765.84/1395: Telegram
The Chargé in Ethiopia (Engert) to the Secretary of State
[Received 9:50 a.m.]
101. Legation’s 98, September 23, 9 a.m.82 The Emperor sent me last night the full text of the Geneva proposal83 which he had only received that morning and requested me to come to the Palace this afternoon.
His Majesty desired you to be informed that he was prepared to accept the proposal of the Committee of Five in principle simply because he wanted to carry conciliation to the utmost. There were, he [Page 658] felt, a number of points which required elucidation and probably modification but the report could be used as a basis for discussion, All would depend on the spirit in which its provisions were ultimately applied and how big a role Italy would claim to play under them. He intimated that at first while the Ethiopian people were still thoroughly aroused only a small share could be accorded to Italians but if the latter behaved themselves and showed good faith it might be increased later.
To my question whether he had received any news from Rome since the rejection of the proposal by Italy, the Emperor replied that he got the impression from the tone of Italian official and newspaper utterances that Mussolini had perhaps become a little less intransigent. He then spoke with considerable warmth of feeling of the service Great Britain had rendered not only to Abyssinia but to the whole world by letting it be known that she would uphold the principles of the Covenant and of the Paris Pact and he added that in this respect her hands were then strengthened by the moral support of the United States. The Emperor concluded by saying that to prove his good faith he had today invited the League to send at once observers to Ethiopia to prevent the possibility of border incidents pending the outcome of negotiations in Geneva or elsewhere.