}
84
nationality and denied to vessels of British
nationality, for that is what I understand your proposals
to mean.
In your second paragraph you speak of the difficulties of the Nanking Government in making a concession to long- Kong. It must be remembered that ve also have a public opinion to deal with, which will be found very far from unanimous in its support of the Agreement in its present form and which would be almost unanimous in its opposition, unless convinced that substantial advantages accrued to Hong Kong in return for the concessions given by this Gov-
ernment. The difficulties in this matter are not only on
the side of the Chinese.
We are however ready and indeed anxious to continue the negotiations regarding the proposed agreement for we are very desirous of arriving at some settlement which
will assist the Chinese Government to protect its revenue.
I shall await a further communication from you, set- ting out such further concessions as the Chinese Government
may be prepared to make, which can be laid before Sir Cecil Clementi on his return, and would merely add that, if the Chinese Government fears the effect of these concessions in
its dealings with other nations, it should be borne in mind that no other places, except perhaps Macao and Kwangchowwan, are in a position to offer similar concessions to those which China is now seeking to obtain from Hong Kong.
With kind regards,
Yours sincerely,
(Signed) .T. SOUTHORN.
X. From this it would appear that the possibility of, say, Japan claiming similar I.W.S.N. privileges for her vessels under the oat favoured nation clause" had not been lost
sight of.
(Initialled) J.V.3.
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