File No. 893.51/1389.
The American Chargé d’Affaires to the Secretary of State.
Peking, March 25, 1913.
Sir: * * * Your telegram of March 19, 9 p.m., containing the full text of the statement was not received here until yesterday (March 24th) having been delayed by transmission through Paris and Tokyo.* * *
A meeting of the diplomatic representatives of the six powers concerned in the loan has been called for tomorrow morning, but in view of the statement of the President communicated in your telegram I have informed my colleagues that I shall not be able to take any further part in these negotiations.
As indicating the effect which the statement of the President and Cabinet has had upon the Chinese I have the honor to enclose a [Page 175] copy of an editorial published in the Peking Daily News of today’s issue.1
On the whole the Chinese are greatly pleased by the action of the American Government and I have the honor to report that yesterday after conversation upon other matters the President of China said to me: “I am very grateful to the American Government for its action of a few days ago. It will be of great assistance to us.”
I have [etc.]
- It is headed “America and the Sextuple Group” and concludes as follows: “The consortium may or may not survive in a quintuple or even a quadruple form, but one thing at least is certain: China, except under compulsion, will never contract a foreign loan under the conditions recently demanded by the powers. And if financial assistance should ultimately be forthcoming upon less enerous terms much of the credit will be due to President Wilson.”↩