711.945/1047½
Memorandum by the Secretary of State of a Conversation with the Japanese Ambassador (Hanihara), April 17, 1924, at 6 p.m.
The Japanese Ambassador called at six o’clock and left with the Secretary a memorandum of the expression “grave consequences” used in his former note which was transmitted by the Secretary to the Senate Committee. The Ambassador said that if the Secretary decided to publish the note he would be glad to be advised so that he could inform his Government and he hoped that if the Secretary did decide to publish the note he would make a reply which could be published at the same time. The Secretary expressed his appreciation. The Secretary said that he had not any idea that the Ambassador had intended a threat by the language used in the former note. The Secretary said that, when he had received the note and read the last paragraph, for a moment his attention was at once arrested by the use of the words “grave consequences”, but as he read the context he thought he saw clearly what the Ambassador meant in his allusion to the effect on the otherwise happy and mutually advantageous relations of the two countries. The Secretary felt quite sure that the Ambassador did not intend any threat and was very sorry that such a construction had been placed upon his language. The Ambassador again said that such an interpretation had not entered his mind.