"In view of all these facts China, on March 18, communicated to the American representative of the consort tim in the presence of the American Minister to Peking, an important decision, which it is too soon to make public in detail, but which is practically the h-knell of the Consortium and the international programme as decided at Paris unless very radical modifications in the present "international situation speedily come. China hopes that Canada, in view of her geographical propinquity to the United States and the grave complications which a general war on the Pacific in which China participated would bring to her, will interpret to the Imperial Government in London this summer the problem of the Pacific and the Far East in the spirit most caleulated to preserve peace and the rights of friendly nations.
"The fact that all attempted decisions in Asiatic affairs made from London since the Armistice have been not only faulty, but childish and conceived in the pre-1914 spirit, has led to the remarkable results we have witnessed in Asia Minor, Persia and Afghanistan, where the Moscow Government, without any particular difficulty, has torn up all British documents. The last mistake left to be made in Asia is on the subject which we are now discussing—a mistake which we greatly fear will be made unless there is proper inquiry and a proper respect for Chinese. nationalization. China can no longer be ignored. As the power possessing by far the greatest interests on the western littoral of the Pacific, she is now setting to work through the whole net-work of her international relations to preserve _her rights, I believe that the Canadian Government, when it is put in possession of all-the facts, will take a view identical to China's and become a very valuable factor in the inauguration of new and proper policy. 2
TsincTao AFFAIR.
"Publication of books and documents dealing with the war has put China in possession of very damaging information regarding the policy of the ce-signatories of the Anglo-Japanese alliance in August, 1914. Thus Dr. E. Dillon's book on the peace conference has shown that at the moment when in Peking the late President Yuan Shih-kai was being persuaded, as our records show, not to launch an attack against the German fortress of Tsingtao, on the ground that it would be dangerous for Chifia to be involved in a world war, Britain was urging Japan to expedite her attack lest Germany surrender the leased territory to China and then claim a new lease later on. This lack' of candour, which smacks of double dealing, has done more to disgust intelligent Chinese than any recent incident and is a discredit to British Asiatic policy, particularly as 2
requisitioned by the British in lary tow months later Chinese arms were tities for the, Mesopotamian campaign and freely, offered, being delivered by China in Hongkong.
A Sxow Down, "Tt would be easy to multiply such cases and China is now prepared to throw open her archives and show what really took place.
I cannot conclude without saying that great as must be the blame apportioned to London for China's political suffering during the years since 1914, America must also bear a portion of that blame. For it was the action of the secretary of the treasury, Mr. McAdoo, in 1917, after a solemn promise had been made to China that her entry into the war would find her financed by Washington, in refusing to grant one dollar of advances, which forced the Peking Government to borrow piecemeal" from Japan, in 1918, under necessarily bad arrangements which were produced by tapen next year in Paris and led to the betrayal of China in the matter of Shantung.
"Fortunately China is now determined to fight things out publicly. Her bankers have now formed a powerful banking group which within six months will include every institution in the country. Already valuable work has been done tending to consolidate and hearten the country. If we receive anything like fairplay in the immediate future China will win through and tify the hopes of her friends."
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.