§ * MR. R. MCKENNA (Monmouth, N.)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, with reference to the numerous statements in the French Press that it is untrue that France ever accepted the hypothesis of the creation of a buffer State on the two banks of the Mekong, whether this hypothesis was accepted by France in the two Protocols dated 25th November, 1893, the first signed by the French and English delegates for the discussion of the buffer State on the Upper Mekong, and the second signed by the Marquess of Dufferin and M. Develle?
§ * THE UNDER SECRETARY FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Mr. GEORGE CURZON,) SouthportThe hypothesis of a buffer State or intermediary zone was accepted by the French Government, and the Protocols in question were printed in the Parliamentary Blue Book, Siam, No. 1, 1894.