t
I
C.O.
526
This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government,70
Rack
Rent 21 APR 10
OPIUM.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[9922]
No. 1.
[March 22.]
SECTION 1,
Sir,
Professor Caldecott to Foreign Office.-(Received March 22.)
University of London, King's College, March 21, 1910.
1 MUST confess to very keen disappointment on the receipt of the letter from the Secretary of State dated the 11th March.
It seems to mean that the Secretary insists on the ten years' agreement unless China officially asks for a reduction. I cannot think that this is a very sympathetic attitude with a nation in the throes of a great moral crisis. And, further, the record of the Shanghae Commission shows China's delegates doing everything else sare committing their Government to proffering a formal request which they did not feel sure would be well received by Great Britain. Even now we are assured by leaders in China that such a request would be made if they did not fear a rebuff. co-signatories and myself had hoped that the setting free would come from Great Britain now.
But wy
I beg once again to represent to the Secretary of State that the retention of British pressure upon China in this matter for a further period of eight years is oppressive to the conscience of Englishmen, Scotchmen, and Irishmen alike. We caimot look the world in the face in international affairs during the eight years now before us, and the influence of Great Britain in the world is thwarted and reduced until China is free.
I am, &c.
A. CALDECOTT.
P.S.-The memorial which I had the honour of forwarding was signed by twenty-five out of the forty-five ethical authorities to whom I wrote; two more have since sent their names. Of the rest, several replied that they were quite unfamiliar with the situation; several that they trusted the Government simpliciter. Not one raised an objection to the memorial. That twenty-seven out of forty-five academic people went out of their way to join a representation of this kind is a singular and memorable fact.
A. C.
[2661 y-1]