500.A15 a 1/43: Telegram
The Ambassador in Italy ( Fletcher ) to the Secretary of State
[Received 6 p.m.]
25. The following is a translation of the reply of the Italian Government to my memorandum of February 10th:
“The Italian Government has submitted to serious examination the memorandum handed on February 10th instant by the Ambassador of [Page 15] the United States of America to the Prime Minister, Minister for Foreign Affairs.
The said memorandum explains the principles which have inspired the Washington Government in proposing that, before the contemplated International Conference for the Reduction and the Limitation of Armaments, negotiations be initiated between the five powers signatory to the treaty of Washington of 1922 for the purpose of studying the limitation of certain categories of naval armaments not covered by said treaty.
The Italian Government appreciates fully the high spirit which has guided the President of the United States of America in addressing his message to Congress on the same day in which the memorandum of the American Government was handed to the Governments of the great powers interested. The appreciation of the Italian Government has all the greater value since Italy has always associated herself with every international activity tending to establish upon a solid base the tranquillity and peace of the world.
That spirit which has guided Mr. Coolidge is, so to say, the heritage of the Italian Government and people.
Italy in fact has not only adhered to the Washington Conference but has concluded during the past 5 years more treaties of friendship and arbitration than those stipulated by any other European state. Pier actual military expenses and, above all, her naval budget in which there is appropriated 300 million lire annually equal to about 13 millions of dollars for new naval construction, demonstrate clearly that the ‘far-reaching building programs’ alleged in the message certainly cannot refer to Italy.
The American Government proposes in its memorandum that the Italian Government empower its representative on the Preparatory Disarmament Commission to initiate negotiations at Geneva with a view to concluding agreements which, in anticipation of a global limitation of naval, land and air armaments, shall regulate naval armaments, by limiting the construction of those lesser vessels which were not contemplated in the accords of 1922.
As regards such a proposal the Government of His Majesty must above all state that, in principle and as far as concerns the continent of Europe, its point of view is that there exists an undeniable interdependence of every type of armament of every single power, and furthermore that it is not possible to adopt partial measures between only the five large naval powers.
The Italian Government thinks that the limitation of armaments, to be efficacious to the ends referred to by Mr. Coolidge, should be universal and recalls in this connection that the example of Washington was not accepted by the minor naval powers and that the Conference held at Rome in February 1924 for the extension of the principles of the Washington treaty to the powers not signatory thereto was a failure.
Then, as concerns Italy more specifically, the Italian Government believes it can invoke the same geographical reasons referred to in the message of President Coolidge. If the United States, by reason of their geographical position (‘our favored geographical position’) has been able to reduce land armament to the minimum, Italy by reason of its unfavorable geographical position cannot expose itself without [Page 16] grave risks to a binding limitation of its maritime armaments, which are already insufficient to the needs of its defense.
Italy has, in fact, only three lines of communication with the rest of the world, three obligatory routes, through Suez, Gibraltar, and the Dardanelles, for provisioning itself.
Italy has an enormous coast development with populous cities and vital centers on the coast or a short distance from it, with two large islands, besides the Dodecanese, all of which are linked to the peninsula by lines of vital traffic.
Italy has four important colonies to protect, two of which are beyond the Suez Canal.
In fact, Italy must also consider the other nations which face on or can appear in the Mediterranean, particularly favored by their geographical position amid essential lines of communication, and which have under construction many units of various types or are elaborating naval programs of great strength.
For the reasons above stated the Government of His Majesty feels confident that the Government of the United States will take into account the reason why Italy cannot, to its regret, accede to the proposal contained in the memorandum of February 10th.”