M. Pichon in his subsequent speech defined the feeling of
the French Government towards the scheme more clearly than it has ever been defined before. " We have always held the opinion," he said, "that we ought as far as possible to act in the sense of the internationalisation of the line, and this opinion we continue to hold." As to the syndicate which has recently been formed at Glarus for building the second section of the line, M. Pichon said that the French Government remained a complete stranger to it. The Government was watching the negotiations which were going on, and had not ceased to hope that a solution would be possible in which France would have a share in the direction of the line equal to that of the most favoured participant. The declaration of a French desire for internationalisation is a definite fact to be taken into account. We fear that internationalisation would be very likely to cause friction. For the present we need make no further comment except to remark that in the reports of M. Pichon's speech which we have read no mention is made of Turkey. We could not possibly enter into the scheme, however attractive it might be made to us by new proposals from Germany, unless Germany were willing to relieve Turkey from the gross imposition of the kilometric guarantees.
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