On Thursday and Friday the issue of the Chinese Five
per Cent. Loan for 25,000,000 or part of the 210,000,000 Crisp loan—caused no small excitement in the City. The question whether sufficient investors will come 'forward is being decided while we write, but the result will not be known till to-day. A statement made by Mr Crisp on Thursday to Reuter's representative recounts his negotiations with the Foreign Office. Considering the pledges made to the other Powers it does not seem to us at all fair to blame the Foreign Office for their action. They were bound in honour to throw every obstacle they could in Mr. Crisp's way. At the same time he had a perfect right to take his own line and run the financial risks, provided that the Foreign Office were not prepared, as apparently they were not, to tell him that "for reasons of State" he ought to abstain from the negotiations.
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