793.003/5578/9

Memorandum by the Minister in China (Johnson)99

I called upon Sir Miles Lampson, the British Minister, today and he told me that he had received instructions from London covering new amendments which were being incorporated in the texts already agreed upon between himself and Wang. He said that he had received word that early in the month the British Foreign Minister had handed to the Chinese Minister in London an Aide-Mémoire outlining conditions under which British Government was prepared to relinquish its extraterritorial rights in which the British Foreign Minister had stated almost in so many words that British Government was prepared to give up criminal jurisdiction provided the four areas of Shanghai, Tientsin, Hankow and Canton were excluded from the new treaty. British Minister stated that in view of this fact he had felt justified in authorizing Mr. Teichman in the discussions that he was having with Mr. Hsu Mo to take up without commitment the question of an article covering arrests, imprisonment, detention and bail. He promised to give me the new texts as soon as they were available.

Nelson Trusler Johnson
  1. Copy transmitted to the Department by the Minister without covering despatch; received June 11.