File No. 893.114/167
The Chargé in China ( MacMurray ) to the Secretary of State
Your July 10, 4 p.m. I am requested by the Acting Minister for Foreign Affairs to assure you that the decision of the Chinese Government to purchase the 1,600 chests of opium remaining in the hands of the combine contemplates its use solely for medicinal purposes and that there will be no retrogression from the policy of opium suppression hitherto followed by this Government. In promising to convey this assurance I took occasion to express the regret which our Government would feel if this were not the case. …