893.5045/136: Telegram
The Ambassador in Great Britain (Houghton) to the Secretary of State
[Received 9:13 p.m.]
217. My 216, July 14, 5 p.m.10 Chamberlain11 sent for me late yesterday afternoon and on coming to Foreign Office I found there also French and Japanese Ambassadors. Chamberlain stated he wished to limit conversation to the difficulties between the diplomatic corps at Peking and the Municipal Council at Shanghai. He made a statement of the facts as they had been presented to him and then stated that his Government was unwilling to accept the resignation of the chief of police believing a proper and judicial inquiry should be made into the affair especially since the Municipal Council had offered to accept and abide by any decision reached by such an inquiry. Chamberlain said he would like both to instruct British Chargé [Page 685] d’Affaires, Peking, advising him of British Government’s decision as above and also send an informal message to Municipal Council pointing out absurdity of their position and stating frankly that they could not regard themselves as responsible only to their own electors and at the same time rely upon foreign powers for protection. I asked if in view of public attitude of Municipal Council some retraction on their part would not be advisable before beginning inquiry. Chamberlain replied that any effort to discipline Council brought in Chinese and opened up a very wide subject for discussion and was believed therefore to be inadvisable.
Chamberlain then read following proposed telegram of instruction to British Chargé d’Affaires, Peking, and expressed the hope that the Ambassadors present might recommend to their Governments that similar instructions be telegraphed their respective missions in Peking. Japanese Ambassador agreed with Chamberlain’s plan and said he would recommend it to his Government. French Ambassador stated that inasmuch as France had her own concessions and was therefore not directly interested he would leave the matter for decision by his Government.
Upon leaving I informed Chamberlain I would make a personal recommendation to my Government that any action taken should be in concert with powers represented.
Chamberlain will see Italian Ambassador today.
I request instructions.
“His Majesty’s Government have carefully considered your telegram number 230 but remain of opinion that apart from the controversy with the Municipal Council a public and judicial inquiry is required to satisfy all concerned that justice is being done. The preliminary inquiries instituted by the diplomatic body and the conclusions formed by them on this report which they have received from their delegation show that there is a clear case for further investigation but the information in possession of His Majesty’s Government is not sufficient to justify themselves in awarding or withholding blame still less in refusing to the Municipal Council the public inquiry for which they have asked. His Majesty’s Government appreciate the difficulties arising from the fact that the diplomatic body have already rejected proposals made from Shanghai for such an inquiry and that the diplomatic body considered the report of their own commission sufficient basis for the conclusions which they wished to publish. His Majesty’s Government are more than anxious to maintain the authority of the diplomatic body but consider that this will be better secured if the initiative in proposing and constituting a judicial inquiry is taken by the diplomatic body and it is explained that the diplomatic commission of inquiry is to be considered as a preliminary inquiry which has made out a prima facie case for a further public judicial inquiry.
I therefore propose to endeavor to obtain the consent of the Governments immediately concerned to the appointment of a judicial [Page 686] commission consisting of American, French, Japanese and British judges having known the Far East but if possible not directly connected with Shanghai. I do not think that any Chinese representative should be included as the Chinese Government are not responsible for the administration of the International Settlement and have shown a persistent desire to use the Shanghai incident as an argument in a different and larger issue instead of judging it strictly on its merits.
The further communication which would be required to the Municipal Council and which would be published should be on the following lines: It should start by referring to the responsibility of the Chinese owing to the organization of the demonstration on Chinese-administered territory and should say that the inquiries made by the diplomatic body have led them to the conclusion after consultation with their Governments that a public judicial inquiry should be held to establish and make known the facts, fix the responsibilities and satisfy public opinion in China and abroad, that justice will be done and administrative reforms will be effected when required as shown by the results of the inquiry. Pending the result of this inquiry they consider that the police commissioner should be suspended but without loss of pay or prejudice to his position.
In order to maintain solidarity among your colleagues I have discussed action on the above lines with the American, French and Japanese Ambassadors in London to whom I have handed a copy of this telegram in order to secure if possible the issue of similar instructions to the representatives of those Governments at Peking. As soon as I learn the result of this discussion I will give you further instructions.”