west. The chief of the
Russian detachment gave out orders for the mobilization of the Russian
colonists and openly took Uliassutai under his protection with the tacit
agreement of the Mongolian authorities. The Mongol Sait, Chultun Beyli,
convened a council of the neighboring Mongolian Princes, the soul of
which was the noted Mongolian patriot, Hun Jap Lama. The Princes quickly
formulated their demands upon the Chinese for the complete evacuation of
the territory subject to the Sait Chultun Beyli. Out of it grew parleys,
threats and friction between the various Chinese and Mongolian elements.
Wang Tsao-tsun proposed his scheme of settlement, which some of the
Mongolian Princes accepted; but Jap Lama at the decisive moment threw
the Chinese document to the ground, drew his knife and swore that
he would die by his own hand rather than set it as a seal upon this
treacherous agreement. As a result the Chinese proposals were rejected
and the antagonists began to prepare themselves for the struggle. All
the armed Mongols were summoned from Jassaktu Khan, Sain-Noion Khan and
the dominion of Jahantsi Lama. The Chinese authorities placed their
four machine guns and prepared to defend the fortress. Continuous
deliberations were held by both the Chinese and Mongols. Finally, our
old acquaintance Tzeren came to me as one of the unconcerned foreigners
and handed to me the joint requests of Wang Tsao-tsun and Chultun Beyli
to try to pacify the two elements and to work out a fair agreement
between them. Similar requests were handed to the representative of an
American firm. The following evening we held the first meeting of
the arbitrators and the Chinese and Mongolian representatives. It
was passionate and stormy, so that we foreigners lost all hope of the
success of our mission. However, at midnight when the speakers were
tired, we secured agreement on two points: the Mongols announced that
they did not want to make war and that they desired to settle this
matter in such a way as to retain the friendship of the great Chinese
people; while the Chinese Commissioner acknowledged that China had
violated the treaties by which full independence had been legally
granted to Mongolia.

These two points formed for us the groundwork of the next meeting and
gave us the starting points for urging reconciliation. The deliberations
continued for three days and finally turned so that we foreigners could
propose our suggestions for an agreement. Its