800.51W89 Great Britain/353: Telegram

The Ambassador in Great Britain (Mellon) to the Secretary of State

337. I had confirmed to me today from a Foreign Office source that the Chancellor of the Exchequer in his visit to Paris will explain the British viewpoint to the French Government that should Great Britain pay the debt installment to the United States on December [Page 771] 15 it is to be regarded as merely a transitional payment on the part of Great Britain and does not reopen the question of French debt payment to Great Britain. In other words the British Treasury consider the Lausanne agreement binding until either a general reparation and war debt settlement has been reached or the agreement nullified by the interested governments.

I am led to believe that British have already expressed to the French their reasons for determining to make the payment due on December 15 and pointed out whichever course France adopts does not in great measure prejudice the British position.

Mellon