File No. 763.72119/8273
The Ambassador in Great Britain ( Page) to the Secretary of State
[Received 5.40 p.m.]
6670. For the Secretary and President:
Mr. Balfour has informed me that the Russian Government proposed to M. Thomas of the French Cabinet on his recent visit to Petrograd that the Allies hold an early conference to set forth in concrete terms conditions on which they will make peace.
Thomas brought the oral proposal to Balfour who personally disapproves of an early conference, and he is trying to have it postponed. There is reason to think that France and Italy will share his view. When the British Government reaches a decision he will communicate it to me.
Balfour’s reasons are the very great danger at any early conference of [omission] and embarrassing controversies about conflicting aims and wishes among the Allies themselves. He thinks that further developments in Russia are necessary to reach an acceptable conclusion about Constantinople and the Dardanelles. He fears a lack of agreement to the claims that Italy will make. He thinks that further progress of the war is necessary before an agreement can be reached about several specific and conflicting proposals that will be made concerning Austria and some of the Balkan states.
My judgment coincides with his and my impression is that Great Britain will favor [postponing?] such a conference till further development of the war. It is easy to agree to general principles by which a peace agreement among the Allies may be reached, and such general principles as the President has laid down have, as you know, met the hearty approval of the British Government, but the Italian claims will provoke a strong controversy, and the Russian [Page 120] attitude needs clearer definition. The differences that would be developed in an early conference would be most likely to discourage military activity by some of the Allies.