500.A15A4 General Committee/971: Telegram
The Chairman of the American Delegation (Davis) to the Secretary of State
[Received June 8—5:50 p.m.]
887. 1. Meeting shortly before the General Commission this afternoon the Bureau16 forwarded the revised French resolution (See my 885 [886] June 8, 1 p.m.) to the General Commission with reservations declared by Italy and Poland. The Italian delegate objected to the Conference’s resuming its work before a preliminary and favorable solution of the essential political problems had taken place and explained that his delegation would maintain the same attitude in the meetings of the Committees proposed. Raczynski17 objected to the insertion of mention of the parallel and supplementary efforts which [Page 115] can not be accepted as the basis of work of the General Commission without prior discussion.
2. In an atmosphere of good will and with manifest evidence of a sincere effort to smooth out existing differences the General Commission adopted the resolution noting the reservations aforementioned.18 In presenting the amended French version Barthou paid a graceful tribute to the other delegates who had aided in the formulation of this program of work and welcomed the opportunity to reiterate upon how firm a basis the friendship of France and England was founded. In explaining the new text he stressed the utility of stating how necessary Germany’s return was considered by France. Motivated by a very real desire to smooth out difficulties he based his explanation of France’s policy upon its note of March 17th rather than the supplementary memorandum of April 17th. In contradistinction to his statement of the other day he explained that France was still firmly attached to the importance of securing guarantees of execution for the convention.
3. Eden who seconded the resolution expressed his sincere thanks for the efforts of both the other delegates who had aided in drawing up this program and explained his Government’s conviction that many of the difficulties with which the Conference was faced were due to the absence of Germany. This belief represented, however, no departure from the position England had taken last October with regard to Germany’s departure which it considered had constituted a definite setback to the work of disarmament. Eden voiced the hope that within the changed atmosphere which agreement upon this resolution had brought about Germany may again be willing to play its part in reaching a final agreement.
4. I stated the belief that while this resolution might not cover all of the questions involved in the way that some of us might have preferred I felt that it actually provided a program of work rendering possible ultimate agreement. Its greatest value I explained lay in the fact that France and England had agreed upon a program upon which they might cooperate toward the realization of a disarmament treaty which was not only a distinct contribution to the success of the Conference but a distinct contribution to European peace.
5. While Litvinoff was not fully satisfied with the resolution; while Sandler in the name of the neutrals would have preferred to see disarmament given greater prominence in the resolution; while Hungary, Bulgaria and Austria reiterated the demand of the disarmed powers for the fulfillment of promises contained in the peace treaties; all of these delegations imposed no objection to the resolution but rather welcomed the improved atmosphere which agreement upon a program [Page 116] had fostered. In addition the Hungarian delegate19 explained that his Government could not accept any regulation of air questions and arms manufacture except as it formed a part of a treaty dealing with all other phases of disarmament.
[6.] Since October [sic] Poland and Italy reiterated their reservations formulated in the Bureau, the Italian delegate regretting that he could not join the powers approving the program envisaged but explaining that Italy was willing to continue its cooperation in a solution of the real problems of disarmament while the delegate of Poland explained that his reservation was largely procedural designed to remove misunderstanding.
7. The Little Entente remained silent.
8. The General Commission will meet on Monday afternoon to prepare a definite program of work.