765.84/896: Telegram
The Chargé in Italy (Kirk) to the Secretary of State
[Received August 21—6:32 a.m.]
508. Following from Addis Ababa relayed at request of Legation:
For the Department. 77, August 20, 3 p.m. Local reaction to the events in Paris is that Italy is evidently irrevocably committed to extreme measures which do not permit of any compromise. Mussolini seems determined to achieve military success to wipe out memory of Adowa and to establish protectorate over whole of Ethiopia. The Emperor is deeply grateful for conciliatory work of Great Britain with which France has only quite recently associated herself but he fears that neither they nor any concessions short of surrender of sovereignty and independence on his part will be able to accomplish anything in the face of Italy’s forward policy of military and political aggression.
Feeling of profound disillusionment pervades Government circles but the utmost confidence in justice of Ethiopia’s cause and the ability of a united nation behind the Emperor to make conquest impossible. Engert.