893.102 Tientsin/654: Telegram
The Ambassador in Japan (Grew) to the Secretary of State
[Received May 10—2:15 p.m.]
323. Our 313, May 8, 4 p.m.26 My French colleague27 tells me that in a recent conversation with the Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs he said to Mr. Tani that if the British and Japanese should come to a definite agreement with regard to the question of the silver and the raising of the blockade of the foreign Concessions in Tientsin and if the Foreign Office should then ask the French Government to [Page 855] accede to the agreement he, the French Ambassador, would telegraph to Paris for instructions. The Ambassador informs me that in fact he has already been authorized by his Government to accede in case of agreement between the British and the Japanese which he understands applies only to the question of the silver and the raising of the blockade. He thought that the currency and police questions had already been settled. Mr. Tani observed that the blockade of the French Concession was purely geographic and that it would be raised simultaneously with the blockade of the British Concession.
Cipher text via air mail to Peiping which has been asked to send paraphrase to Tientsin.