765.84/4046: Telegram
The Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Bingham) to the Secretary of State
[Received April 7—12:55 p.m.]
185. Reference paragraph 1 my 183, April 7, 1 p.m.6 Reliable sources stated confidentially today that official information confirms reports of complete routs of Abyssinian forces on the northern front and that Eden is leaving for Geneva without any definite program beyond “cooperation within the framework of the League” to which policy the Government has committed itself by repeated declarations.
I understand the French are urging on the Negus the desirability of directly suing for peace with the Italians as the most practical way out. The French have informed the British their reason for holding up arms shipments on the Djibouti railroad is under article 170 of the Treaty of Versailles8 whereby Germany is forbidden to export arms, even when Czechoslovak origin, on the grounds that they were exported through the port of Hamburg.