§ MR. YERBURGH (Chester)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether the instructions given to Sir Claude Macdonald on the 22nd of July last, namely, that he was to inform the Yamen that Her Majesty's Government would support the Chinese Government against any Power which committed an act of aggression upon China because China had granted to a British subject permission to make or support any railway or similar public work, have been cancelled or in any way modified; and, if not, whether the said promise of support applies to the case of the Northern Railway Extension contract?
MR. GIBSON BOWLES (Lynn Regis)I desire to ask the right honourable Gentleman a Supplemental Question, of which I have given him private notice—namely, whether, in referring to this statement on behalf of Her Majesty's Government, he will include in his answer a reference to the statement made by Lord Salisbury in the House of Lords, which somewhat differs from this? Lord Salisbury said that Sir Claude Macdonald was instructed to inform the Yamen that Her Majesty's Government would support the Chinese Government in resisting (not "against") any Power which had committed an act of aggression on China because China had granted to a British subject permission to make or support any railway or public work. In Lord Salisbury's statement the word "similar" is left out.
§ MR. BRODRICKThere has been no modification of the undertaking an- 295 nounced in the House of Commons by Mr. Curzon on 2nd August 1898, but it is not anticipated that any question regarding it will arise in respect to the Northern Railway Extension.