893.01/78½
President Wilson to the Secretary of State
Dear Mr. Secretary: I suggest this as a possible course of action in this delicate matter. I wish that this great change in China might [Page 429] have been postponed, for certainly this seems a most inopportune time to add such fundamental reversals to the general upset of the world.
Could we not give a very plain intimation to the Japanese government and the governments which seem to be acting with it in this matter that we agree with the Chinese in their position that a change in their form of government, however radical, is wholly a domestic question and that it would in our opinion be a serious breach of China’s sovereignty to undertake any form of interference or even protest without such evidences as are now wholly lacking that foreign interests would be imperiled which it is our privilege to safeguard; and at the same time intimate to the Chinese government, in the most friendly manner, our feeling that this is a most critical time in the affairs of the whole world and that her own international and national interests are in danger of being seriously compromised unless the present changes there can be guided with a very firm and prudent hand.
I must say that it would seem from what Reinsch tells us that they are handling the whole thing remarkably well.
Faithfully Yours,