594
The notion is not only opposed to precedent but in certain contingencies might be productive of grave international complications. Not, in spite of the apparent interest which the Chinese Authorities have recently evinced in the adoption of some plan in the direction indicated, is it altogether free from doubt whether opposition would not arise, as in 1879 when a similar proposal was suggested by Sir F. Wade, in the event of the matter being seriously discussed. Moreover, apart from the objections to the various schemes suggested, the Secretary of State for India in Council concurs entirely in the view expressed by the Government of India and by Her Majesty's Chargé d'Affaires at Pekin, that it would be premature to enter upon any negotiations involving a change of system until it is seen how the new Convention can be satisfactorily worked, or at any rate, until the Hong Kong Commission shall have submitted its report. It is understood.