CO129-344 - Public Offices & Foreign Office - 1907 — Page 605

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committed to the French Government, both in regard to the

Hankow Canton and Hankow Szechuan lines. I added that any

modification of these engagements, even by the partial

elimination of the French element, could only, I conceived,

take place by agreement between the British and "rench

groups at home with the consent of their respective

Governments. This conclusion, I may explain, was forced

upon me by my knowledge of the attitude of the French

Legation towards the question.

In his reply Kr. Fraser informed me that Mr. Willier

and he did not definitely accept the Viceroy's refusal to

admit the French Bank, but, on the other hand, they did

not feel justified in jeopardizing the preference to

British capital secured in 1905 by absolutely refusing to

discuss the other terms of the draft agreement which they

had submitted. They had surested the insertion of the

British and Chinese Corporation as a compromise between

the original draft and the Viceroy's demand for the Hong-

kong and Shanghai Bank only. They were beginning to

suspect that the Viceroy's attitude might be inspired by

the