33
of their general plan of Treaty
Revision by slow and safe stages.
As regards the actual
conduct of the negotiations with the
The Foreign
Chinese Government, Sir M. Lampson
Office pant dut-
That
alone is responsible,
nless that
position is fully understood by all
officers of His Majesty's Government
and unless the highly confidential
character of the instructions which are
sent to Sir M. Lampson in connection
with such negotiations is recognised and
scrupulously respected by all to whom the
tenor of any such instructions may have
been communicated, the public interest
is liable to suffer injury. The action
taken by you on the receipt of the copy
of the Foreign Office despatch containing
His Majesty's Government's instructions
to Sir M. Lampson and referred to have
a
paragraph 2, appeared to the Foreign Office
to be inconsistent with those well-established
principles and they cannot but regard as
unfortunate