500.A15A5/663: Telegram
The Ambassador in France (Straus) to the Secretary of State
[Received February 17—12:40 p.m.]
123. Referring to the Embassy’s No. 120, February 15, noon,50 Pietri, Minister of Marine, came to the Chancery by appointment at 10:30 this morning to discuss the present situation of naval negotiations in London. He said that technically he found no objection to the decision arrived at by Great Britain and the United States regarding the upper limit of unit tonnage but that politically it would be difficult for France to accept such an upper limitation and that he would be very anxious to secure some modification thereof. He said that he would be willing to agree on some other limit, say 32,000 tons, and that he hoped that modification to that end could be accomplished.
[Page 61]I advised him to go to London himself and talk with Norman Davis whom he knows very well; that I was sure that Mr. Davis would be very glad to get his views; and that I was convinced that he could present his views much better in person; that it was curious that he, the head of the naval delegation, had not gone to London, and that now as the Conference was approaching its termination it would seem highly advisable for him to have direct contact.
I judged from his immediate acquiescence in the suggestion that it was what he had come in to seek, perhaps for the purpose of using it as an argument with the Cabinet and the Prime Minister who perhaps were opposed to his visit.
Pietri, in reply to my question, stated that the French are now prepared to sign a naval accord, without regard to an accord on air and land armaments, on condition that it should be agreed that subsequent to the naval accord there should be a conference on air and possibly also on land but stating, however, that land was a very much more difficult question to solve. He stated that the French are perfectly agreeable to an endeavor to get Germany to agree to a naval treaty provided Germany would agree to enter into later conversations as to air and land forces.
Repeated to Davis and Geneva.
- Not printed.↩