Page:Shall we have a Channel tunnel?.djvu/17

11 "Up to this time no interchange of views as to the proposed Tunnel had taken place between Her Majesty's Government and the French Government, but in April, 1870, the French Ambassador in London wrote to the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to ask what support the English Government was disposed to give to the project, and whether it would regulate, by a diplomatic agreement, the conditions for the construction and working of such a line.

"Lord Clarendon, in reply, requested to be informed of the views taken by the French Government with regard to the enterprise, and vouched for the respectability of the English promoters.

"The Marquis de la Valette, by direction of M. Ollivier, soon afterwards repeated his enquiry as to whether a diplomatic agreement should be entered into, and requested that an answer might be given.

"This correspondence was referred to the Board of Trade, who replied on the 4th July, but expressed no decided opinion on the subject.

"The declaration of war with Germany on the 19th July, 1870, interrupted these negotiations between the English and French Governments, and the question raised by the French Ambassador was left undecided."

Second Period, from 1871 to 1876.—"In July, 1871, the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs having heard from the Channel Tunnel Committee that they were about to renew their application to the French Government, enquired of the British Ambassador in Paris as to the course the French Government intended to pursue.

"Lord Lyons, in reply, stated that the application in question not having as yet been made, the views of M. Thiers' Government could only be conjectured, and expressed a wish to receive very distinct instructions as to the nature and amount of support which Her Majesty's Government would desire to give to the scheme.

"In the following November, the Channel Tunnel Committee, who had previously renewed their application to the French Government, wrote to Lord Granville, requesting that an