852.01/154: Telegram
The Ambassador in the United Kingdom ( Bingham ) to the Acting Secretary of State
[Received November 20—1 p.m.]
548. Embassy’s 545, November 19, 7 p.m. Two of Eden’s answers to questions asked in the House of Commons are worthy of note:
- 1.
- Replying to a query as to whether the British Government had any intention of recognizing General Franco’s government, Eden merely stated “that there is a distinction between the recognition of belligerents and the recognition of any one side as the Government of Spain”. Incidentally, the diplomatic correspondent of the Times today points out that this distinction “would be likely to raise in acute form the question of according belligerent rights to General Franco. There would be an inverse parallel for such an emergency in the history of the American civil war”. The diplomatic correspondent of the Daily Telegraph states in this connection, “The position of British shipping wishing to utilize the Spanish Government ports must remain somewhat obscure until it has been decided whether the Nationalists are entitled and able to establish a blockade”. It is doubtless sufficient that the British Government is inquiring of the Burgos government about the possibility of their establishing a specified safety zone for neutral shipping off Barcelona similar to that already established off Valencia and other Government ports (see Embassy’s 511, November 4, 6 p.m.).
- 2.
- Replying to a query whether the declarations of Germany and Italy did not constitute an open and deliberate breach of nonintervention and how it was proposed “to meet this new aggression” Eden stated, “It is quite possible to pursue a policy of non-intervention in respect of the supply of arms while recognizing a government on one side or the other. That is in fact what most nations have been doing hitherto because they have recognized the Government of Spain but have pursued a policy of non-intervention. So far as breaches are concerned I wish to state categorically that I think there are other governments more to blame than those of Germany or Italy.”
In this general connection the diplomatic correspondent of the Daily Telegraph comments as follows that “the blockade announcement from Burgos is an intimation that all steps will be taken to prevent the shipment of arms, munitions, and men from Soviet Russia to the ports controlled [Page 563] by the Madrid Government. Further, it is already established that General Franco’s naval forces have intercepted two Soviet vessels and compelled them to unload their cargoes in ports under Nationalist control. This fact is significant in that it does not appear to have drawn any forcible protest from the Soviet Government. From this it has been deducted in some quarters that Moscow is aware that it is in no position to break through the blockading forces which General Franco can now count upon to execute his plan. The two vessels concerned together with all other Russian ships detained by the Nationalists have since been released.”