500.A15A5/133: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Great Britain (Bingham)
287. For Davis. Your 385, July 5, 3 p.m. The delay in arrival of the Japanese representatives puts a different light on the continuance of the preliminary naval conversations. As it is clearly not feasible to maintain the delegation in London for so prolonged a period, it is necessary to modify the instructions contained in paragraph 3 of the Department’s 283, July 3, 8 p.m.
As soon as you are able to agree with Baldwin as to a joint statement conceived in general terms and setting forth a common objective, it would seem opportune to suspend the conversations until autumn. It might even prove that such a suspension would enable the British more gracefully to recede from their present position which holds out no hope of ultimate agreement. Before finally approving the text of a joint statement we should of course wish an opportunity to scrutinize it from the political angle.
Both Times and Herald Tribune this morning carried stories that you would soon be leaving London, while a later press despatch stated that I had sent you instructions to break off the conversations and return home. I gave a categoric denial to this report. Questioned further, I indicated that we are approaching the end of this first phase of our conversations and that in a few days you would probably be able to judge better what to do pending the resumption with other Powers of the preliminary talks.
[Page 290]In view of this publicity and a feeling prevalent here that the conversations may never be resumed, I think it important that you persuade the British, if possible, to make public the plans of the Japanese to have representatives in London during October.