740.0011 Mutual Guarantee (Locarno)/801
The Chargé in Belgium (Sussdorff) to the Secretary of State
[Received September 26.]
Sir: Referring to my despatch No. 935, of August 12, 1936,1 and to previous dispatches regarding the proposed Five Power Locarno Conference, I have the honor to report that Mr. Le Ghait, Secretary of the Secretary-General of the Belgian Foreign Office, informed me this morning that he does not believe that the Conference can possibly be held before the end of November or the beginning of December—if as soon as that. Referring to the similarity of the recent replies of the German and Italian Governments to the British Government’s suggestion that the Five Power Locarno meeting might be held in the second half of October,2 Mr. Le Ghait said that the Belgian Government considered it quite possible that the German and Italian Governments were content to go slowly in this matter in order to watch the outcome of the Civil War in Spain—on the theory that a victory by the Spanish insurgents would place the German and Italian Governments in a better strategic position in the Locarno negotiations. Mr. Le Ghait also believes that the general tenor of the speeches made by Nazi officials at the Nuremberg Rally will make it more difficult to get France and Germany together in the same Council Chamber in the near future.
Respectfully yours,