703.94/9303: Telegram
The Consul General at Shanghai (Gauss) to the Secretary of State
Shanghai, August 11, 1937—7
p.m.
[Received 11:15 p.m.]
[Received 11:15 p.m.]
451. My August 10, 8 p.m. Accompanied by Secretary of Consular Body, [Senior] Consul called personally this afternoon on Mayor and Japanese Consul General and delivered memorandum referred to in my telegram August 10, 8 p.m.
- 2.
- Secretary of Consular Body informs me that the Mayor expressed appreciation of the interest displayed by the Consular Body in the maintenance of peace in Shanghai and said it was his policy and that of the National Government to prevent hostilities in this area. The Mayor expressed himself as concerned at the probability that the Japanese Ministry of Navy had rejected decision to negotiate the Hungjao Road incident and at the reported arrival of the Japanese Second Fleet off the coast.
- 3.
- Upon calling on the Japanese Consul General they were handed a prepared statement which Secretary of Consular Body states expresses Japanese desire for an avoidance of trouble in this area but refers to provocative activities of the Peace Preservation Corps. Japanese Consul General said the Japanese had conclusive evidence that the two Japanese involved in the Hungjao Road incident were deliberately murdered; that it [he?] was calling this evening on the Mayor to commence negotiations for a settlement of the recent incident and for the withdrawal of the Peace Preservation Corps and that similar negotiations would be commenced in Nanking by the Japanese Embassy. He intimated the Japanese Navy was becoming restless and might take independent action if negotiations were unsatisfactory. The fact that four Japanese light cruisers have today arrived and are reported to be disembarking additional reenforcements; that six Japanese destroyers have arrived in the river while six more are reported off Woosung lends significance to the statements of the Japanese Consul General. I have received information from a number of independent American sources that the Peace Preservation Corps is actively engaged in digging trenches and preparing military works in the vicinity of Shanghai and also at Woosung. These activities would seem to exceed the functions for which the corps was intended under the 1932 Agreement. The local significance might be eased if they were withdrawn or substantially reduced and such activities suspended.
Repeated to Peiping and Nanking.
Gauss