852.00/4076: Telegram
The Ambassador in Italy (Phillips) to the Acting Secretary of State
[Received December 13—9:55 a.m.]
524. It is officially announced this morning that the reply of the Italian Government to the British and French proposals regarding non-intervention in Spanish affairs and mediation between the two parties was handed to the representatives of the two Governments in Rome last night. The official communiqué further continues that the Government of the Reich replied simultaneously and that the Italian and German answers are of analogous content.
I learn from the British Embassy that the general tone of the Italian reply is favorable. It states that, insofar as the proposal of the two Governments for a new formal declaration of non-intervention in Spanish affairs and reenforcement of the measures taken for this purpose by the London Committee is concerned, Italy is disposed if all the other states agree to examine in the London Committee all such measures as may appear most suited to insuring complete application and control of non-intervention provided these are contemporaneously accepted in their entirety. Italy recalls, however, its insistence from the beginning that all measures to be effective must be universally applied.
The idea of mediatory action is also received favorably but the Italian Government raises the question whether the carrying out of a plebiscite in Spain is practical. It points out that the will of the Spanish people has already been sufficiently expressed in favor of the National Government. Reconciliation of the two parties in conflict also appears to Italy to be singularly difficult on account of the anarchistic tendency predominating among the adversaries of the National Government and by reason of their acts of cruelty. Nevertheless, the Italian Government states that it is disposed to examine “in a spirit of friendly collaboration such proposals as the other Governments may feel able to formulate and to participate in their eventual realizations”.
I understand that both the Italian and German replies will probably be published tomorrow.