File No. 893.00/2662
All of this Memorandum, with the exception of the first sentence, was
transmitted to the Department in my telegram No. 6470 of June 15, 2
p.m.
[Inclosure—Memorandum]
The Foreign Office to
Ambassador Page
His Majesty’s Government have not failed to give their careful
attention to the memorandum communicated by the American Ambassador
on the 5th instant conveying an invitation from the United States
Government to His Majesty’s Government to join in a declaration to
the Chinese Government in connection with the state of affairs which
has arisen in China. His Majesty’s Government feel it hardly
necessary to assure the American Government at once that their first
impulse is to view with sympathy all proposals emanating from the
State Department at Washington and that they are naturally prompted
by motives of sentiment no less than by those of interest to
endeavor to meet the wishes of the American Administration most
particularly in those spheres where the policy of the two Powers is
clearly animated by a common spirit.
As regards the specific issue, it appears to His Majesty’s Government
from such information as is at their disposal that though the
question of the entry of China into the war, (which is in fact the
immediate cause of the disturbed situation that has been created)
has become overshadowed by the internal crisis, the future
prosperity and international prestige of China, which means
ultimately her unity, cannot be dissociated from her decision to
range herself, or not, as the case may be, on the side of the Powers
who are fighting for the liberties of the entire world.
His Majesty’s Government thus consider China’s entry into the war to
be primarily to her own interest, and moreover, as far as they
themselves are concerned, they feel it would be inconsistent with
all the steps which they have taken to bring China in, if they were
suddenly to qualify the importance which they have hitherto attached
to that eventuality.
Again, they conceive the confused internal political situation of
China to require their abstention from any step which might
embarrass their Representative at Peking in such developments as may
hereafter arise. A declaration, they feel,
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made by him to the de
facto Constitutional Government might under existing
circumstances be regarded as a slight to the rival party with whom
as the then Government he had been working for China’s entry into
the war, and should political fortune eventually favour Tuan Chi-jui
or his friends and bring him once again into power, he could hardly
return to the same amicable relations with His Majesty’s Legation as
before. In this way even quite apart from the German question, His
Majesty’s Government—and they of course speak only for
themselves—would not merely not have contributed to a unification of
existing Chinese parties, but having regard to their traditional
practice during periods of internal dispute in China of impartiality
towards all such parties irrespective of political complexion, would
have risked widening the breach between them by suddenly, after
years of a different policy, appearing to favour one at the expense
of the other.
In these circumstances, His Majesty’s Government deeply regret that,
though there can be no doubt whatever that in principle they are
entirely at one with the United States Government as regards the
objects to be attained, and though they warmly desire to cooperate
with them in the matters at issue, nevertheless they conceive it to
be more prudent and more in accord with their traditional practice
in China for them themselves at this moment to abstain from the step
proposed. At the same time they trust that the two Governments will
continue to act in consultation as regards such developments as may
occur and to frame their policy generally on a common basis.
Foreign Office, June 14, 1917
