M. on the 9th of May will give a satisfactory reply, and it is
hereby declared that if no satisfactory reply is received before
or at the specified time, the Japanese Government will take steps
she may deem necessary.
The Chinese Government with a view to preserving the peace of the
Far East hereby accepts, with the exception of those five articles
of Group V postponed for later negotiation, all the articles of
Group I, II, III, and IV and the exchange of notes in connection
with Fukien Province in Group V as contained in the revised
proposals presented on the 26th of April, and in accordance with
the Explanatory Note of seven articles accompanying the Ultimatum
of the Japanese Government with the hope that thereby all the
outstanding questions are settled, so that the cordial
relationship between the two countries may be further
consolidated. The Japanese Minister is hereby requested to appoint
a day to call at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to make the
literary improvement of the text and sign the Agreement as soon as
possible.
Thus ended one of the most extraordinary diplomatic negotiations
ever undertaken in Peking.
CHAPTER VII
THE ORIGIN OF THE TWENTY-ONE DEMANDS
The key to this remarkable business was supplied by a cover sent
anonymously to the writer during the course of these negotiations
with no indication as to its origin. The documents which this
envelope contained are so interesting that they merit attention at
the hands of all students of history, explaining as they do the
psychology of the Demands as well as throwing much light on the
manner in which the world-war has been viewed in Japan.
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