With respect to the French, he did not know on what grounds they had gone to Cambodia. They had obtained possession of one spot which was eminently fitted for a settlement. The finest river in all India, as far as European shipping was concerned, was the river at Saigon, which he had himself ascended about 14 miles, and found it navigable even for an old "seventy-four." He believed it was the intention of the French to attempt the conquest of the whole of Cochin China. If they effected it, and occupied it, they would find it a monstrous difficulty. It would prove another Algeria, with the additional disadvantage of being 15,000 miles off instead of 500, and within the torrid instead of the temperate zone. The climate was very hot, the country was covered with forests, the malaria and the heat rendered it unsuitable for the European constitution. If they made an advance upon the Cochin Chinese capital, they would find the enterprise one of great difficulty. From Saigon to the northern confines of Cochin China the distance is 1500 miles, and the capital itself could not be less than 700 or 800 miles from Saigon, situated on a small river navigable only for large boats, with a narrow mouth, and two considerable fortresses, one on each side, at its mouth. When they arrived, they would find one of the largest and most regular fortifications in the East. He believed it was the most regular, after Fort William in Bengal, and a great deal larger than Fort William. It was constructed by the French, and now they will have considerable difficulty in conquering their own work. The French had a perfect right to be in Cochin China, and their being there would do no harm, but rather good, however questionable the benefit to themselves; for their presence amounted to the substitution of a friendly and civilised power for a rude and inhospitable one.
The drawings on the table were exceedingly curious and interesting; they were admirably done, and exhibited representations of some remarkable monuments, evidently of Buddhist origin. They reminded him very much, though inferior in quality and beauty, of the monuments of the island of Java. He never heard of volcanoes when he was in Cambodia, but he had no doubt M. Mouhot's information was correct, though it appeared he did not describe them from his own personal experience. He would add a word upon the alphabets which were on the table. The Cambodians had invented a written phonetic character, which they used at the present time; therefore there could be no difficulty in understanding a Cambodian manuscript. But there were several of those now exhibited which were of more or less antiquity. One of them seemed to be the alphabet which was used by the Cambodians in their religious rites. The figure of Buddha showed that the Cambodians were worshippers of Buddha.