500.A15a3/1571: Telegram
The Minister in Switzerland (Wilson) to the Secretary of State
[Received 9:45 p.m.]
57. [Paraphrase.] I was in Geneva on Friday. There disarmament questions are for the moment in the background as everyone has foremost concern with the Austro-German Customs Union and allied economic problems.
Massigli hopes that sometime before the end of the Council meeting25 he may receive the authorization of his Government to renew the naval discussions in Geneva. However, in view of the fact that at present writing it is not known whether Briand will remain in office as Minister of Foreign Affairs, no immediate attempt can be made to resume the British-French-Italian conversations.
I have been informed by Rosso confidentially that the possibility of a compromise between the latest French and British-Italian proposals was discussed by Craigie, Massigli and himself at the final session of the drafting committee in London.
The following is a statement of the point of departure for these discussions: If the Conference of 1935 does not decide the question of replacement, and if France does not crowd into the years preceding 1935 all of the tonnage allotted to her under the March 1st agreement (but instead accepts an approximate tonnage maximum which may be laid down in any given year), then after the Conference of 1935 [Page 418] France will be free to lay down replacement for obsolete tonnage. [End paraphrase.]
It is the present intention to debate certain disarmament items, notably the President of the Conference and the place of the Conference, in the Council session of Monday the 18th. I shall therefore return to Geneva Monday morning.
- Sixty-third session of the League of Nations Council, May 18–23, 1931.↩