The Manchurian Question

I enclose copy of the minutes of the public meeting held on Saturday night, at which the Japanese proposal for a Commission of Inquiry was put forward.¹ All the members of the Council publicly announced their acceptance of the proposal in principle. I had not yet received your letters of the 20th instant² and did not feel called upon to say anything in the circumstances. The Chinese acceptance was, as you will notice, subject to all reservations with regard to the nature of the inquiry, the mandate for the Commission and, to some extent, on the Council dealing with the immediate question of evacuation.

[matter omitted]