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The Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs advised
the Cabinet that at the moment no decision ought to be
taken for this country to act alone in the matter of
sanctions. The United States of America had not yet
acquiesced in the principle of sanctions, and Japan would
onlyco-operate in sanctions which her Government regarded
as effective, and they were not satisfied with the
particular sanctions proposed by the Naval Commanders-in-
Chief of the Powers in China. At the present moment also
the Northerners were advancing to the Yangtse, and it was
uncertain that, in taking the sanctions proposed by the
Naval Commander-in-Chief, we shouldnot be hitting the
Northern Chinese instead of the Cantonese. In the
circumstances, Sir Austen Chamberlain suggested that the
decision should be deferred until the following day,
interim replies in the meanwhile being sent to Sir Miles
Lampson and the Naval Commander-in-Chief.
The Secretary of Statefor Foreign Affairs also
asked the First Lord of the Admiralty to invite the
attention of the First Sea Lord to the considerable
dispersion of force involved in the Naval Commander-in-
Chief's proposed dispositions.
He emphasised the importance
of there being no risk of failure in any operation that
might