of H. M. Govt. To my despatch No. 150
of the same date, marked "Very Confidential", I made some observations on what the Duke had said to me.
He told me yesterday that he had carefully considered the remarks in my memorandum, as well as those which I had made to him, and that he had also verbally looked closely into the stipulations of the Commercial Treaty. He had (he went on to say) come to the conclusion that the principal objections of H. M. Govt. rested upon an interpretation of the Articles of the Treaty which put upon them a sense which they did not, in his opinion, necessarily bear. He thought that he should be able to give explanations which would be satisfactory to H. M. Govt. He had with this view prepared for himself a fresh draft of a memorandum in answer to that which accompanied Lord Lytton's note of the 15th of November last.
He added that he intended to communicate this draft to me in a few days; and he said something about recording, afterwards in a more formal manner, his interpretation of the Treaty, if it proved satisfactory to H. M. Govt.
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