861.77/1373
The British Chargé (Lindsay) to the Acting Secretary of State
Sir: By direction of my Government I have the honour to invite your attention to the importance, having regard to the collapse of all authority in Russia and more particularly to the chaotic conditions at present prevailing in Eastern Siberia, of taking such steps as may be possible to prevent the control of the Chinese Eastern Railway passing exclusively into the hands of any single Power.
With this object in view I am instructed to express the hope that the United States Government will refrain from carrying out their reported intention of withdrawing the American representative from the Allied Technical Board at Harbin. His Majesty’s Government attach the greatest importance to the continued exercise of its functions by this Board for as long a period as possible.
His Majesty’s Government would also be glad of an expression of the views of the United States Government as to the future of the Railway after the eventual disappearance of the Allied Technical Board and its relation to the Consortium which has formed the subject of recent correspondence between this Embassy and the Department of State, ending with Mr. Lansing’s note of the 5th inst.39
I have [etc.]