550.E1 Russia/24½
Memorandum by the Secretary of State of an Interview with the French Ambassador (Jusserand), May 27, 1922
The French Ambassador called at the request of the Secretary. The Secretary said that he had carefully considered the suggestion made by the Ambassador yesterday that the French and American Governments should work out a concrete plan for an expert inquiry regarding conditions in Russia and should either jointly or separately propose it to the other Powers.
The Secretary said that he wished to recall to the Ambassador exactly what had taken place; that on May 15 there had been communicated to this Government a proposed plan for a meeting at The Hague of a commission which later was to deal with the Russian Commission to take up the existing differences with the “Russian Government”;36 that the Secretary had at once replied stating the views of this Government regarding the proposal and that for reasons stated this Government could not participate in the proposed meeting at The Hague. The Secretary read to the Ambassador his reply of May 15.37 The Secretary said that this was communicated to the President of the Conference by Ambassador Child and was published here and in Europe in the papers of May 16; that thereupon the proposed plan had been adopted by the political subcommission; that to leave no possible question of the attitude of this Government the Secretary had sent an explicit instruction to Mr. Child on May 17;38 that the substance of this instruction had been read at the time to the French Ambassador and a copy sent to him; that the substance had also been communicated in the same way to the British Ambassador and the Japanese Chargé; that Mr. Child had gone over the instruction with the French, British and Italian representatives at Genoa and the Secretary believed also with the representatives of the other Governments; it thus appeared that there was not the slightest question of the American position being fully known; that the instruction of May 17, which was communicated to the various Governments the following day was concrete and explicit showing exactly why we could not participate in the proposed meeting at The Hague and the sort of inquiry which this Government would favor; that thereupon the following day the proposal in its original form had been adopted in plenary session at Genoa. The Secretary said that he understood that the French and Belgian representatives had said that they would recommend the [Page 817] plan as thus adopted to their Governments and had voted for it subject to the approval of their Governments; the Secretary also said that the American position was made known to the representatives of the Powers at Genoa who had dealt with a concrete plan and approved it and thus called for a meeting at The Hague.
The Secretary said that it was not necessary for this Government to add anything to its statement in order to make its position plain; that its position remained precisely what it had been as thus stated. The question, then, was whether this Government should join with the French Government or independently make a counter proposal. The Secretary felt, after careful consideration, that this would be unwise; that it was quite competent for the European Powers if they so desired to hold the meeting at The Hague according to their plan as proposed; that this Government wished them well in their enterprise and certainly did not wish to be put in a position of trying to frustrate their plans; that if this Government made a counter proposal either independently or jointly with the French and attained the adherence of several other Powers it would take the responsibility not simply of declining the invitation to attend the Hague meeting but of preventing the Hague meeting. The Secretary felt that this should not be done; that this Government did not wish to take the initiative; that this Government had no proposal to make,—that it simply declined the invitation stating its grounds and making a definite suggestion as to what it would be willing to do; that it would be an entirely different matter if this Government undertook virtually with the cooperation of the French to call another meeting which might be declined by the Russians and which might frustrate The Hague meeting without accomplishing anything at all.
The Secretary said that if the European Powers who had taken part in the Genoa Conference consulted together and desired to adopt another plan which fell in line with the American suggestions that of course they could do, and the American Government stood upon the suggestions which it had made.
The Secretary felt that the next move was one for the European Powers; if they wished to go ahead with the meeting at The Hague that they could do so; if they wished to propose something else the proposal would, of course, receive the most careful consideration.
The Ambassador endeavored to convince the Secretary that all that was desired was for the American Government to restate its views and emphasize them and that while France might stand alone in Europe in refusing to go to the Conference and have certain disagreeable consequences, still she was ready to do so, but that it would be very agreeable to her if this Government would join her in making [Page 818] this proposal to the Powers. The Secretary suggested that it was quite competent for France, in the light of the American suggestion, and the inability of this Government to be represented at The Hague, to take the matter up with the British Government, the Italian Government, or other Governments to see what, if any, change in the proposed plan was desired and he reiterated that this Government did not wish to take the responsibility of making a proposal which would be construed as designed to frustrate The Hague enterprise, while it would be very doubtful if anything would come of any counter proposal which was not the result of conference and agreement among the European Powers.