Show BRITISH DECLINE TO ACCEPT AMENDED TREATY advanced by the british confer ence between Faunce fote and hay the long expected answer from the british government to the state depart anent a communication reciting the ac deion of the senate upon the hay fote treaty was returned at noon mon ay lord fote the british had already acquainted hay with the fact that he had received a corn nun cation from his government on the subject and it had been in h a possess on for several days secretary hay had acquired a general knowledge of the character of the british response lord fote read the answer to secretary hay it was in the form of an instruction from lord lansdowne the british minister of fore agn affa rs to lord fote and of these in he left a copy with secretary hay at the conclusion of the conference it was stated that the instruction to lord fote was to notify the government of the united states that the british government did not see its way clear to accept of the senate amendments the amendments were treated in de tail at some length in argumentative fashion the purpose of the british government being to show that it had bound reason for declining to accept them |