550.E1 Russia/22½
Memorandum by the Secretary of State of an Interview with the French Ambassador (Jusserand), May 26, 1922
The French Ambassador called with a message from M. Poincaré which he read. He did not furnish the Secretary with a memorandum of the text. He said that Mr. Poincaré, in substance, stated that he was in accord with the position of the Secretary in relation to the meeting at The Hague; that there was only one point of difference, that is, M. Poincaré was opposed to German representation in view of the Russo-German Treaty, and thought that German representation might be made conditional upon the abandonment of that Treaty. The Ambassador also said that M. Poincaré was apparently of the opinion that the Secretary contemplated in his suggestion of an expert committee that it should sit in Russia. The Secretary observed that he did not state where it should sit; that possibly it might be advisable for such a committee to go to Russia, but that it could not do a great deal of work outside of Russia; his suggestion was comprehensive enough to include an inquiry in Russia, but did not necessarily require it.
The Ambassador said that M. Poincaré proposed, in view of the agreement between the French and the American positions, that the two Governments should work out a concrete plan for an expert inquiry and propose it to the other Governments; that it could be proposed by them jointly or probably it would be more in accord with the American tradition if it was proposed separately by the American Government and the same thing could be proposed by the French Government. The Ambassador thought that in this way there would be obtained the concurrence of a number of the Powers and it might lead to the formation of a committee on the lines suggested by the Secretary.
The Secretary expressed his gratification that the views of M. Poincaré were so nearly in agreement with his own. The Secretary said that he had made our position quite clear as to the sort of inquiry this Government favored; that there could be no doubt, he thought, of the views of this Government, and he understood that the suggestion of the Ambassador related really to a matter of procedure. The Secretary said that he was not prepared to deal with the suggestion that the American Government should make any further proposal and he wished to consider that very carefully and would take the matter up in a later interview.