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[[start page]]                                                        52
my part or that of the United States Minister would be grateful to the Chinese.
     Finally, by the advice of Dr. Reinsch, I informed H. E. the Minister for Foreign Affairs that I was prepared without salary to be of such service to his government in the founding of a Chinese Museum as might be consistent with my instructions from your Committee.
     The American Minister was informed that this offer would be acceptable to the Chinese, but as no date was set for the enterprise and I foresaw further delays, I left for the South of China, having been assured by the Minister for Agriculture that nothing could be begun until Spring. Later, it appeared that the American Minister and Mr. Moore, at whose house I had rooms, were both asked by the Chinese Government to summon me back by telegraph. This they willingly agreed to do if H. E. the Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs or H. E. the Minister for Education would assume responsibility by signing the dispatch. As no further move was made by the Chinese the wisdom of this course was effectively proved. Indeed, when I called on the Chinese officials on my return to Peking in April they made no attempt to renew negotiations in spite of the fact that matters had already gone so far that part of the treasure had been removed from the Imperial summer residence at Jehol and stored in the President's palace in the Forbidden City.
[[section title on left, underlined]] [[underlined]] INTERVIEW WITH PRESIDENT YUAN SHIHK'AI [[/underlined]] An interview with President Yuan Shih K'ai was arranged for me by Mr. Williams through H. E. the Minister for Foreign Affairs.
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