711.9412A/15

The Ambassador in Japan (MacVeagh) to the Secretary of State

[Extract]
No. 805

Sir: I have the honor to report to the Department that I had an interview, by appointment, with the Minister for Foreign Affairs on Thursday, March 22nd, at 11 A.M., at the Foreign Office, Mr. Sawada, the official interpreter of the Foreign Office, being present.

I reported to the Minister the substance of the Department’s telegram No. 22 of March 14th, 6 P.M.62 He said he had received word from Matsudaira about the two new treaties,63 but not the text of the treaties; that he agreed in principle with the propositions of my Government as he understood them, and when the treaties arrived would give them careful consideration; he thought it doubtful, however, if he could make any reply until after the next Diet session.

I then asked him what progress was being made in the direction of the embargo on arms for China, and what he thought was the prospect of getting such an agreement of the Powers as would result in the enforcement of a real embargo, which on several occasions he had told me he earnestly desired as a means of ending the desolating wars between the factions. He referred to the joint note of the diplomatic body at Peking, and said he hoped this might have a good effect, but that this would only, at the best, put an end to shipments through the Chinese ports; and in order to cut off shipments by land also he (Baron Tanaka) some time ago had made a request to the Soviet Government to aid the embargo by preventing shipments through the territory controlled by it; and that only the day before he had asked the Soviet Ambassador here to get a reply from his Government as soon as possible.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I have [etc.]

Charles MacVeagh
  1. Not printed.
  2. For correspondence regarding proposed treaties of arbitration and conciliation between the United States and Japan, see vol. iii, pp. 135 ff.