500.A15/1125: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Chairman of the American Delegation (Gibson)
9. Your 29, November 19, 9 p.m. Constant crossing of telegrams makes comment difficult. Department does not wish to quibble over words but prefers, first, that if an Escape Clause is proposed by the American Delegation, it be modelled as closely as practicable on the London Naval Treaty, and, second, that any Escape Clause finally adopted contain some provision for “advice” along the lines of the last clause of Article 21 of that Treaty.
From this point of view, the alternatives suggested in the telegrams exchanged, beginning with your 23 of November 15, 8 p.m., present themselves to the Department in the following order of preference:
- (1)
- Proposal by American Delegation of Escape Clause along lines of your 23, November 15, 8 p.m., as modified by Department’s [Page 195] 6, November 17, 5 p.m.,—with or without reference to “diplomatic channels”;
- (2)
- No proposal at all by American Delegation, thus permitting the situation to develop in the course of debate on the old draft of Article ZE toward preferred version;
- (3)
- proposal as under (1) above but omitting the paragraph relating to “advice”, as suggested in the first paragraph of your No. 29, November 19, 9 p.m., provided you are reasonably certain that some other delegation will propose the addition of a clause similar in effect to the one omitted;
- (4)
- proposal as under (1) above, but modified as suggested in the last paragraph of your 29, November 19, 9 p.m. This would omit the word “other” and take no account of the objections voiced in the Department’s 8, November 19, 5 p.m. Department will not insist on its position in this matter, however, if you are still convinced that this is the best alternative.
Please report to the Department which of the above four alternatives you finally decide on. In the event that you adopt the second one, we are prepared to approve any Escape Clause resulting from the debate which is similar in substance to any one of the above texts.
The Department has purposely avoided using the word “consultation” in its telegrams on this subject and believes that the Delegation had best refrain from using it so far as possible in the discussions, since we do not desire this issue confused with the question of a Consultative Pact.