with regard to the engineers needed for the construc-tion of the railways I declare that one half of the will be nation that lends the funds the other half will be Japanese.
The work will be divided into sections for undertaking and each nation will attend to its own business. China will retain control as regards all employes, selection of land, management of lines and running of cars: the engineers will only attend to the affairs of the requisite works within their section and may not interfere in anything else.
Copy is now being sent to Grand Council, Wai Wu Pu and Board of Commerce for their examination which should prove his earnestness in providing against future trouble. The critic calls the despatch a confidential compact and an indirect promise, not seeing that the language of the despatch throughout is perspicuous and straight-forward.
Moreover at the time the Liang Kuang Viceroy was consulted by telegraph and the despatch was duly communicated to Kuangtung and Hunan. Everyone in China knew it so how can it be called confidential?
The despatch referring solely to construction loans which it had been decided not to raise abroad, when the text of the agreement was sent to the Wai Wu Pu, the copy of the despatch was not sent to the Wai Wu Pu since the subject was already put aside: but what secrecy was there since Canton was previously telegraphed to about it and despatches sent there and to Hunan after its issue? As regards railway engineers the proposal was...