500.A15A4 General Committee/687: Telegram
The Chargé in France (Marriner) to the Acting Secretary of State
[Received 11:10 a.m.]
537. Reference telegram No. 144, December 3, 10 a.m. from American Embassy, Rome. Yesterday evening on the basis of the telegram under reference I had a conversation with Léger telling him that I had seen news reports from Italy concerning the attitude of the Fascist Grand Council toward the League of Nations and likewise had read with interest various reports emanating from Berlin concerning the talks of Hitler and François-Poncet.
[Page 327]Léger confirmed all the indications of the German position as set forth in Ambassador Long’s telegram and added that Poncet had merely listened without comment to these proposals which were accompanied by words of friendly intention.
Thus far no reply has been given but Poncet has been authorized to inform Hitler when he thinks occasion requires that France could only continue to discuss these subjects with two fundamental reservations of principle.
- (1)
- That the question of the rearmament of Germany should be excluded as out of keeping with the efforts of the world toward disarmament in accordance with the obligations of the pact of the League of Nations and the efforts of the Disarmament Conference.
- (2)
- That France could never consent to deprive the people of the Saar of the rights conferred upon them by a treaty to which some 50 nations were parties.
Léger said that the British to whom the same German propositions had been submitted had requested further details and clarifications, a step which he felt unwise as the principles involved seemed inadmissible. He added that the French had noted that the Germans while demanding an increase of their troops from 100,000 to 300,000 had made no mention of naval increase, a concession he felt to make the whole proposition more palatable to the British.
As for the Italian situation it is Léger’s opinion that Mussolini has always been inimical to the League of Nations and having failed to wreck it from without by the Four Power Pact and independent conversations during the Disarmament Conference, he was now hoping to wreck it from within by proposals for reorganization which would bring about the sole dominance of the great European powers. However, he said that France would never change its attitude: that absolute equality among nations was the essence of the League.
Mailed to Rome, Geneva, London and Berlin.