influence to be attained by France individually, quite suffice to justify the expenditure, the toil, and the care bestowed on this undertaking. There can be no doubt, that when in a state to be used by the Messageries Impériales, this Canal will impart a new life to the traffic which they command; prosperous and rapidly grow ing as this even now is, and possessing certainly as good prospects as any branch, either of French or English commerce. It is hard to attempt to predict the extent to which this traffic may be extended, and equally hard to form any probable estimate as to the magnitude or wealth likely to be attained by the French colony of Saigon, which seems to be destined hereafter to augment in a large measure the riches and power of France, and whose future is intimately bound up in the prosperity both of the Suez Canal and of the traffic at present established between Marseilles and the Indian Ocean, through the instrumentality of the Mes sageries Impériales. Suffice it to say, that at Saigon there appears to be a region of extent practically unlimited, and of fertility un

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surpassed, over which the French can extend their sway, just as they think fit. No natural obstacle exists, and the inhabitants are not likely to oppose serious resistance, nor are they difficult to manage. Our territory in India yields annually a large revenue beyond the expenses incurred in governing it, but an embarrassing amount of debt has been created in acquiring that territory, and if the French are capable of learning lessons from our experience, they will find no difficulty in avoiding any such waste of resources as we have to lament, while there appears to be no reason why an equal income may not in course of time be secured, or at least an equal income beyond what may be demanded for providing for the charges incident to carrying on the public administration. This, of course, would be a surplus income if not required to pay the annual interest of money borrowed.

As to the increased influence to be acquired by France from the completion of the Suez Canal, it is to be observed that the French Government have always attached great impor

tance to the possession of influence, especially in the Levant; and indeed, where the influence is of the most potent nature, and amounts to an unrestrained power, it particularly suits the genius of the French people, and of their administration. In the case of a foreign dependency like Saigon (which, not being a colony peopled by French inhabitants, may be said to be a district ruled by an absolute sort of influence), far more satisfactory results are to be anticipated than in Algeria, or in any of the French colonies properly so denominated. This is true with regard to French dependencies generally, not peopled by French inhabitants, in whatever part of the world they are situated, or under whatever chieftains, potentates, or communities they are placed; whether it is Tahiti, or the country of the Maronites of Mount Lebanon, that is dependent on French protection. That protection will, in most instances, be productive of mutual and substantial benefit, and affords a basis for operations by which the power of France may be maintained and extended; and, as an illustration, we shall do well to remember

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that every gradation is to be found in India, in the relations between the British authorities and the protected states, from the almost absolute power exercised by the British Resident in some protected states, to the mere countenance afforded in other instances. As a contrast to the success attending the development of the influence and protection exercised by France, let us look at some of her efforts in colonisation, strictly so termed, in the settling and peopling of foreign lands by French inhabitants; and first let us take the instance presented by Canada, to borrow the language of M. de Tocqueville (De Tocqueville's France, p. 446) :

"The Administration interfered in many more matters than in the metropolis, and chose to direct everything from Paris, spite of the eighteen hundred leagues by which they were divided. It adopted none of the great principles by which a colony is rendered populous and prosperous; but, on the other hand, it had recourse to all kinds of trifling artificial processes, and petty tyrannical regulations, in

order to increase and extend the population; compulsory cultivation, all lawsuits arising out of the grants of land withdrawn from the tribunals, and referred to the sole decision of the Administration; obligation to pursue particular methods of cultivation, to settle in certain places rather than others, &c. All these regulations were in force under Louis XIV., and the edicts are countersigned by Colbert. One might imagine oneself in the very thick of modern centralisation, and in Algeria. Indeed Canada presents an exact counterpart of all we have seen in Algeria. In both we find ourselves face to face with an Administration almost as numerous as the population; preponderant, interfering, regulating, restricting, insisting upon foreseeing everything, and understanding the interests of those under its control better than they do themselves; in short, in a constant state of barren activity."

Any account of a political system or experiment is peculiarly liable to be fallacious, unless it contains those proofs of correctness which