793.94/14264: Telegram
The Consul General at Canton (Linnell) to the Secretary of State
[Received November 1—1:20 p.m.]
38. Mr. Okazaki, Japanese Consul General, has arrived and opened his office in the French Concession. The Japanese military have today seized the customs cruisers moored off Shameen.
Representatives of the Japanese gendarmerie called on me today and received a map and description of the American properties and places in Canton where Americans are living. They promised to see that these are protected.
It has not been possible up to the present to make any arrangements for the movement of vessels, passengers or mail to or from Hong Kong and it is believed this matter will have to be dealt with by higher authorities than those now at Canton. Certain American official movements are awaiting opportunity, e. g., 10 American naval enlisted men are in Hong Kong awaiting passage to Canton and 6 on the Mindanao are to be transferred as soon as passage to Hong Kong can be secured. American Vice Consul Espy should proceed at once to Yunnanfu, and Consul General Myers34 is expected to arrive at Hong Kong on November 3d.
Repeated to Chungking and Hong Kong.
- Myrl S. Myers, to replace Consul General Linnell at Canton.↩