This is too
This is not spe
24 CP157
Leven th
54
So far from giving Ministers "all the
necessary information" the Foreign Office, while
circulating a copy of their correspondence with Sir
M.Lampson and Mr.Brendan, have deliberately suppressed
not only the telegrams from Hong Kong, but also the
Colonial Office letter of the 11th of May, in which
our case was fully argued. Contenting themselves with
a brief summary of Colonial Office views, which hardly
does justice to the issue, they have even gone so far
as to put up a draft reply to the Colonial Office for
approval by the Cabinet. That they should have done
this without circulating our letter to the Cabinet, or
giving us an opportunity to circulate it ourselves,
seems decidedly irregular.
The damage has, however, been partially
repaired since, as a result of Sir Samuel Wilson's
intervention, the Foreign Office have now agreed to.
circulate a copy of our letter of the 11th of May as
a separate paper. They disclaim any desire to
prejudice the issue, and have hit on the ingentious
plea that their memorandum was drafted before our letter
of the 11th of May was received. While this may well
be the case with regard to the draft reply to the
Colonial Office, which makes no reference to this
letter, and is hardly an adequate answer to it, it is
clear that the explanation cannot be accepted as regards
the memorandum, since the brief summary given of
Colonial Office views quotes the actual words used in
our letter of the 11th of May.
It seems probable that the Foreign Office
regard the issue as already decided in their favour by
the Lungshan incident, and have therefore taken no
particular trouble to reproduce the full correspondence.
The