793.94/2929: Telegram
The Chargé in France (Shaw) to the Secretary of State
813. From Ambassador Dawes: Following report from Sweetser:
“Monsieur Briand when asked privately today his opinion of the effect of the American announcement5 said it had come just at the right moment. It had been, he added, decisive.
At the meeting of the 12 members of the Council, other than the representatives of China and Japan, Briand read the Chinese note on Chinchow distributed this morning. Cecil said he had telegraphed his Government not only urging that observers be sent as had indeed already been done but suggesting also that they cooperate with French, Italian, American, or other observers who might be there. He then distributed the following note:
‘The British delegate has inquired of His Majesty’s Government whether it would be possible to instruct His Majesty’s Minister in Nanking to discuss with his colleagues arrangements for a regular concerted organization of observers with close liaison between the different nationalities and collation of reports and with sufficient observers held in readiness to proceed to localities which may be indicated as danger points.
It seems essential that in case of need concerted action should be taken as rapidly as possible and the British delegate ventures to suggest to his colleagues that they might propose to request their Governments to send similar instructions.’
Cecil estimated there were already nine observers in Chinchow: two British, two French, two Italian, one American, one German and one Spaniard. Since they had arrived, Briand remarked, the character of the news seemed to have changed; there were not so many alarmist reports as constantly appeared before. Both he and Cecil, however, [Page 577] expressed disquietude on the possibilities in that region; it is evident the Council is watching it with alarm lest the diplomatic settlement which Briand again today thought was close at hand be made impossible. The question of sending troops, however, seemed even less likely today with Cecil’s statement that he imagined this might present considerable military difficulty.
Briand reported optimistically but not conclusively on his conversation with Sze this morning. The Chinese representative, he said, had not been very precise; his Government was under very heavy pressure; he must endeavor to have some kind of satisfaction for his public opinion; he again stressed the need of some kind of delay [date?] regarding evacuation. Briand showed how difficult it was to fix a delay [date?] in the circumstances and stressed the fact that the commission would give a good deal of elasticity to the situation. He urged that the commission would be of enormous advantage to China in that it would establish a real international stake in China’s situation and provide for an actual method for making operative the Nine-Power Pact, especially with its phrase as to ‘administrative’ integrity. After all, he said, China’s present situation is vague, obscure, ill and, [garbled?] as shown by the emergence of the famous fundamental points, which it had since been one of the successes of the present negotiations to push into the background. He thought it an enormous gain that Japan had announced it had no territorial or other ambitions and felt that if this gain could be solidified it would be very important to the whole future of the Far East. Indeed, he thought that the adhesion given by the United States to the Council proposals was due to its preoccupations from the very first moment lest Chinese territorial integrity be endangered. This would also of course have involved article X.
Briand said he had told Sze that it might be possible to find some kind of formula which would help him either by connecting evacuation with the commission or by giving the commission instructions in this sense. He agreed strongly with a suggestion by Fotitch that the Council must continue to keep the matter within its own hands and not allow the creation of the commission to give the impression that it has given it no discretion. Cecil hoped that something definite of this sort might be put into the President’s statement. In connection with the general public interest in the matter, Briand again expressed his surprise at the every large number of telegrams he had received from all parts of the world. These telegrams showed that public opinion was widely aroused but at the same time it realized the complexity of the situation. The commission idea had been particularly well received; it was recognized as capable of solving many difficulties.
The Drafting Committee will meet tomorrow morning to consider Sze’s suggested changes.”
- [Dawes]
- Shaw