500.A15a3/427: Telegram
The Ambassador in Great Britain (Dawes) to the Secretary of State
[Received 10:50 p.m.]
342. At noon today the French Ambassador called on me to report on his conversation with the Prime Minister. He had been asked by Briand to submit to MacDonald question No. 3 as contained in your telegram No. 299 of November 18 and MacDonald’s answer was in effect the same as the one you gave. The Ambassador, at Briand’s suggestion, asked MacDonald for what he called the “criterion” of the British Navy; I gather that this is the beginning of a Franco-British discussion as to the minimum naval needs of the two countries.
I learned from the French Ambassador that France will appoint no naval officers as delegates but that a similar procedure will be followed as in our own case through the appointment of naval officers as official advisers. It is probable, but not yet settled, that the French delegation will consist of four members. The state of health of the French Minister of Marine is causing some embarrassment and it is possible that he may not be able to attend the Conference. The delegation will include Briand and it is expected that Tardieu92 will come to London for a few days only.
Briand’s suggestion was conveyed to MacDonald by the French [Page 288] Ambassador to the effect that the Conference be opened with a general discussion of the “criterion” as he called it; by this he meant a general discussion of relative naval needs, thereby avoiding too early precipitation of questions of a technical nature. Briand’s idea, according to the Ambassador, was suggested by some of the methods which obtained at the Geneva Naval Conference—methods which had best be avoided, he thought.
- President of the French Council of Ministers.↩