793.94/405a: Telegram

The Secretary of State to the Chargé in Japan ( Wheeler )

Please deliver the following message to His Excellency, Count Okuma, as a personal and unofficial communication from me:

“Relying upon the personal acquaintance with you, so pleasantly formed when I was in Japan, and the friendship for and confidence in you which have been built upon that acquaintance, I take the liberty of appealing to you personally and unofficially to use your great influence with your Government to have it deal with China in the spirit of patience. It would be most distressing if China and Japan who, because of their geographical position, must remain neighbors, and because of their mutual interests must be friends, should be brought into armed conflict, especially at this time when so large a portion of the world is at war. Fully sharing your well known attachment to the cause of international peace I most respectfully and most [Page 423] earnestly urge you to counsel a continuation of negotiations until some amicable solution of existing disputes is found. I am sure that such a course will, in the end, prove best for both China and Japan and for the world as well.

With assurances of high esteem I am, Very sincerely yours, W. J. Bryan.”

Bryan