The upshot of the negotiations at Washington was that M.
Caillaux offered £8,000,000 for the first five years, £12,000,000 for the next seven years and £20,000,000 for fifty-six further years. This offer was refused, but the Americans declared that as France admittedly could pay £8,000,000 a year at once they would accept that temporarily as interest on the debt and postpone the funding. It is difficult to see how M. Caillaux can refuse to be taken at his word. Nor need he complain, for £8,000,000 a year on a debt which, together with arrears of interest, amounts to £822,000,000 is a low rate of interest. What the answer of the French Government will be, however, is not yet known. M. Caillaux explained that he was not authorized to do anything but effect a complete settlement. The terms of the French pay- ments to Great Britain are, of course, dependent on what- ever settlement may be reached between France and America. So all along the line the transactions are in a state of suspense.
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