711.0012Anti-War/121: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in France (Herrick)10
237. Your 205, July 26, noon. Please inform Foreign Office orally in the following sense, leaving no written memorandum of any kind:
“Many Governments not parties to the original negotiations having manifested a most friendly interest in and sympathy for the multilateral treaty for the renunciation of war proposed by the Government of the United States and accepted by the Governments of Australia, Belgium, Canada, Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, Great Britain, India, the Irish Free State, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Poland and South Africa, careful consideration has been given to the procedure which should be followed in causing the Treaty to be signed and extending its application to Powers not called upon to sign in the first instance.
As is well known, the original suggestion of the United States was that the proposed anti-war treaty be concluded in the first instance by the United States and the British, French, German, Italian and Japanese Governments and it was to those Governments only that the United States submitted its draft treaty of April 13, 1928. The reason for thus limiting the scope of the negotiations has already been explained as, for example, in the paragraph entitled ‘Universality’ in the note which the United States addressed to the interested Governments on June 23, 1928.
During the negotiations with the British, French, German, Italian and Japanese Governments it appeared desirable for legal reasons to provide for the signature of the treaty in the first instance by certain powers not individually mentioned in the previous correspondence. The British Government pointed out in its note of May 19, 1928, for example, that the proposed treaty from its very nature was not one which concerned His Majesty’s Government in Great Britain alone, but was one in which that Government could not undertake to participate otherwise than jointly and simultaneously with the Governments in the Dominions and the Government of India. Provision has, therefore, quite naturally been made for the signature of the treaty by each constituent part of the British Empire individually. The only other Governments for whose signature in the first instance provision has been made are the Governments of Belgium, [Page 131] Czechoslovakia and Poland. These Governments were invited to become original signatories because the question had been raised as to whether the proposed multilateral anti-war treaty was in any way inconsistent with the prior obligations of Great Britain, France, Germany and Italy as parties to the Locarno treaties. The United States suggested that if any inconsistency between these treaties were found to exist the matter could be adjusted by including all signatories of the Locarno treaties among the original signatories of the anti-war treaty, since in such event no State could resort to war in violation of the Locarno treaties without simultaneously violating the anti-war treaty thus freeing the other parties to the latter treaty from their obligations thereunder to the treaty-breaking state.
The United States has from the beginning insisted upon a form of treaty which would permit participation therein by all the countries of the world. The restriction of the number of original signatories is purely a matter of procedure calculated to expedite the consummation of the treaty and its coming into force. Governments adhering to the treaty are on exactly the same footing as Governments signing in the first instance. If the treaty is to attain its maximum usefulness it is essential that the world powers not involved in the original negotiations take steps promptly to adhere to the treaty pursuant to its terms and the United States and the other Governments who have agreed upon the present instrument deeply appreciate the sympathetic interest in their efforts which has been shown by so many other powers. In the general interest, however, it seems wiser to follow the procedure already agreed upon and to make no amendment in the text of the treaty so as to provide for signature in the first instance by any Government not heretofore concerned in the negotiations.
The Secretary of State is explaining therefore the situation to the Spanish Ambassador at Washington and informing him orally that it is not feasible to arrange to have Spain included among the original signatories of the Treaty.”
Repeat to London as Department’s 176, referring to London’s 172, July 26, 1 p.m.; to Rome as Department’s 90, referring to Rome’s 78, July 27, noon; to Berlin as Department’s 82, referring to Berlin’s 158 July 25, 2 p.m.
- See last paragraph for instructions to repeat to Great Britain (No. 176), Italy (No. 90), and Germany (No. 82).↩