793.94/4464: Telegram
The Minister in Switzerland (Wilson) to the Secretary of State
[Received February 27—5:35 p.m.]
40. I discussed the substance of your 23, February 26, 7 p.m., with Drummond this afternoon who told me that he was personally opposed to any invitation being issued for the United States to take part in the Assembly and was dubious whether the Assembly legally had such [Page 457] power. He felt that should the question be raised in the Assembly it would have to go to a legal committee for an opinion and if the opinion was favorable he expects debate would follow as to whether it was desirable and whether all other nonmember states should be invited. Thus a great deal of time would be consumed.
He felt that there had been much loose talk on the subject of severance of trade and financial relations mostly from countries with nothing to lose and that it was certainly most important to avoid giving Japan any pretext to declare war either on the League as a whole or on any member thereof. Nevertheless, everything should be done short of giving an excuse for such extreme action. It was his opinion that at the present moment the Japanese state of mind might be ready to go to war with even Great Britain “should economic sanctions be undertaken.” For these reasons, he did not feel that any proposal of such a nature would obtain support and would surely be rejected. One danger was that the Assembly might try to pass judgment on Japan to the effect that she had violated the Covenant which would seem to entail the application of article 16. The Secretary-General agreed, however, that it would be an error to punish a prisoner before sentence was passed and thus it would be better to avoid passing any judgments till all the facts were at the disposal of the body, since the Covenant provides that the judgment itself would entail the immediate punishment.
Drummond’s personal opinion was that the Assembly would probably adopt a resolution whereby all states undertook not to recognize solutions reached in this matter which were contrary to existing treaties and after that to set up an Assembly committee for executive action and eventually to report to the Assembly.