500.A 4e 1/56: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Minister in China (Schurman)
63. With reference to the Department’s 60 of March 22, 4 p.m., the Department has been informed that the British Prime Minister, while not yet prepared to make a definite decision with regard to the proposed Preliminary Conference, is inclined to agree completely in principle with the views of this Government, and that he is consulting Macleay34 in order to give him an opportunity to express his views before the British Government definitely commits itself.
The Counselor of the Japanese Embassy in an informal conversation with the Chief of the Division of Far Eastern Affairs has indicated that his Government, while not yet decided, is disposed to an unfavorable view of the Chinese proposal for reasons substantially the same as those of this Government.
- Sir J. W. R. Macleay, British Minister in China.↩