793.003 C 73/94a: Circular telegram
The Secretary of State to the Chargé in France ( Whitehouse )67
Department’s circular, September 27, 6 p.m.
In view of the near approach of November 1st, the date on which the Chinese Government had requested that the meeting of the Commission on Extraterritoriality be held, this Government feels it is appropriate to advise the interested Powers of the results of its inquiry as to the acceptability of the proposed date, even though replies have not yet been received from all the Governments addressed.
That inquiry has disclosed that certain of the Powers do not consider it feasible to begin the work of the Extraterritoriality Commission at this time; and in the absence of unanimity of assent it appears impossible to convene the Commission in November of this year as proposed by the Chinese Government.
On the other hand, the majority of the participating and adhering Powers have signified their assent to this Government’s suggestion that, in the event that the attitude of any of the interested Powers should require a postponement of the meeting of the Commission, such postponement should be to a definite date—for which purpose November 1st of next year was suggested.
Please so advise Government to which you are accredited; and if it has not already done so, ask it to indicate whether it would be disposed to have the Commission convene at Peking on November 1, 1924, provided that date is acceptable to the Chinese Government.
Repeat to London, Rome, The Hague, Brussels, Lisbon, Copenhagen, Stockholm and Madrid.
- See last paragraph for instructions to repeat to Brussels, Copenhagen, Lisbon, London, Madrid, Rome, Stockholm, and The Hague. Sent also to Lima, with the omission of the last paragraph, and to Tokyo, with instructions to repeat to Peking.↩