A concession for the Peking-Hankow Railway was the one which interested the English most. Its line would traverse the rich and populous provinces of Chi-li, Honan, and Hoa-Pé, and be connected by another line, for which the Russo-Chinese Bank held concessions, with the valuable coal-mining basin of Ping-ting. Early in August, the British found reason to believe that the pending agreement with a Belgian syndicate for the building of this road was one that would give control of it to the Russo-Chinese Bank,—which meant Russian, or Russian and French control. He promptly remonstrated to the Yamên, and was assured that the agreement had not yet been submitted to the throne, and would not be ratified if the effect were such as he had described. He cabled this assurance to Lord Salisbury on the 6th of August. On the 13th he had a very different report to make. "I learnt on the 9th," he says, "that the Yamên had, under the influence of Li Hung-chang, abandoned this position [that they would not ratify the Belgian agreement if its effect was to give control of the Peking-Hankow line of railway to the Russo-Chinese Bank], and intended to ratify the agreement immediately. In view of the urgency of the matter, I addressed a note on the same day to the Yamên, in which I asked for an interview on the 10th or 11th instant, and informed them that the Chinese text of the Contract had reached me, warning them at the same time that if they did not give me another interview before they ratified the Agreement Her Majesty's Government would look upon their action as unfriendly, and would probably insist on the same rights being given to Great Britain in all the provinces adjoining the Yang-tsze.