893.00/8729: Telegram
The Minister in China (MacMurray) to the Secretary of State
[Received April 20—11:10 a.m.]
461. 1. At a conference this morning with heads of representative American mission and educational institutions, the opinion was freely expressed by them that the steps taken with regard to the withdrawal of American citizens both from Nationalist territory and from North China had had a profound and sobering effect upon thoughtful Chinese, and that this action was bringing home to them a realization [Page 293] of the fact that the failure of China to ensure the protection of foreign residents meant very definite consequences of a far-reaching character.
2. One representative stated that immediately after the Nanking affair his Chinese acquaintances had been generally inclined, from the Chinese press, to blame the powers for another act of wanton cruelty, but that now, having largely learned the truth from the reports of Chinese eyewitnesses and other authentic sources, they were taking a very different attitude and would, in all probability, tacitly acquiesce in such just measures as the powers might find it necessary to take, even if such measures included the blockade of the whole of Nationalist China. This proved also to be the opinion of the others present at the conference.