462.00R296/4143
Memorandum by the Under Secretary of State (Castle)
The Italian Ambassador telephoned me last night, about 10:30, that he had just finished decoding the telegram from Italy which was an acceptance of the President’s proposal and asked whether he could come to my office at 9 o’clock to read it to me.
He read me the telegram, translating it as he read, as follows:
The Italian Government instructed him to assure the American Government that the full and cordial acceptance of Italy to the President’s proposal was in no way subordinated to political conditions. On the contrary, that acceptance has been formulated in [Page 224] terms closely corresponding to the British answer. The observations which the Italian Government intends to make concern solely the methods of realization of the plan. Therefore, Mr. Grandi said the Italian Ambassador had correctly answered the Secretary of State in saying that he did not feel the Italian acceptance had anything to do with political questions. So far as the Austro-German Customs Agreement is concerned, Italian public opinion, very conscious of the dangers of a union between Austria and Germany to Italy and to Europe, was somewhat worried that Germany, freed from its financial burdens and the only European country whose budget was without serious deficit, might feel this an opportunity to bring about the realization of the plan. This apprehension appears to have been the ground for some misunderstanding and foreign papers, in consequence, spoke of an Italian reservation along those lines. The Royal Italian Government, on the contrary, realizes that the initiative of the President is of a broad, economic and indeed world wide order, and understands the impossibility of connecting or subordinating it to problems of European politics, however important. It is, therefore, true that the Royal Government has never thought of making any such reservation.
The Ambassador was further told to make it very clear, in order that this Government should understand the Italian point of view, that this acceptance means real sacrifices in a country which already considers itself, and has from the beginning so considered itself, in a condition of inferiority as compared to the other countries under the Treaties of Peace. The Italian acceptance, quick and spontaneous, flows fully from the the entire plan on which for several years Mussolini has conducted the Government. The Fascist Government, it may be seen, is fully conscious of the necessities of the movement and of the moral and practical importance of the American initiative.
The telegram finally instructed the Ambassador to emphasize the favorable attitude of the Italian press toward the President’s proposal.