500.A15A4/1033: Telegram
The Ambassador in France (Edge) to the Secretary of State
[Received—8:23 p.m.]
319. From Gibson. Davis and I accompanied by Aubert, had a talk with Tardieu this morning. We told him of our visit to London and of our hope to find a way of continuing useful work in spite of recent set backs; he appeared distinctly pessimistic as to the prospects of early progress in disarmament. In the first place he said that the French political situation was extremely confused and that it would be impossible to set up a working government before June 10th or 15th; [Herriot’s?9] difficulty was that if he went to the Left to build a majority his Government could not last; on the other hand, while Herriot is more nearly in agreement with Tardieu’s views he can hardly, after denouncing him for the past year as the cause of France’s difficulties, turn at once and ask his collaboration as a necessary element of sound government. He feels that Herriot will eventually be obliged to seek his collaboration but that this may be a matter of 2 or 3 months. Until some working government is set up he says he sees no prospect of dealing effectively with fundamentals.
We threw out a suggestion as to the possibility that some ground might be cleared if the French Government would express its readiness to continue informal conversations without binding future governments but with the understanding that an effort would be made [Page 128] effectively to carry out any tentative agreements made. He said that he had just talked to Boncour who told him that the word [work?] of the technical committees could be carried on for about 2 weeks longer after which no further progress could be made until the new government is formed. He told us, however, that he would have Boncour, Aubert and Massigli keep in touch with us and perhaps by May 25 he could form an estimate as to what course we should pursue. Our inference is that his allusion to this date is based on the assumption that by that time he will know what will be the complexion of the new government and whether or not it is possible for him to make a combination with Herriot.
He then went on to discuss new developments in the German situation. He was disturbed by Bruening’s speech in the Reichstag of Wednesday which he said was a striking contrast to the moderate language he had used in Geneva. He attaches grave importance to the dismissal of Groener at the instance of two of his subordinates in the Reichswehr which he says shows that the Hitlerites dominate the army. He went on to say that in view of the irresponsible attitude of the Hitlerites the French Government was seriously concerned lest there be some form of armed aggression either through an attack on the corridor or the seizure of Danzig.
He expressed indignation over the recent Stresemann documents published here in L’Illustration10 which he said demonstrate clearly that the one German who had won French confidence was completely false; this publication was such a shock to French public opinion as to constitute a set back to any move for good understanding.
He stressed the fact that he had gone over the foregoing to show us that the German situation constituted a genuine problem for France. However, he felt that there were signs that the British Government was coming around to a more reasonable attitude on reparations and if this were found to be true he felt there was reasonable hope that an agreement could be reached at Lausanne and with the help of [Great Britain?] and the United States as conciliators that we could hope to achieve something substantial at the Disarmament Conference.
Boncour, Aubert and Massigli will be in Geneva this coming week and if occasion requires Tardieu can come any time before June 1st when his mandate expires.