CO129-501-8 General policy in China 30-11-1926 - 30-11-1926 — Page 165

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"Government servant for causes beyond his control."

63. The Ministers discussed the whole situa-

tion thoroughly with Dr. Koo, taking the line that the action of the Peking Government was foolish in two respects,

i)

(a) because the order to Sir F. Agein was physical- ly impossible of execution so long as Japan objected to the surtaxes, seizure of ship and cargo being his only means of enforcing collection, and

(b) because the execution of the order would en--

tail the smashing of the Customs administration in

southern China.

Dr. Koo was evidently impressed by confrontation with the whole Diplomatic Corps acting in concert and undertook to discuss the matter afresh with the

Cabinet on the basis of the written and verbal

representations made and to see if some method of meeting all points of view could not be devised. (Peking telegram to Foreign Office No.265 of 7th February).

64. The affair now developed in a typically Chinese manner. On the 8th February Sir M. Lampson received a visit from Dr. Wang Ch'ung-hui, an old personal friend, who though not in the Peking Cabinet was very close to its members and was himself an ex-premier. It was at once clear that he had been asked by the Cabinet to find some way out of the Customs' impasse, which would save the "face" of the

Cabinet. The point of real difficulty was recision of the mandate of 31st January. Recision was too

great

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