793.94/2950: Telegram
The Ambassador in Japan (Forbes) to the Secretary of State
[Received November 29—5:38 a.m.]
240. My 234, November 24, 10 p.m.13 In my interview with Baron Shidehara, reported therein, he detailed, expressly requesting this be confidential and only for my information, a series of interviews which he held with the Minister of War and the General Staff, which led finally to a sequel regarding Japanese withdrawal from Tsitsihar and no further Japanese advance on Chinchow save such operations as were necessary for the dispersal of bandits at threatening points. At this stage I asked Shidehara to stop, and I said: “May I cable to Washington in the following sense”, wording then what I intended to report [Page 588] to you, and this I sent as nearly accurate as I could recall it. He assented. While marking my telegram as confidential, I blame myself now for not inserting in it a further indication that Shidehara wished this part to be kept from the public. The difficulty was that, under the Japanese Constitution, the Minister of War and also, I believe, the Chief of Staff report direct to the Emperor; the Foreign Minister thus has no authority to speak for them, and an indication to the public that Shidehara has done so arouses antagonism, thus rendering his position very difficult. Since I am certain that the press will have done this, I am not cabling you the full text of the vigorous statement which the Foreign Office gave out last night. I assume that Shidehara felt obliged to do this because of the effect here, in the hope of placating his critics. It is my hope that the Department may reply in a conciliatory tone which will help Shidehara’s position. Talking of recently dispersed bandits, Shidehara informed me further that the bandits were in groups of more than 1,000, and this indicated they must have been financed, from Chinchow probably, and dispatched to harass the movements of Japanese troops. Bandits in smaller units are able to subsist upon the country, though large groups are obliged to carry their own sustenance.