394.115 Panay/5½
The British Ambassador (Lindsay) to the Secretary of State13
Our idea had been that our role might be to pass proposals from one party to the other. I note that the State Department consider that such procedure would be unwise as it would involve the transmission of terms inconsistent with the Nine Power Treaty.14 But I consider that this difficulty might be overcome by making it clear that in acting thus we were in no way endorsing proposals or attempting to press them on other party but that we were struggling in the hope of eliciting [Page 801] counterproposals and thus encouraging an exchange of views which might eventually lead to a settlement. State Department in fact add “some formula must be found which would make it clear that British and United States Governments could not recommend terms of settlement inconsistent with Nine Power Treaty”.
I suggest that it would be possible if invited to agree to communicate proposals and counterproposals from one party to the other without assuming any responsibility for them. It might be objected that that would hardly amount to more than direct negotiation but it is probable that if Japan were willing to communicate her terms to us she would frame them more moderately than in a direct approach to the Chinese Government. In the light of the conflicting proposals of the two parties we could then consult as to the possibility or propriety of attempting to bring the sides nearer together.
- Handed by the British Ambassador to the Under Secretary of State on December 13.↩
- Foreign Relations, 1922, vol. i, p. 276.↩