There seems every chance of the Chinese Government ulti- mately
yielding on the Customs question, but their conduct is still far from satisfactory. The original Edict has been com- municated to all the chief officials, and the result is said to be a noticeable change of manner. Last Sunday an evasive reply was sent to the British Note, but at the conference on Monday between the British Charge d'Affaires and the Chinese Minister the latter promised to send a satisfactory reply embodying the chief passages in the Agreements of 1896 and 1898 respecting the administration of the Maritime Customs, under which the present regime is guaranteed till 1943. Britain has also requested that the personnel of the Service shall remain as at present, and that the Wai-wu-pu shall communicate the reply officially to all members of the Service in order to allay the unrest which has been aroused. We may note that French opinion strongly supports the British view of the situation, and an ex-Governor-General of Indo-China, M. de Lanessan, in an article in the SCeele, has stated as forcibly as could any British publicist the importance of keeping the Maritime Customs under the present adminis- tration.
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