File No. 893.114/172

The Secretary of State to the Chargé in China ( MacMurray)

[Telegram]

Your August 26, 11 a.m.1 The Department is informed that the British Government has neither participated in nor given its official countenance to the negotiations between the Chinese Government and the opium combine but, on the contrary, highly disapproves of the transaction which it hopes the Chinese Government may yet be persuaded to abandon. The Department sincerely regrets that the [Page 212] information it has received makes it plain that the plan in contemplation for the disposition of opium stocks is in contravention of the spirit of the Hague draft treaty ratified by the United States and China and jeopardizes all the beneficial results that have been accomplished, at so much sacrifice, towards the suppression of the opium traffic. You will therefore make earnest representations to the Chinese Government in this sense, cooperating as closely as possible with your British colleague.

Lansing
  1. Not printed.