500.A15A4 Steering Committee/387: Telegram

The Chargé in Great Britain ( Atherton ) to the Acting Secretary of State

5. Eden informed me today he would very gladly cooperate towards fixing a date as set forth in the Department’s 320, December 28, 5 p.m.14 Eden added there would be a Council meeting January 15th [Page 5] when he understood it was Henderson’s15 idea to consider the date for summoning the Bureau but he would see Henderson shortly and set forth reasons for delaying the Bureau anyway until January 27th.

Eden stated he was far more optimistic than a fortnight ago since the French note16 delivered to Hitler17 on January 1st was a conciliatory revisal of the October 14th proposals18 and had been well received by Berlin. Eden added that Sir John Simon had telegraphed subsequent to his conversations in Rome that Mussolini19 deemed disarmament negotiations far more important than early considerations for revision of the League [Covenant] and that Mussolini stated his personal satisfaction at the conciliatory character of the French aide-mémoire delivered at Berlin; furthermore, according to Mussolini’s information it had been well received by Hitler.

Simon will reach London Saturday and Prime Minister returning from Scotland. I have requested an appointment to see Simon sometime after Cabinet meeting January 10th.

Atherton
  1. Foreign Relations, 1933, vol. i, p. 352.
  2. Arthur Henderson, President of the General Disarmament Conference.
  3. Négociations relatives à la réduction et à la limitation des armements, p. 19; for English text, see Great Britain, Cmd. 4512, Miscellaneous No. 3 (1934), p. 3.
  4. Adolf Hitler, Chancellor of the German Reich.
  5. See telegrams Nos. 742 and 743, October 14, from the Chairman of the American delegation, Foreign Relations, 1933, vol. i, pp. 260 and 264.
  6. Benito Mussolini, Italian Prime Minister, 1922–44.