793.94119/404: Telegram
The Counselor of Embassy in China (Lockhart) to the Secretary of State
[Received March 4—6 a.m.]
149. Your March 2, 2 p.m.,80 and your 140, March 2, 2 [3] p.m. Stuart gave me no hint that he desired, or expected to seek, the assistance [Page 115] of anyone in connection with his mission to Hankow. He did not ask me to transmit the information contained in my 136, February 27, 10 a.m. I transmitted it as information which I believed the Ambassador and the Department should have notwithstanding it was given to me confidentially. To avoid violating a confidence, however, I asked Dr. Stuart if he had any objection to my informing the Ambassador and the Department of the object of his trip to Hankow and he said he had no objection. Heretofore, Stuart has made it a point to call on me just before leaving Peiping on his periodical trips to inform me of his destination, object of his trip, length of his stay and of conditions at Yenching. He volunteered the information contained in my 136, February 27, 10 a.m., and stated that he was undoubtedly asked to proceed to Hankow for the purpose named because of the long standing friendship between himself and Chiang Kai Shek. I made no comment other than that contained in my 136, February 27, 10 a.m.
Sent to the Ambassador. Repeated to Shanghai, Tokyo.
- Not found in Department files.↩