893.00/3508

The Chief of the Division of Far Eastern Affairs, Department of State ( MacMurray ) to the Ambassador in Japan ( Mortis ), temporarily in the United States

Mr. Morris: You will recall that on March 11, 12, and 13, 1919, there occurred a series of clashes between members of the American and Japanese military contingents at Tientsin. A chronological statement of the facts in regard thereto was sent to you at Tokyo by telegraph on April 4, 1919. (File 893.00/3025a)14 That statement of facts included the following incidents, namely, an unprovoked attack by Japanese in civilian clothes upon members of the military police in the Japanese concession on the evening of March 11; an invasion of the French concession by a Japanese mob at midnight on March 12, led by the Acting Japanese Consul General mounted on a horse, which resulted in the arrest by the Japanese soldiers and civilians of one American soldier who was assaulted, stabbed and carried to the Japanese police station, and the arrest of another American soldier on military police duty, who was assaulted without provocation and taken by the Japanese soldiers to the Japanese police station. When the American Consul General’ approached the Japanese officials for the purpose of ascertaining the whereabouts of these two wounded soldiers on the night of March 12, the Japanese officials denied that they were confined in the Japanese police [Page 22] station although the Consul General found one of them locked in a cell and the injured one lying uncared for in the courtyard of the station; on March 13, an American soldier, apparently without cause struck a Japanese who was standing in the grounds surrounding the residence of the Japanese Consul General for which act the American commanding officer made apologies to the Japanese authorities and punished the soldier; on the evening of March 13, some fifty Japanese armed with clubs and followed by a mob pursued three American military police to the theatre in the French concession but were finally dispersed by Japanese police. A full report of the incidents above outlined was made as the result of an investigation carried out by a committee appointed by the American Consul General at Tientsin under date of March 28, 1919. (File 893.00/3057)15

The Department was informed by telegraph from Peking on June 2, that the Japanese Acting Consul General had called on the American Consul General at Tientsin and made a statement of regret for the acts of the Japanese in the French concession and also called upon the American Commandant and expressed regret for the “possible lack of friendliness and caution on the part of the Japanese, even though in the midst of confusion, in treating the wounded soldier.” The Japanese Consul General, however, maintained the position that the police inspector had not intentionally made false statements to the American Consul General and could not be censured.

Third Assistant Secretary Long had a conversation with the Counselor of the Japanese Embassy, Mr. Debuchi, on June 2, in which Mr. Debuchi stated that his Government had instructed the Japanese Minister at Peking to discuss the Tientsin incident very frankly with the American Minister and to make apologies if there was anything in the matter in which the Japanese had acted wrongfully. He stated that the Japanese Minister at Peking had also been instructed to ask for an apology for any acts which the Americans might have committed at Tientsin. (File 893.00/3097)15

The expression of regret made by the Japanese Acting Consul General to the American Consul General and the American military commander at Tientsin were forwarded with a despatch from Peking dated June 3, 1919. (File 893.00/3181)15

The whole incident, in so far as any settlement is concerned, has been complicated by the fact that the Japanese Government and its authorities have insisted upon a fact irrelevant to the illegal and uncalled for acts of the Japanese at Tientsin, namely, the question as to whether or not American soldiers had been present in the Japanese concession on the night of March 12. Thus far no evidence has been produced to show that American soldiers were so present in the [Page 23] Japanese concession and it is the contention of this Government that whether they were present or not has no bearing upon the question of the illegal arrest of American soldiers by the Japanese, the maltreatment of American soldiers by the Japanese while in the custody of the Japanese and the attempt made by the Japanese police to deceive the American Consul General as to the whereabouts of the Americans held by the Japanese police.

There were further conversations between the Third Assistant Secretary, Mr. Long, and the Japanese Chargé d’Affaires on July 1, and 2, memoranda of which are in the files. (893.00/3151–/3150–/3149.)16

Under date of August 19, 1919, the American Minister at Peking forwarded a report from the Consul General at Tientsin inclosing a communication from the Japanese Consul General at that port setting forth the Japanese claims concerning what occurred during the nights of March 11, 12, and 13, with special reference to the presence of American soldiers in the Japanese concession on the night of March 12. (893.00/3231)17

On November 6, 1919, the American Consul General at Tientsin forwarded a memorandum covering a conversation between himself and the Japanese Consul General on the subject of the Tientsin incident wherein the question of the settlement of the matter was discussed. (893.20/3272)18

On December 4, 1919, Mr. MacMurray, Chief of the Division of Far Eastern Affairs, had a conversation with Mr. Debuchi, Japanese Chargé d’Affaires, in which he again brought up the point which the Japanese Government was insisting upon, namely, admission by the American Government of the presence of American soldiers in the Japanese concession on the night of March 12. Mr. MacMurray pointed out to Mr. Debuchi that this matter had no connection at all with the acts of the Japanese authorities and soldiers at Tientsin which were complained of. He also reminded him that the expression of regret which had been made to our Consul at Tientsin by the Japanese Consul General some two months after the event was so general in its terms as to be utterly misleading as it did not acknowledge or disavow the acts complained of. At the end of the discussion Mr. Debuchi expressed his sorrow that the matter could not be [Page 24] brought to a satisfactory settlement and he supposed that the only thing left to do was to drop the question and let it be forgotten.

The Japanese Chargé d’Affaires took the same attitude in this matter in a later conversation with the Third Assistant Secretary, Mr. Long, on December 12, when he said that his Government’s position was such that it practically amounted to a refusal to proceed without an admission by this Government of the presence of American troops in the Japanese concession on the night of March 12, To a suggestion by Mr. Long that the Japanese Government submit a suggestion for a settlement, “even if it was only to a mutual settlement of claims for reparation of injury to the persons, and a mutual apology to be properly expressed by each Government again through their respective representatives at Tientsin,” Mr. Debuchi stated that his Ambassador had reached the conclusion that it was impossible to do anything with the matter and that the case should be filed. (893.00/3302)19

On December 13, the Japanese Ambassador stated to Assistant Secretary Long that a settlement might be made upon the basis which Mr. Long had suggested to Mr. Debuchi on December 12, and referred to above, with the proviso “that the Government of the United States would be very glad to continue its investigation of the Tientsin incident to determine whether or not there had been American soldiers present in the Japanese concession on the night of March 12, and to make proper apology and explanation, if it were finally determined in the course of such inquiry that American soldiers had been there and had been guilty of misconduct.”

On December 12, Assistant Secretary Long wrote a memorandum to the Secretary outlining the suggestions which he had made to the Japanese Ambassador for the settlement of the Tientsin affair. (893.00/3301)20

On December 23, Mr. Debuchi of the Japanese Embassy, offered to take up the Tientsin matter again and stated that the Japanese Ambassador had approved of the suggested method of settlement but when Mr. Long informed Mr. Debuchi that the Secretary desired to speak to the Japanese Ambassador personally on the matter the subject was dropped. (893.00/3274)21

The discussion of the Tientsin incident ended here. So far as this Division is informed the matter appears not to have been taken up between the Secretary of State and the Japanese Ambassador and [Page 25] therefore remains unsettled. This Division believes that the suggested method of settlement made by Mr. Long which has not been accepted by the Japanese Government should be dropped from further consideration and that we should ask the Japanese Government without reference to the question of the presence of American soldiers in the Japanese concession on the night of March 12, first, for a mutual exchange in writing of formal apologies between the Imperial Japanese Ambassador at Washington and the Department of State involving on the part of the Department of State a reiteration of the apology made by the Commanding officer at Tientsin for the act of the American soldier in assaulting the Japanese; and, on the part of the Imperial Japanese Ambassador, an apology for the illegal arrest of Americans by the Japanese officers, which was effected outside the bounds of the Japanese concession, and the deliberate misleading by Japanese officials of the American Consul General as to the fact of the detention of the American soldiers in the Japanese jail; and the usual amends due to the American soldier who was seriously injured as the result of bayonet wounds inflicted while he was illegally under arrest.

MacM[urray]
  1. File number should be 893.00/3028a; document printed in Foreign Relations, 1919, vol. ii, p. 424.
  2. Not printed.
  3. Not printed.
  4. Not printed.
  5. Memoranda not printed; an extract from the aide-memoire left with the Third Assistant Secretary by the Japanese Charge during the conversation of July 2, 1919, is quoted in the telegram of the same date to the Minister in China, printed in Foreign Relations, 1919, vol. ii, p. 430.
  6. Report of the consul general at Tientsin of Aug. 19, forwarded to the Department by the American Minister, printed in Foreign Relations, 1919, vol. ii, p. 436; enclosure not printed.
  7. File number should be 893.00/3272; document printed ibid., p. 438.
  8. See memorandum of the Third Assistant Secretary of State, Dec. 12, 1919, Foreign Relations, 1919, vol. ii, p. 442.
  9. Not printed; see memorandum of the Third Assistant Secretary of State, Dec. 12, 1919, of his conversation with the Counselor of the Japanese Embassy, Foreign Relations, 1919, vol. ii, p. 442.
  10. Foreign Relations, 1919, vol. ii, p. 444.