THE CHINA INCIDENT BECOMES THE CHINA WAR 2IQ

consequent floods. Furthermore, the remodelling of the Japanese
cabinet.

The bombings of Canton have been one of the worst episodes in
modern warfare and added to the appalling atrocities in Nanking
have blemished the Japanese escutcheon in a way which has given
foreign nations a new conception of the traditional Bushido and honour
of Japan. Japan's reputation can never recover from these things.

Following the bombings of Canton, the British and French Am-
bassadors and the Apostolic Delegate made formal representations
to the Minister for Foreign Affairs. We chose a different method and
expressed our well-justified denunciation at home through public
statements by the Secretary and the Under-Secretary of State. On
June 9 I took the occasion of my call on Horinouchi, the Japanese
Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs, in connection with the Scovell case
(an American missionary shot by a drunken Japanese soldier) to say
that I wished to speak informally with regard to the bombing by
Japanese forces of civilian populations in China. I said distinctly
that I was not making official representations and that in fact I had
no instructions to do so, and that I was acting on my own initiative
and from the point of view of Japanese-American relations. I said
that having worked steadily during the past six years for the main-
tenance and development of good relations between our two countries
I always felt constrained to point out to the Japanese Government,
at least informally, issues and developments which in my opinion
were likely to injure these relations.

I said that I did not wish to-day to go into the technical aspects
of these bombing operations or of fortified or unfortified areas. What
I did wish to do was to point out the deplorable effect on American
public opinion when large numbers of civilian populations were
killed or injured by large bombing operations anywhere and to raise
the question whether the military advantage to be gained from such
operations was sufficiently important to justify the inevitable harm
such wholesale slaughter must have on Japan's reputation abroad,
especially in the United States. I said that this seemed to me to be
an aspect of the problem which chiefly concerned the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, responsible as that Ministry is for Japan's foreign
relations. It seemed to me of the utmost importance that the Japanese
Government should constantly bear in mind the deep humanitarian
interest of the American Government and of the American people in
the bombings of civilian populations wherever and however carried
out.

The Vice-Minister expressed appreciation of the friendly way in
which I had approached the subject and said that General Ugaki
would be equally appreciative. He said that full consideration
would be given to my observations and that in fact the Foreign
Minister was now negotiating with the military authorities in con-
nection with this problem.

This method of approach seems to have carried some weight. At