500.A15A5/117: Telegram
The Ambassador in Great Britain (Bingham) to the Secretary of State
[Received June 28—1:47 a.m.]
364. From Norman Davis. At the meeting this afternoon Baldwin and Simon10 were present in addition to MacDonald and the others who have been representing the British in these meetings. MacDonald began by stating that since he is now leaving on his vacation and others will have to take over in his place, he wished to have a further exchange of views. He then recited their difficulties and their attitude which was substantially as outlined in our number 363.11 He said he thought it of the utmost importance to prevent any impression that there is any irreconcilable difference between us because if the other naval powers think that the United States and England are unable to get together it will be impossible to negotiate successfully with them. He said that the British had stated their position in the utmost frankness and told us what they felt their naval requirements to be to enable them to cope with situations which now confront them, and they hoped that in the same spirit and frankness we would give them our figures and indicate how far we would be willing to go to meet them. I then handed to MacDonald the President’s message12 and outlined our views and objections to entering upon technical discussions on the basis of their program which for us does not furnish an acceptable basis for discussion.
MacDonald then asked me to say to the President that he realized the desirability of a further reduction in naval tonnage on which they would like very much to meet us, but that he did hope we would appreciate that they are facing greater difficulties than we are and until the situation is somewhat cleared it would be most difficult for them to agree to such reductions. He said, however, we ought to be able through a full discussion between the naval experts to agree upon substantial reductions in some categories that would more than counterbalance [Page 282] the increase in cruiser tonnage which they feel is of vital importance to them. He then asked if we would not submit our views on a technical program. We told him that while there are certain modifications we would like in the present treaty, we are willing to take it as it is with a total tonnage reduction of 20 per cent but that if they agree in principle that our primary concern should be a renewal of existing treaties, with such modifications as can be agreed upon that would give a net reduction in total tonnage, then we would be prepared to discuss it along that line. While he insisted that we should not consider their program as a critique proposal, we told him that the distinction he was drawing was too fine to obviate the difficulty which they are raising. We told them that while we sympathize with and appreciate their preoccupations it would be misleading and unfair to them to discuss a possible increase of 60 per cent in cruiser tonnage for we simply would not negotiate a treaty on such conditions. Mac-Donald then said that he must tell us that he must leave and before saying good-bye he wanted to urge upon us a patient and friendly continuance of effort to find a ground upon which we could meet because of the importance to the peace of the world and ourselves of developing Anglo-American friendship and cooperation. Baldwin then said that if England were to have trouble with Japan now it is simply not in a position to deal successfully with the situation and that is something we must bear in mind in our consideration of this problem. In adjourning the meeting it was agreed we would both tell the press that we had met at the request of the Prime Minister who wished to have a final meeting before his departure, that we had continued our exploratory conversations and that we would have further discussions. But we all agreed that we should give the impression that conversations are progressing normally. A time was not fixed for the next meeting but it was agreed that we would have private discussions and later determine about a further meeting. Baldwin said he thought we ought to have time to digest what we have done today and then meet again and in saying good-bye he told me he would be glad for us to get together in a few days for a further talk. [Davis.]