Office of the Historian

724.3415/2683 3/11

Memorandum by the Chairman of the Commission of Neutrals (White)

[Washington,] December 7, 1932.

The Irish Minister called and left me the attached copy of a cable which he has received from de Valera, President of the Council of the League. There is a break in the code and he will send me a revised copy when it is worked out.

I thanked the Minister for the message and told him that I could see nothing in the Paraguayan reply to the League that indicated that Paraguay was ready to accept the sending of a military commission immediately to the Chaco nor did the Bolivian answer specifically accept in principle more than the sending at the proper moment of a commission on bases which were a modification of the neutral proposal. I told the Minister that I had explained the situation about this commission to the American Minister in Berne in a long cable of November 1741 and that I had therefore been surprised [Page 255] at the telegram we had received from the League on the twenty-fifth.42

I explained to the Minister at great length the futility of sending a military commission now and impressed upon him the necessity of dealing with the matter with great patience and circumspection. I said that if we rushed in before the situation was prepared we would get into a lot of trouble and not advance the negotiations. I told the Minister that the Neutrals appreciate the cooperation which the League Council is giving us and that we, in our turn, are desirous of cooperating with the League. I said that we can not give them the details of the negotiations now because any cable we send to the League is published and publication of the negotiations would wreck them but that as soon as the matter develops so that we have real progress to announce we will do so or, if the situation develops so that some other action is called for, we will consult with the League in an effort to get their backing for what we propose. I said I hoped that the situation would develop within the next week or ten days so that we could pursue one or the other of the courses mentioned above; that within the next fortnight we certainly should be in a position to do so.

The Minister thanked me and said he agreed fully with everything I had said. He said he saw nothing in the telegrams that indicated Bolivia’s or Paraguay’s acceptance of the immediate despatching of a neutral commission; that he agreed with the necessity of proceeding patiently and carefully, and that he would at once send a private message to de Valera in this sense and endeavor to have him go easy and lay off for awhile. He expressed as his personal opinion that the Spanish representative, de Madariaga, was the one who was pushing for action.

F[rancis] W[hite]
[Annex]

The President of the Council of the League of Nations (De Valera) to the Irish Minister (MacWhite)

The Committee Council in its telegram sent 25th November43 expressed its concern at position of Bolivia Paraguay dispute. It feels bound in stating that owing to continued fighting in Chaco its anxiety has not lessened. The Committee therefore considers that appointment of and immediate despatch of Commission proposed in telegram above referred to has become even more urgent and thinks that action should be taken without delay more especially as it understands both parties have in principle accepted such a commission. [Page 256] It is anxious that such action which would be a first step to ensure that obligation laid upon League under Covenant will be respected should be taken through your invaluable office and trusts that your telegram 3rd December reference to appointment of and despatch of Commission—

The Committee would welcome earliest possible news and remain ready for the closest cooperation as to scope and membership of Committee.

De Valera
  1. Ante, p. 249.↩
  2. Ante, p. 252.↩
  3. See telegram of November 25 from the President of the Council of the League of Nations to the Chairman of the Commission of Neutrals, p. 252.↩