NOTHING TO
BE
WRITTEN
IN THIS MARGIN.
38
6
alter their decision brought no encouraging
results (Shanghai telegram No. 1383 of 16th
December}. On 17th December the Foreign Office
telegraphed [Foreign Office telegram No. 1227 to
Shanghai] regretting the attitude of the Chinese
Government, and suggesting that Sir A. Clark Kerr
should proceed to Chungking to put the matter in
person to Chiang Kai-shek. The lines on which
he was instructed to argue were that the
heutralisation of the bulk of the silver together
with the use of a small proportion for urgent
relief amongst the suffering Chinese population
was a solution which could be reasonably accepted
by the Chinese Government because it seemed in
no way to affect their vital interests or involve
the sacrifice of any of the principles for which
they were fighting. By preserving the integrity
of the concession at a time when the Chinese
Government were powerless to do so, the British
municipal council had contributed as much to the
interests of the Chinese as to their own. -In
resisting