893.51/2533
The Secretary of State to the British Appointed Ambassador (Grey)
Excellency: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the note (No. 812) of the 8th instant in which Your Excellency, in reference to communications made to you in behalf of this Department on the subject of loans to China, conveys an expression of the satisfaction of the British Minister for Foreign Affairs that the independent loan by the Chicago Continental and Commercial Trust and Savings Bank has been abandoned and that the United States Government is prepared to adopt the proposal put forward by the British Government for an immediate advance by the Four Powers without prejudice.
I have taken pleasure in communicating to the American Group the terms of this proposal as embodied in your note, with an expression of this Government’s hope that the Group may find it feasible to arrange for cooperation with the several other national groups upon the terms so indicated; and in the confidence that such cooperation may be arranged I am directing the American Ambassadors in Paris and Tokyo to support the proposals of the British Government.
I venture to hope that this adoption by the American Government of the proposals made by the British Government may make it possible to effect without undue delay a combination of the financial interests concerned, if only for the temporary and limited purpose of affording to the Chinese Government the means of meeting its [Page 539] present financial crisis and averting the necessity of its taking such steps as would essentially alter the status quo.
There is enclosed herewith for your information a copy of the telegram in which I am advising the Japanese Government, through the American Embassy at Tokyo, of the action taken by this Government in response to the suggestion of the British Government.45
Accept [etc.]