500.A15A4 General Committee/344: Telegram
The American Delegate ( Wilson ) to the Secretary of State
[Received May 8—9 p.m.]
632. Supplementing my 631, May 8, 4 p.m., this afternoon Henderson summoned Massigli, Eden, Soragna,82 Nadolny and myself and proposed a procedure which he stated would not put any of the parties at a disadvantage. The procedure which he would like to suggest to the Bureau is to have a preliminary discussion on the whole of section II, material, of part II of the British plan, but this preliminary discussion would not include the offer of amendments and would be general in character. The discussion which followed brought out the same direct opposition between the British and French on the one hand and the Germans on the other hand with Soragna and myself endeavoring to find compromise solutions. During the course of the discussion Nadolny stated that the chapter on material gave Germany little or no satisfaction in its present form and until he knew how much farther the heavily armed states could go he flatly refused to alter his amendment on the standardization of Continental forces [Page 132] (the argument was somewhat heated: therefore Nadolny’s remarks on the British plan may be in some measure discounted). After we broke up Eden and Massigli informed me that they would endeavor to get permission from their governments to accede to Henderson’s suggestion. The five of us meet Henderson again 11 o’clock tomorrow morning and the Bureau is summoned for 4:30 in the afternoon.
The discussion this afternoon revealed even more clearly than the one this morning the dangerous situation in which the Conference now is. Neither the French or British are disposed to make concessions to Germany in its present condition and the Germans with the Nazi Government are equally intransigent. In fact the principal parties involved have come to a head-on collision on fundamentals under the mask of procedure.
I do not see what useful purpose can be served other than to gain time by the proposal which Henderson makes. But it may be that in staving off a break at this moment some sort of a compromise may evolve.
In presenting his suggestion Henderson said that this would enable us to pass several days and he hoped that in the meantime the American delegation would be ready to go back to part I. I told him that I could give no undertaking as to when we would be ready and would have to consult Davis. After consulting Davis by telephone at the conclusion of the meeting and ascertaining his views I communicated them to Henderson to the effect that we could take no engagement as to when we would be willing to discuss this matter and that he must not give the Conference the hope that we would be ready in the near future to do so. Henderson acquiesced.
Davis was of the opinion that to enter upon an immediate discussion of part I would be bad strategy until we could see what measures of disarmament were obtainable.
Repeated to Davis in London.
- Member of the Italian delegation to the General Commission.↩