The concessions obtained from the Chinese Government by Sir Claude Macdonald ed here, in spite of the Nixer pening of the Chinese sways to foreign steamers of all nation:
is of course calculated to disarm opposition, though there is no reason to suppose that French merchants will. shake off their traditional lotharey and seize the opportunity. France, however, is not likely to accept without demur the stipulation that a British subject shall remain at the head of the Customs as long as British trade with China remains larger than that of any other foreign Power. A formal undertaking of this kind gives England, according to the French view, a species of \direct control over Chinese finances and is moreover an open admission of the supremacy of British interests. France and Russia will no doubt have something to say on this point, but of course it would be idle to attempt to predict whether their protests will be anything more than formal, The ce-operation of the Hongkong Bank and the Deutsch-Asiatische Bank in the loan is taken as a sign that England and Germany are in full accord on the Far Eastern question and that England has secured in that part of the world the benevolent diplomatic neutrality which is all she requires.
5th February.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.