793.94/8908: Telegram
The Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Bingham) to the Secretary of State
[Received July 21—3 p.m.]
497. My 492, July 21, noon. I saw Eden this afternoon and he read to me Lindsay’s telegram to him relating to the message sent through Lindsay to you. He said that he hoped to receive a reply from you probably later tonight. He said also that the British Ambassador in China had sent a telegram which made him take a very gloomy view of the situation.
Eden then gave me a copy of a question and the answer he had made in the House of Commons today stating the British Government would not open general conversations with the Japanese as long as the present situation in China continued. Question and answer read as follows:
“Captain Plugge to ask the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether in view of the existing circumstances in North China he will reconsider the advisability of holding Anglo-Japanese conversations.
[Page 241]Mr. Eden: So long as the present situation in North China persists, it would not seem opportune to open the conversations to which His Majesty’s Government were looking forward, and I have been obliged to inform the Japanese Government that that is the view of His Majesty’s Government.”
Finally he referred to a statement in Lindsay’s message to him that you expected to see the Japanese and Chinese Ambassadors today and Lindsay’s statement that he understood you would reiterate to both Ambassadors urgent representations against war in China. He said he was to see both the Chinese and Japanese Ambassadors here this evening and that he would make statements to them along similar lines.