Just a week after the dispatch of this communication Salisbury acknowledged its receipt in a note, promising to consult his colleagues on the proposition, and meantime assuring Mr. Choate "that the policy consistently advocated by this country is one of securing equal opportunity for the subjects and citizens of all nations with regard to commercial enterprise in China, and from this policy Her Majesty's Government has no intention or desire to depart."
A month later came the formal answer of the British Government under date of vember 30, 1899, in the following language, addressed to Mr. Choate "T have much pleasure in informing Your Excellency that Her Majesty's
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.