793.94/8958: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in France (Bullitt)
351. The French Chargé d’Affaires informed us yesterday that the French Minister for Foreign Affairs had spoken to the Chinese [Page 212] and the Japanese Ambassadors at Paris in a sense similar to that in which the Secretary of State had spoken to the Embassies here of those two countries, urging maintenance of peace. He said further that he was instructed to inquire what would be the view of the American Government, similar inquiry being addressed to the British Government, in the light of steps already taken, of an appeal to the League of Nations or representations based on the Nine Power Treaty. He did not further elaborate.
We are replying to the French Embassy this afternoon that, in the absence of further indication of just what kind and method of appeal the French Government envisages, we do not feel in position to reply to this inquiry. We again call attention to the statement made by the Secretary on July 1640 and request expression of the French Government’s views.