893.0146/693: Telegram
The Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Kennedy) to the Secretary of State
[Received September 11—4:06 p.m.]
1597. My 1541, September 8, 11 p.m.,26 last paragraph. The head of the Far Eastern Department of the Foreign Office stated in a conversation this afternoon that they are considering the possibility of using the flood situation at Tientsin as the ostensible reason for pulling the British troops out. This would arise of course only in the event that countries with armed forces at Tientsin agree as to a policy of withdrawal. According to reports received by the Foreign Office, floods have made completely uninhabitable the British barracks at Tientsin and sanitary conditions are so bad that the health of the troops is in serious danger.
[Page 245]The official suggested that they would simply notify the Chinese that, owing to the situation created by the floods, the destruction of the barracks, danger to health through unsanitary conditions, et cetera, they had decided to withdraw the British troops subject however to the proviso that they would be returned later if the British Government deemed it necessary. After this arrangement had been made with the Chinese, they would then inform Japan of what had been done.
I was requested to transmit the foregoing information to the Department simply as an indication of what is considered here to be a possible way of procedure.
- Not printed.↩