-47-
of the diplomatic representatives of the Washington
Powers Mr. Iampson, who had just taken over from Mr.
O'Malley, requested consideration of the surtaxes in
advance of the other proposals raised in the British
policy memorandum. The American, Dutch, Italian,
Spanish and Portuguese linisters had authority to
agree at once to the unconditional grant. The French,
Belgian, Danish, Swedish and Norwegian Ministers had
not yet received instructions and said that the delay was due to the desire of their Governments to study the memorandum as a whole before replying to the pro-
posal about the surtaxes. The Japanese Hinister said
that his Government definitely refused to agree to the unconditional grant on the ground that the free money
would be used for civil war.
53. On the 26th December the British policy memorandum was published. Comrade Ch'ên thereupon
at once put four questions to Sir F. aglen by telegram. (a) as he right in assuming that the consent of the
other Washington Powers would be necessary before the Washington surtaxes went into operation? To this Sir Francis replied: "Yes, before operation by the Mari-
time Customs".
(b) If Great Britain meant the surtaxes to go into
operation on British goods without the consent of the
other Powers, would the Customs collect on British
goods only? Sir Francis replied: "Impracticable".
(c) Thatever Great Britain's intentions, the col-
lection of the surtaxes would mean that a considerable
part of the proceeds would go to the northern enemies
of the South, who would use all efforts to retain
important
157