793.94/12859
The Consul at Harbin ( Merrell ) to the Ambassador in China ( Johnson )42
Sir: I have the honor to report that Mr. A. T. Steele, representative in North China of the Chicago Daily News, recently called at the Consulate General and reported an interesting conversation he had had the previous day in Hsinking with Major General Kanji Ishihara, Vice Chief of Staff of the Kwantung Army. In commenting upon the reports of the looting by Japanese troops in Nanking after the taking of the capital, General Ishihara stated emphatically that if the reports were true, General Matsui was completely responsible for the troops’ behavior. He said that the morale of the Japanese Army had never been at a lower level than it was at the present time. He deprecated the current lack of discipline among Japanese troops.
In the course of their conversation he also informed Mr. Steele that the Japanese would not open hostilities against Soviet Russia and that he believed Russia would not make the first attack against Japan unless it was assured of Great Britain’s support. He said that it therefore meant that Japan would not fight Russia unless it had to fight Great Britain as well.
In this connection it seems worth mentioning that Mr. Richard T. Evans, a prominent American attorney from Tientsin who called this morning on Major General Sueichiro Higuchi, chief of the Japanese Military Mission in Harbin, was likewise informed by General Higuchi that Japan would not take the initiative in bringing about a conflict with Soviet Russia. When Mr. Evans remarked to the General that he had been under the impression that, whereas the responsible authorities in Japan and perhaps the highest officers in command [Page 95] of the Japanese Army, were opposed to opening hostilities with Soviet Russia, such was not the case with a comprehensive group of younger officers who advocated attacking Russia at this time while there was an enthusiasm for military conquest among the public in Japan which it would be difficult to rouse again when it had once been allowed to subside. General Higuchi agreed that there had been such a conviction on the part of the younger officers, that he had been one of them, and had shared their conviction, but that he had now changed his mind and was firm in the belief that it was wiser for Japan to show restraint vis-à-vis Soviet Russia.
The Harbin Nichi Nichi of February 16 published a report that Manchurian troops guarding the third tunnel of the railroad near Pogranichnaya were attacked on February 14 by 15 Soviet soldiers with scouting dogs who had invaded “Manchukuo” territory by about 150 meters. The invaders were repulsed immediately with fire, and it was considered unlikely that the incident would lead to further trouble; the government at Hsinking had, however, considered it serious enough to make a strong protest to the Soviet Consulate General in Harbin.
From Harbin Mr. Steele, armed with proper Japanese credentials, went by rail to the strongly fortified town of Taheiho directly across the Amur River from Blagoveshchensk. Upon his return he informed the Consulate General that he had seen nothing of particular interest either from a military or a political standpoint, and that he did not believe the 2½ days’ journey had been worth making.
Respectfully yours,
- Copy transmitted to the Department by the Consul at Harbin in his covering despatch No. 38, February 16; received April 18.↩