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Heaven's Cousin. In Tokyo the Son of Heaven, bespectacled Emperor Hirohito, was advised by Prince Saionji, the Last of the Genro or "Elder Statesmen," to bring the Army under stricter Imperial control last week and did so, appointing as Chief of Staff his right royal cousin, fierce-mustached Field Marshal Prince Kotohito Kanin.
Within 72 hours a new Japanese offensive was launched in Manchuria, characteristically at 4 a. m. and unquestionably under direct control of the Sublime Emperor represented by Field Marshal Prince Kanin. From Mukden, the Japanese base in Manchuria, brigade after brigade advanced southward in the dead of night, to be followed at 9 a. m. by roaring squadrons of Japanese bombing planes. Clearly the Japanese objective was to force the Chinese Army to evacuate Chinchow, the only major stronghold in Manchuria not already held by Japanese.
"We will fight to the Death!" General Yung Chen told correspondents. They, remembering the recent headlong flight of Chinese General Ma after he promised to fight to the Death (TIME, Nov. 30), skeptically remarked to each other, "Oh. yeah?"
At the Japanese G. H. Q. in Mukden, tight-lipped General Shigeru Honjo insisted his troops were moving out "to clear the country of bandits," but added that Chinese evacuation of Chinchow "is now absolutely imperative." Seemingly he thought that Chinchow might be taken without bloodshed, the Chinese soldiers merely scattering like chaff. Cheerily a Japanese aid-de-camp spoke of "taking over Chinchow by Christmas."
In a leisure moment General Honjo himself favored U. S. correspondents with this Yuletide sentiment: "Manchuria is now a frozen and unhappy land, in the grip of winter and in the depths of woe. But you have a phrase in English—'If winter comes, can spring be far behind?'. The actuating motive of Japanese policy is to bring genuine spring back to this frozen land."
In Washington, where President Hoover and Statesman Stimson have taken the line that Japan should never have occupied any Manchurian stronghold, General Honjo's promise of "spring'' (i. e. Japanese occupation of the last stronghold), was coldly but helplessly received. Mr. Stimson, having come off second best in all his diplomatic skirmishes thus far with Japan (TIME, Dec. 7). decided last week not to risk another note or even another statement to the press. Secretly he cabled U. S. Ambassador William Cameron Forbes to convey secretly an "oral protest" to the Japanese Government.
President Resigns. South of the Great Wall in China proper last week, fear of the strong measures which Japan proceeded to take in Manchuria produced two grim, appalling spectacles of chaos and collapse:
In Nanking nervous, high-strung little Chinese President Chiang Kaishek, who has been squabbling for months with the other Chinese Government (the one at Canton), abruptly resigned, announcing that Canton leaders would come north and take over the Nanking,Government. Panic stricken, Mrs. Chiang (Wellesley '17) fled by plane from Nanking to safety in the International Settlement at Shanghai.