765.84/321: Telegram
The Consul at Geneva (Gilbert) to the Secretary of State
[Received May 20—8 p.m.]
194. The President of the Council has received direct from the Emperor of Ethiopia a telegram containing a message which he requests the President to read at the present session of the Council. The message reviews previous statements of his country’s case and after pointing out that Italy has appointed two of her own officials as arbitrators and has restricted the questions under arbitration so as to exclude any interpretation of the treaty of 1908,16 it states that “no agreement has been, is or will be possible by diplomatic means to arrange for a genuine impartial examination in Italy’s present state of mind”. The message concludes by asking the Council to stop Italy’s military preparations and to “decide that unless Italy agrees that the arbitrators should interpret the treaty of May 16, 1908, and pronounce [Page 603] on all the incidents that have occurred since November 23 last in the vicinity of the Somali-Ethiopian frontier, it will take up the dispute itself and make a full inquiry and examination on the basis of article No. XV of the Covenant.”
- Abyssinian–Italian Convention signed May 16, 1908, British and Foreign State Papers, vol. ci, p. 1000.↩