893.00/9062: Telegram
The Minister in China (MacMurray) to the Secretary of State
[Received June 7—3:15 p.m.]
623. Department’s No. 243, June 3, 7 p.m.
1. Reply from Admiral Williams follows:
“In my 0029–2000 I referred to the British plan contained in the circular the British Minister issued April 14 to British subjects in Peking. I suggested that plan because it appeared to me to be a sound one and because my feeling was that if the British did leave Peking the conditions certainly would be such that Americans ought not to remain.
I have received since that time a copy of telegram No. 601, May 31, 6 p.m., sent to the Secretary of State by the American Minister. I interpret the fifth and sixth paragraphs of this telegram to mean that Minister MacMurray considers that in effect the Japanese Government has underwritten the safety of Legations in Peking. Whether the American Legation should or should not be removed then becomes a political question to which, I feel, I am not in a position to give an answer.
My opinion is that the decision as to when the American Legation should be removed, if it is to be removed from Peking, must rest necessarily with the American Minister who is there. I beg to state in answer to the Department’s question that the military situation as presented in this morning’s press is in my opinion a very threatening one. It would seem that the Japanese soon will be compelled to take definite action. In the event that the Legation is to be removed from Peking, I would favor transferring it to Tientsin at first, there to await a possible future movement to Shanghai if necessary.”
2. I have requested Admiral Williams to elaborate his comments in regard to the report of a threatening military situation and also in regard to the probability of action by the Japanese, which are not entirely clear to me.