500.A15A5/830: Telegram
The Ambassador in Italy (Phillips) to the Secretary of State
[Received October 9—9 a.m.]
408. I discussed with the British Ambassador15 the matter of the signature of the Naval Treaty by Italy and he expressed the opinion that once the Locarno powers had agreed definitely to meet on a given program the Italians would no longer hold out against signing the treaty. He did not think the real objection to signing was as they stated, see my 392, September 29, 6 p.m., but rather their unwillingness to cooperate in naval matters until a more definite program of general European cooperation had been agreed upon. I told the British Ambassador of my conversation with Count Ciano [Page 111] and the hope that I had expressed to him that Italy having been one of the negotiators of the treaty might find her way to become a signatory at an early date.
- Sir Eric Drummond.↩