Japans Struggle With Internation by Nish

Author:Nish [Nish]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781136155673
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 2012-11-12T00:00:00+00:00

Lytton Commission’s Sojourn in Peking

On 4 June the Lytton Commission left Manchuria via Chinchou, intent on analysing their experience and considering their preliminary conclusions. The main report to the League was already overdue and the Commission asked for an extension. On 1 July it received an imitation that the Special Assembly was prepared to allow an extension provided its report was available in Geneva by mid-September for study by the Committee of Nineteen. Even this schedule was likely to be difficult to achieve. The new Japanese delegate to the league, Nagaoka, had given his approval in advance, though the Chinese was naturally more reluctant.13

The next problem was where the report should be written. Most members agreed that it was not ideal for it to be written in the hothouse atmosphere of Peking, where, apart from the extreme heat of the summer, they would be exposed to influences which might be construed as pro-Chinese. In order to meet this criticism, Lytton had already agreed that he would visit Tokyo again before the report was completed. In the search for a location, Lytton broke his journey south to consider as a possible place for writing the report the resort of Peitaiho (which he secretly favoured) but this was remote. From there some of the delegates went to inspect the port of Tsingtao which the Japanese wanted the Commission to use. Lytton, however, found it to be too damp and remote for the purpose and eventually secured the agreement of the other Commissioners for Peking to be the base for report-writing.14

On their return to Peking, the Commissioners were the target of much advice and many warnings from the diplomatic body. It was inevitable that they should meet their own country’s representatives and discuss the Manchurian issue. These diplomats had been discussing possible solutions from a professional perspective. They had evidently reached a consensus that Commission members should be warned against trying to overreach themselves. They were horrified to learn that one idea of the Commissioners was to make positive recommendations for action. The American minister, Nelson Johnson, the most influential diplomat in the absence of the British minister on leave, wanted them to confine their report to setting out the facts of the case and to avoid making suggestions for policy, which had better be left to home governments. He saw the report as supplying the raw material to mobilize public opinion round the world but wanted it not to be unnecessarily offensive to Japan, who would probably not accept it in any case,15

Most League members were happy to accept this limitation of the Commission’s objects. It appears that Sir Miles Lampson had been drumming up support in London for the view that the Commission should not have over-ambitious aims. This was supported in the Auswàrtiges Amt and at the Quai d’Orsay, both of which were ready to leave the running to others. It was in any case a doctrine congenial to General Claudel and probably to Dr Schnee. These views did not

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