500.A15A4/2271: Telegram
The Chairman of the American Delegation ( Davis ) to the Secretary of State
Geneva
, October
22, 1933—8 p.m.
[Received 8:12 p.m.]
[Received 8:12 p.m.]
759. Your telegram No. 381, October 21, 2 p.m.
- 1.
- I am glad that the statement of October 16 which gave public notice of the policy which we have persistently pursued has met with such general approval at home. I believe that the statement has also done good here. It has served to dispel any hope that we might be induced to join in enforcing the military provisions of the Treaty of Versailles for the reason that we enjoy the rights of that treaty under our bilateral treaty with Germany and this should increase the incentive to negotiate a treaty with Germany.
- 2.
- Concerning the matter of adjournment of the Conference I entirely agree that, (a), provocative speeches should be avoided and, (b), that there is no possibility of negotiating with Germany before the elections in that country. What I fear above all things is that adjournment of the Conference pure and simple until, say, November 25 would be but a prelude to a series of further adjournments in which the Conference would die a lingering death. It now seems to me vital that in some form or other the Conference should be carried on but without public meetings and the more I consider the matter the more I think that the safest and perhaps the most useful path to follow would be that sketched in paragraph 2, my telegram No. 758 beginning “another course has been suggested”.
- 3.
- From the conversations which I have had over a period of time with
the Italians I am inclined to think that their insistence on
adjournment is with the lingering hope of acting under the Four
Power Pact once the Disarmament Conference has failed. For a number
of reasons I am convinced that they cannot deal successfully with
disarmament under the Four Power Pact:
- (1)
- The Pact is not ratified by Germany or France.
- (2)
- The Pact involves action as permanent members of the Council of the League of Nations and Germany has withdrawn from the League of Nations.
- (3)
- Any steps taken on disarmament under the pact would be by that very tact unpalatable to Czechoslovakia, Poland and other states of Central Europe and,
- (4)
- France is definitely determined that the disarmament work shall be carried on within the Conference itself which was set up by the League of Nations. They cannot consider disarmament in any of its phases outside of the structure of the League.
- 4.
- All things considered it seems to me wiser not to adopt in advance a rigid attitude but to try to work out with the other delegates when [Page 298] they arrive some interim procedure for carrying on the Conference work in such a manner that will not be provocative to Germany and which will carry over until after the German elections.
- 5.
- The French definitely want to continue the Conference. One of the most insistent reproaches which the Germans have made is that the heavily armed powers and France in particular have never stated clearly, definitely and publicly, what they are willing to do in the way of disarmament nor have the French stated publicly that the treaty should eventually accord qualitative equality to Germany. These reproaches leave France somewhat on the defensive and there are indications that they are feeling now that they must publicly write down what they are willing to do conditional on Germany’s adherence to the treaty.
Davis