765.84/1094: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Chargé in Ethiopia (Engert)
56. Your 92, September 10, 3 p.m. I wish you to reply orally and informally in the following sense to the inquiry you have received respecting the possibility of mediation by this Government in the dispute between Italy and Ethiopia.
This Government has, by the steps that it has taken during recent weeks, given ample evidence of its earnest desire to contribute in every way that seems to it practicable towards an amicable settlement of the present dispute in order that world peace may be preserved. The present suggestion, however, would not appear to be practicable, coming as it does at a moment when the appropriate agencies of the League of Nations, to which the Ethiopian Government has referred its dispute, are occupied in an endeavor to arrive at a solution under pertinent provisions of the Covenant which the Ethiopian Government itself has invoked.
[Page 752]It is assumed in these circumstances that the Ethiopian Government will deem it wiser to await the outcome of this leadership and these organized efforts to preserve peace before suggesting that some other attempted peace machinery be projected into the situation.
While mediation is a time-honored practice and has, in times past, been utilized to advantage, your interrogator will doubtless agree that the creation of the League of Nations, of which Ethiopia is a member, has modified the situation in that it has furnished a forum to which disputes between member nations can be submitted for settlement by collective action of the member nations. It seems unnecessary in this connection to recall that any indication of willingness at this juncture by this Government to mediate, even if such action seemed feasible, might interfere with the efforts of the League agencies and of those Powers now striving earnestly at Geneva to reach a satisfactory solution of the present dispute. Such a development would obviously be contrary to the interests of all Governments concerned.
You may state in conclusion that, even though this Government is unable to respond favorably to the suggestion under reference, it appreciates the confidence reposed in it by the authors of the inquiry. They may be assured that this Government will continue to exert its best efforts in the cause of world peace and, to that end, will furthermore be prepared at all times to give sympathetic consideration to suggestions that may seem to it practicable.