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action of the Frenca. Under these circumstances, wille
wo should be the last to object to fair competition, we
thought it not unreasonable to ask that Germany should re-
fuse to be drawn into playing the Chinese game by bidding
against us for a business in which the british preference
was admitted. The result could only be, since we were de-
termined not to let the ousineas slip through our fingers,
to reduce our profite without adding to tusirs and to pro-
voke a feeling of irritation and vexation which must in-
evitably prejudico our future relations.
The German reply was favourable in the sense of dis-
claiming any reprissis. They could not, of course, exclude
themselves from competicion, even for a british preference
business, but it would be fair competition. ho bid would
be made except upon terms at wnion they would be prepared
to finance the whole loan themselves.
This admission, such as it is, by the Germans, and the
frank recognition by the French of the British preferential
riguls to the appointment of engineers and the supply of
material must be considered, I am afraid, the meagre fruits
of these barren negotiations. It is something too, tnat
they closed with mutual expressions of good will and under-
standing.