The Secretary of State to Ambassador Reid.
Washington, December 14, 1909.
Mr. Knox directs that Mr. Reid take an early opportunity to present to the foreign office the following memorandum:
The Government of the United States is gratified to learn that its proposals relating to the commercial neutralization of the Manchurian railways meet with the approval in principle of the Government of Great Britain. This Government has, up to the present time, been in full accord with the opinion expressed by His Britannic Majesty’s Government that it would be inexpedient to broach the subject of another railway loan for China pending the conclusion of the negotiations relating to the Hukuang loan. Apart from the unexpected delay in the consummation of these latter negotiations, however, the following reasons present themselves why an early consideration of this important subject seems desirable. The question of the proposed Chinchow-Aigun loan has been discussed in its various phases by the Japanese press for several weeks past. References to the subject emanating from London, St. Petersburg, and other capitals have also recently appeared in the American press. Moreover, according to information received from Peking, conditions now existing in official circles in China are such that this publicity and uninformed discussion will tend to greatly prejudice, if it does not entirely defeat, the successful culmination of the policy now agreed upon in principle between the Governments of the United States and Great Britain. It appears to the Government of the United States therefore highly important that no time should be lost in placing the plan as a whole before the governments of the other interested powers for their consideration, with a view to obtaining their support of the principle involved. The representatives of the United States at Peking, Tokyo, St. Petersburg, Paris, and Berlin will accordingly be instructed forthwith in the above sense, and this Government is now prepared as a preliminary step to join with the Government of Great Britain in urging China to consent to participation in the Chinchow-Aigun line by Japan and other interested powers. The Government of the United States will welcome the cooperation of the Government of Great Britain in securing favorable consideration of the project by the powers concerned.