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: .tdos brase Peking egran contract 87. E.M.Xinister Plenipotentiary to H.M.Consul-General, Canton to be forwarded to the Viceroy at Canton.
PEKING, 26/12/06. With reference to the Canton-Kowloon Railway, the was a solemn engagement between the two Governments, and the present action of the Viceroy in this matter is totally inadmissible. If the Viceroy persists in this attitude, I shall have no option but to lay the whole question before the British Government, with the request that it take serious notice of his unfriendliness.
The Viceroy has been hostile and unreasonable to British trade and enterprise, and his action has already excited serious comments in Great Britain. It is clear from the way in which the Viceroy has dealt with the popular agitations against foreigners, that his sympathies must be at least with the agitators. As regards the Kowloon Railway, there is scarcely a doubt that the Viceroy, if he has not actually instigated the agitation, has certainly encouraged it. This attitude is part and parcel of the general agitation against foreign trade and enterprise throughout China. I therefore instruct you to warn His Excellency that his unfriendly and hostile attitude is producing a serious situation, and to point out to him, that it is his duty, if he have any regard for China's true interests, to check, and not to encourage, these political movements and agitations.