As early as July 10, 1914, M. Clémentel had appealed to the French Government to prevent foreign Powers from laying their hands upon the oil deposits of Northern Africa. "At a time when Britain is pursuing in Persia a policy which is well known to you, and when oil concessions are, at bottom, the chief cause of the troubles in Mexico," he exclaimed, "the French Government cannot permit its representatives in Algeria, or in Morocco, to give deposits of oil to all comers." The Government paid no attention to this, for, two years later, Lord Cowdray (Pearson) had obtained a concession of 730,000 hectares for prospecting, and 101,000 for immediate exploitation. These extensive territories were bounded on the east by the railway from Ténès to Orléansville, on the south by the railway from Orléansville to Relizane and thence to Saint-Lucien, on the west by the lines from Saint-Lucien to Saint-Barbe and from Trelat to Oran, and on the north by the sea between Oran and Ténès. And when, on November 9, 1916, M. Ernest Outrey submitted to the Chamber documents demonstrating how the French Government had proceeded to hand over the oil riches of Algeria without consulting Parliament, M. Marcel Sembat, the Minister for Public Works, deemed the following reply a complete justification: "If you are dealing with lands where the presence of oil is doubtful and where, according to technical experts, you would have to spend many millions upon prospecting, and if a company says to you 'Here are our guarantees; we have competent technicians, and we are prepared, under Government control, to spend four million francs upon prospecting,' what are you to do?" When the Pearson firm addressed its request for a concession to the French Government, on January 18, 1915, the Minister, in forwarding it to the Governor of Algeria, did not hesitate to write that "the question would have to be submitted to Parliament."[53] But he was not long in changing his opinion, and, in order to dispense with Parliament, it was decided to deal with the request "by decree enacted by the Council of State."[54] On August 18, 1916, before any final decision had been taken upon the matter, M. Marcel Sembat instructed the Governor of Algeria "to give the petitioning company every facility for the sale of oil obtained as a result of the investigations which it may undertake." And, on October 11th, M. Lutaud forwarded to him the following letter from the Prefect of Oran, which pointed out an ingenious method of _evading the law upon concessions_: