711.4112Anti-War/87: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Great Britain (Houghton)
130. Your 115, May 19, 3 p.m.66 On Friday afternoon when the British Ambassador handed me a copy of Chamberlain’s note of May 19, he dictated the following extract from separate instructions which Chamberlain had sent him regarding the participation in the treaty by the Dominions and India:
“As regards the procedure respecting the Dominion Governments and the Government of India, His Majesty’s Government wishes to stress the obvious necessity for the whole empire signing the treaty simultaneously. His Majesty’s Government in Great Britain feels confident that the United States Government will approve participation of the Dominions and India and will gladly extend to them the necessary invitations. They would much prefer separate invitations being sent to each of the Dominion Governments and there would be no objection to the invitations to Canada and the Irish Free State being extended through the United States Legations in Ottawa and Dublin and the invitations to His Majesty’s Governments in Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the Government of India through the United States Ambassador in London.”
I am today telegraphing to our Legations at Ottawa and Dublin the text of a note to be dated and delivered tomorrow inviting participation [Page 70] in the treaty by Canada and the Irish Free State, respectively.67 In view of the procedure suggested by Chamberlain through Howard, I desire to have a corresponding invitation extended by you tomorrow to His Majesty’s Governments in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa and to the Government of India. According to information furnished by the British Embassy, your note of invitation should be addressed to Chamberlain. Unless a different procedure is requisite, particularly with reference to whether there should be four separate notes, in which case make the necessary changes, you should therefore date and deliver tomorrow to Chamberlain the following note which mutatis mutandis is identical with those to be delivered in Ottawa and Dublin:
“In the note which you addressed to me on May 19, 1928, you were good enough to inform my Government that His Majesty’s Government in Great Britain had been in communication with His Majesty’s Governments in the Dominions and with the Government of India, and had ascertained that they were all in cordial agreement with the general principle of the multilateral treaty for the renunciation of war which the Government of the United States proposed on April 13, 1928. You added that you felt confident, therefore, that His Majesty’s Governments in the Dominions and the Government of India were prepared to accept an invitation to participate in the conclusion of such a treaty as that proposed by the Government of the United States.
I have been instructed to state to Your Excellency that my Government has received this information with the keenest satisfaction. My Government has hoped from the outset of the present negotiations that the Governments of the Dominions and the Government of India would feel disposed to become parties to the suggested anti-war treaty. It is, moreover, most gratifying to the Government of the United States to learn that His Majesty’s Governments in the Dominions and the Government of India are so favorably inclined towards the treaty for the renunciation of war which my Government proposed on April 13, 1928, as to wish to participate therein individually and as original signatories, and my Government, for its part, is most happy to accede to the suggestion contained in your note to me of May 19, 1928.
Accordingly I have been instructed to extend through you to His Majesty’s Governments in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa and to the Government of India a cordial invitation in the name of the Government of the United States to become original parties to the treaty for the renunciation of war which is now under consideration. Pursuant to my instructions, I also have the honor to inform you that the Government of the United States will address through you to His Majesty’s Governments in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa and to the Government of India at the same time and in the same manner as to the other Governments whose participation in the proposed treaty in the first instance is contemplated, any further communications which it may make on the subject of the treaty after it has been acquainted with the views of all the Governments to which its note of April 13, 1928, was addressed.”
Please inform the Foreign Office that the Government of the United States proposes to release the text of its invitations to the Dominions and India for publication simultaneously in the United States and abroad in Friday morning’s newspapers, May 25. You should make appropriate arrangements for publication in the local press.
Please telegraph as soon as you have delivered the foregoing note.