way we shall secure the picked athletes of each nation."

"You have therefore succeeded in bringing into touch the leading athletic associations of the whole world?"

"That is one admirable outcome of the Olympic movement. Another will be, we hope, the laying down of common rules and definitions regulating the various games that will in turn be recognised as binding all the world over. This is already the case in many games. But in others it is not. Our programme for the next Olympiad we trust may be regarded in the future as a model."