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might be undertaken, and wished to be assured that the Chiefs
of Staff were satisfied in this respect.
The Cabinet agreed
(a) To postpone consideration of the questions raised
in the Report of the Committee of Chiefs of Staff (Paper
C.P.123(27)) until the following day:
(b) That the First Lord of the Admiralty should send a
telegram to the Naval Commander-in-Chief to the effect
that no action should be taken to enforce sanctions without
further instructions, but that in the meantime he should
keep a careful watch on the movements of the Chinese in
case they might be making any preparations which would
defeat his plans:
(c) That the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs should
instruct Sir Miles Lampson that no isolated action, either in
fixing the date for the receipt of the reply of the
Cantonese to the demands of the Powers or in applying
sanctions, must be taken without direct authority from His
Majesty's Government, and that he hoped to be in a
position to communicate more fully on the following day:
(d) That the protection of British nationals at Chefoo
(which was raised by a member of the Cabinet) was a matter
on which the British Minister at Peking and the Naval
Commander-in-Chief had full authority, and with which they
were best situated to deal.
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