AMERICAN EMBASSY, LONDON. May 8th, 1908,
Why with 1/4888.
Sir:-
With reference to Mr. Carter's Note of the 26th of February last and to previous correspondence on the subject of the Opium trade in China, I am happy now to be able to state, on behalf of my Government, that the Governments concerned have agreed to an investigation of this question by a Joint Commission.
In answer to my Government's enquiries no Government has expressed any preference as to the date or place of the meeting of the Commissioners, although Shanghai has been mentioned as appropriate.
Thus the Government of the United States find themselves invited to suggest such date and place, and believing that Shanghai will be found agreeable and convenient to the other Powers concerned, venture to name that City as the place of meeting and January 1st, 1909, as the date.
Sir Edward Grey, Bart.,
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The