893.5045/75
Memorandum by the Under Secretary of State (Grew)
The Situation at Shanghai
The Chinese Minister called on me and said that he had talked the other night at the British Embassy with the Secretary who suggested that he come to the Department if he had any concrete proposals to make. The Minister said that no doubt we had much more information regarding the situation in Shanghai than he had, but that nevertheless he desired to leave nothing undone to cooperate with us with a view to bringing about the termination of the trouble. He said he had sent one of his young secretaries who was a student last year to the meeting of Chinese students in Washington the other night and had persuaded them materially to modify the resolution which they were sending to the Chinese students in Shanghai. Unfortunately, he had not had an opportunity to see the resolution in its final form or he would have endeavored to secure the elimination of the term “brutal assault”.
[Page 658]The Minister said that the purpose of his visit was to ask if we would not make representations to the British Government to avoid extreme measures. I informed him subsequently, through Mr. Lockhart, that we did not feel ourselves in a position to make such representations at the present moment. (The Secretary had told me that he desired to take no step which might in any way interfere with the solidarity of the Powers.)
I then told the Minister that our instructions to our authorities in Shanghai were to the effect that they should take adequate measures for the protection of American lives and property, but to do nothing more. The Minister said it would have a very salutary effect if he could be authorized to let this be known in Shanghai. After consulting with the Secretary I asked Mr. Lockhart to inform the Minister, who was then in his office, that the Minister might telegraph to his Government and let it be known in Shanghai that our naval forces and marines were present in Shanghai only for the purpose of protecting American lives and property and that no other action was contemplated at the present time.
The Minister said that he considered it unfortunate that we had permitted the publication of Mr. Cunningham’s despatch stating that the killing of the Chinese students was justified. It would have been all right if we had added that the killings were justified in order to protect American lives; that the Chinese students here had jumped at the conclusion that the attitude of the Consul General was that wholesale murders of Chinese were justified without giving adequate reasons therefor. He said he had explained to the Chinese students the meaning of the Consul General’s message.