793.94/14047½
Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek to President Roosevelt28
“Mr. President, you have recently told the world that ‘force produces no solution for the future good of humanity’; that ‘should hostilities break out, the lives of millions of men, women, and children in every country involved will be lost in circumstances of unspeakable horror’; and that ‘in the event of a general war the American people face the fact that no nation can escape some measure of the consequences’.29
“These words of yours once more rekindle in the Chinese Government and people their faith in the love of peace and justice of the American nation.
“May I point out, Mr. President, that, while your powerful appeals have contributed so much to the appeasement of Europe, the resort to brutal force and slaughter still prevail in the Far East and world peace is still far from realization? I am confident that you, Mr. President, who have already done so much in the past for peace, surely will not ignore the problem of peace in the Far East. The American Government whose mediation decades ago brought about the termination of the Russo-Japanese War,30 is certainly most closely concerned with the peace of the East.
“It is said that, owing to heavy human losses and economic difficulties, Japan is beginning to realize that force solves no problem. More than once she has sought mediation for peace by Germany and Italy.
“But, Mr. President, my people feel that they can only look to your Government for leadership in the active search for peace, because we have complete faith that the kind of peace the American Government is inspired to sponsor will be a just peace.
[Page 313]“Now that the European situation is settling down, may it not be possible for the American Government to initiate a move for the peace of the Far East by inviting all the Governments interested to attend a Conference, stipulating a general cessation of hostilities as a precondition and aiming at seeking a lasting settlement through calm and fair-minded deliberation? May I not venture to suggest that success in such a move would surely mean the crowning achievement of the policy in the Far East with which your Government has identified itself ever since the Washington Conference?
“I also wish to point out that the present moment seems to be the most opportune time for such a move, because the Japanese are engaged in a most difficult war for the attack and occupation of the Wu-Han cities.”
Cabled message received by the Chinese Embassy October 8; copy handed to the Adviser on Political Relations by the appointed Chinese Ambassador on the same date. The opening paragraph reads:
“Please communicate personally and in strict confidence to the kind consideration of President Roosevelt the following message in my own name:”
↩- Quotations taken from President Roosevelt’s telegram to Chancellor Hitler, September 26, vol. i, p. 657.↩
- See Foreign Relations, 1905, pp. 807 ff.↩