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As regards these two proposals, I have as yet received no telegraphic reply from the Wai Wu Pu whether they have been laid before H.M. Minister or not, and which one they have arranged to accept.
As for your request to appoint delegates to enter into negotiations, I should be obliged if you will indicate to me which proposal you accept. Then I will direct the foreign deputies Wei, Wen, and Kung to meet you and the Representative of the Corporation to discuss the matter and arrive at a settlement.
The Deputies Wei, Wen, and Kung, on previous occasions, when they had interviews with you at the Consulate, always alluded to the matter of this Railway; and when you told them that it might follow the lines of the Tientsin-Shanhaikuan Railway, I expressed my sincere gratification thereat, and I accordingly telegraphed to Viceroy Yuan for a copy of the regulations to facilitate negotiations. I, on my part, am fully prepared to enter into negotiations, and you should have clearly recognised that I was always willing to do so.
When however H.M. Minister declares that I have been dilatory and obstructive and proposes to report to H.M. Government to instruct H.M. Consul at Canton to suspend relations, I can only express my deep surprise. This is a question which entirely concerns commercial matters and is not a State affair. Seeing that H.M. Minister is exerting all this effort on behalf of the interests of an English Corporation, it is not a matter that concerns the Canton Province itself, but all material required for the railway apart from what China herself possesses is to be obtained through the Corporation from England, with price and quality to correspond with those of other countries.
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