Reference my telegram No. 114. [1]

(1) For what they are worth my purely personal comments are as
follows:

(a) No man (not excluding President Roosevelt) can foretell
precisely how American opinion will react to Japanese attacks on
Malaya, Australia or New Zealand.

(b) Sympathetic interest in Australia and Australian prestige,
particularly since the Libyan campaign, has never been higher
here.

(c) Opinion in the State Department is divided on the question of
American action in the Pacific. One school of opinion
substantiates the strongest British viewpoint. It is very
significant that Ambassador Grew [2] has come down on the side of
early action to keep Singapore in British hands.

(2) Reports from Australia, published in American press, of
warning issued yesterday by War Advisory Council [3] have been
given considerable prominence here and have suggested an immediate
crisis not quite supported by other news items from the Far East.

We have had numerous press requests for information prompted by
the statement issued in Australia. You no doubt have considered
fully the risk of Japan interpreting such warnings as indicating
that Australia believes that war is inevitable and of Japan
deciding therefore to move sooner than she may otherwise have
planned.

(3) Minister [4] is expected to arrive in Washington 10 p.m.

tonight. [5]