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Macleay on the 24th October (see paragraph 18 sunra).
In this memorandum, which was published a few days
later, His Majesty's Government proposed that the
Powers should issue a statement declaring their readi-
ness to negotiate on treaty revision and all other
outstanding questions in China as soon as the Chinese
themselves had constituted a Government to pursue a
constructive policy in harmony with the spirit of the Tashington Conference, but developed and adapted to
meet the altered circumstances of the present time.
The Powers should abandon the idea that the economic
and political development of China could only be secure.
under foreign tutelage and should declare their
readiness to recognize her right to enjoy tariff auto-
nomy as soon as she herself had settled and promul-
gated a new national tariff. They should expressly disclaim any intention of forcing foreign control upon
an unwilling China. Thile calling upon China to min-
tain that respect for the sanction of treaties which
is the primary obligation common to all civilized
states, the Powers should yet recognize the essential justice of the Chinese claim for treaty revision and the difficulty under present conditions of negotiating new treaties in the place of old, and they should,
therefore, modify their traditional attitude of rigid insistence on the strict letter of treaty rights. AS a first step, His hjesty's Government strongly urged the Powers to authorize the immediate levy of the Washington surtaxes unconditionally throughout China. Thus was the apple of discord deliberately thrown down.
48.
The
15.