800.51W89 France/801: Telegram

The Ambassador in France ( Edge ) to the Secretary of State

8. For the Secretary. M. Laval69 on his own initiative called on me this afternoon in view of the inferences in the newspapers following the Borah speech70 with regard to the understanding with the President arising out of his visit in America last year.71 Marriner72 was present.

The salient points in support of talk which was frank and cordial were:

1.
That there was no understanding or commitment of any kind between him and President Hoover that was not contained in the communiqué.73
2.
That the whole discussion had proceeded on the basis of a moratorium past or future and that no commitment had been made or even been envisaged as to final settlements of the questions of “intergovernmental obligations” whether by annulation or reduction or otherwise.
3.
That the very fact that the Young Plan74 was mentioned by implication in the communiqué was to be taken as an indication that there had never been envisaged at that time any complete cancellation of debts or reparations.

Laval proceeded, however, to say that he did consider that the Lausanne agreements75 in so far as they provided for a continued moratorium of payments from Germany were entirely within the scope of his understanding with the President as expressed in the communiqué and that it was on the basis of this fact that he himself was opposed to the French payment of the December 15th installment believing a further moratorium should have been granted.

He felt that it would be very difficult to obtain the consent of the French Parliament to this payment and he deplored the fact that the Lausanne agreements had been put into effect without a prior understanding with the United States.

While Laval indicated his willingness to have this information transmitted to the President he expressed a desire that he should not be quoted publicly.

Edge
  1. Pierre Laval, former French Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs; Independent Senator for Department of Seine.
  2. See Congressional Record, vol. 76, pt. 2, pp. 1284–1294, especially pp. 1291–1294.
  3. October 22–26, 1931; see Foreign Relations, 1931, vol. ii, pp. 237 ff.
  4. J. Theodore Marriner, Counselor of Embassy in France.
  5. Issued by President Hoover and Prime Minister Laval, October 25, 1931, Foreign Relations, 1931, vol. ii, p. 252.
  6. Great Britain, Cmd. 3343 (1929): Report of the Committee of Experts on Reparations.
  7. Great Britain, Cmd. 4126, Misc. No. 7 (1932): Final Act of the Lausanne Conference, Lausanne, July 9, 1932; see also Great Britain, Cmd. 4129, Misc. No. 8 (1932): Further Documents relating to Settlement reached at the Lausanne Conference; and Foreign Relations, 1932, vol. i, pp. 636 ff.