793.94/3335
Memorandum, by the Secretary of State
The Japanese Ambassador called at Woodley89 at six fifteen on Wednesday evening, December 23. I had sent for him and when he came I told him that the consensus of all the reports which were coming in, particularly from the War Office, were to the effect that a large movement was being made by the Japanese Army against Chinchow. I told him that this gave me very serious concern and anxiety. He said that he appreciated that. I told him that I was receiving reports from our attachés in Chinchow, most of the time from two of them and all of the time from at least one; that these reports went into very great detail; and that they coincided in the absolute assurance [Page 69] that there were no preparations whatever being made by the Chinese regular forces in that locality for any aggressive attack on the Japanese. To illustrate, I told him of the specific case of Colonel McIlroy, the attaché at Tokyo, who had come to Chinchow by way of Mukden. I told the Ambassador that from Mukden Colonel McIlroy had sent me a report of information, which he had evidently gotten from the Japanese Headquarters at Mukden, which caused him to feel that there was a great preparation being made by the Chinese which was really threatening the Japanese and that it would make necessary counter-defensive measures by the Japanese. I then pointed out that Colonel McIlroy went from there to Chinchow and two days later he sent me a report which expressly denied everything that he had learned from Japanese Headquarters. He pointed out that no preparations were being made by the Chinese whatever and said that he had identified every unit of the Chinese forces which had been there before as being there now.
I pointed out to the Ambassador that under these circumstances the conclusion in my mind had become clear that if the Japanese made an attack on Chinchow and upon these regular forces there, I should be obliged to look upon it as pure aggression on the part of Japan. I told him that I had been particularly careful not to criticise their counter-defensive preparations against bandits and had confined my representations to Tokyo to the preparations which were being made against the Chinese regular forces. The Ambassador said that the Japanese Army felt that the Chinese regular forces were being used as a base of supplies for the bandits to use against the Japanese. I told him that I was familiar with this argument, but that it could not be sound. The Japanese held the only railroad that led from Chinchow to Mukden and, therefore, the Chinese could not send any supplies in any amount to the bandits and that it would be impossible to supply them overland in any other way in the amount the Japanese were claiming. I told him also that I was familiar from what Baron Shidehara had said to Forbes of the evidence upon which Japan was making this claim of support to the bandits, namely, that they had found the bandits equipped with army rifles from China and ammunition and also clothing. I said there were so many ways in which the bandits could be equipped with these supplies without their coming from Chinchow that this in my mind would entirely dispose of such an argument. I said that in the first place the Japanese had attacked and scattered a great many soldiers of the former Chinese army, and that it was well known that these men had become bandits in great numbers, and that this would account for their having Chinese army weapons and ammunition, so that I could not regard that defense as serious.
[Page 70]We talked the whole matter over and he reiterated the fact that I had always been very friendly to Japan and that he appreciated it. I said that was so, but I said that this troubled me very greatly and that I hoped that as a last resort that they would not commit this act, which I thought would make a very serious impression on everybody. He told me, and he also reiterated it, that he did not really think that the attack would come about and he begged me to have patience. I said that I had had patience for four months and that I expected to still have it, but that I must tell his Government and himself exactly how the matter looked now because it seemed very serious.
- Mr. Stimson’s home.↩