No Restitution Please, We’re British

This is a statement that no U.S. museum officials could get away with, even if it might accurately reflect their thinking:
The British Museum is here to present world culture. In principle the trustees are against restitution because it would detract from that mission.
This from Hannah Boulton, the British Museum’s spokesperson, reacting to a demand by President Imamali Rakhmonov of Tajikistan “that the British Museum give back a unique collection of ancient gold and silver artifacts discovered 130 years ago near the Oxus river” (as reported yesterday by Luke Harding of The Guardian).
The treasure, from the 4th and 5th centuries B.C., was excavated near Tajikistan’s border with Afghanistan.
Boulton said that her museum had not yet received a formal claim for the objects, but she’s already issued her preemptive strike. Most American museum officials would turn Boulton’s statement around, saying that “in principle” they do not want stolen objects in their collections, but they disagree with some source countries’ definitions of “stolen art” and on whether events occuring more than a century ago should trigger restitution today.
Speaking of which, on Monday I’ll get to see The Chariot!