'Volume II. MEMORANDA REGARDING OTHER EXTERNAL AFFAIRS. 1905.' [‎99v] (203/228)

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accepted on condition that they telegraphed
instructions to Mr. Chang to sign before Lord
Curzon left India on the 18th November.
On the 8 th November His Majesty’s
Secretary of State replied that, if the
discussion were closed without Mr. Eraser
meeting Chang-Yin-Tang, the Chinese
Government would have ground for complaint,
and His Majesty’s Government therefore
considered it necessary that a meeting
should take place, however inconvenient it
might he to arrange it. But it was added
that Sir B. Satow would be instructed
to inform the Chinese Government that
the negotiations would he broken off
and Chinese adhesion dispensed with, unless
at the interview with Mr. Eraser,
the Chinese Commissioner accepted the
draft agreement with the omission, if neces
sary, of Clause I. On the 11th November,
Sir E. Satow telegraphed that he had verbally
informed Natung to the above effect on the
10th November.
In accordance with the instructions
received from His Majesty’s Secretary of State,
Mr. Eraser arrived in Calcutta on the 12th
November, and called privately on Mr. Chang
on the ISth. He explained to Mr. Chang
that he was instructed to ask on the following
day for the Chinese Plenipotentiary’s formal
decision as to whether he would then sign the
draft Convention of the British Government
with or without Article I. In the event of
refusal, negotiations would he broken off, and
His Majesty’s Government would dispense
with China’s adhesion to the Lhasa Conven
tion. Mr. Chang’s reply was evasive; he
would not say whether or not he had
received instructions from his Government to
accept or refuse the draft Convention; he
ignored the progress made with Mr. Tang,
repeating that he was instructed to go on
negotiating for the amendment of the
Lhasa Convention, and concluded by stating
that he could not sign any agreement which
did not meet the wishes of China. At noon
on the 14th, Mr. Chang and suite were officially
received by Mr. Eraser at the Eoreign Office.
Mr. Chang, in reply to the formal question,
declared that he was unable to sign. Mr. Eraser
then officially informed him that negotiations
between them were concluded, and that he
would report accordingly to his Government.
The termination of the negotiations was
reported by wire to His Majesty’s Secretary of
State on 15th November, and it was added
that, in the opinion of the Government of
India, it only remained for His Majesty’s
Government to intimate officially at Peking
that they dispensed with China’s adhesion to
the Lhasa Convention, which they neverthe
less had always regarded, and would continue