765.84/4413

Memorandum by the Under Secretary of State (Phillips)

The Italian Ambassador told me that he had just left with the Secretary, under instructions, formal notification of the annexation of Ethiopia; that he had asked for no comments and that the Secretary had made none; he went on to say that the annexation was by far the best solution of the problem; that he felt, in due course, Geneva would recognize the facts as they existed; the Italian Government had been very much surprised as [at] the degree of pacification which had already been accomplished in Ethiopia; there had been stouter resistance expected from the local tribes; the subservient tribes, which occupied an inferior position to the “Ethiopian war lords” had, in fact, all of them accepted the Italian administration of the country; 200,000 of the Italian army had already agreed to remain in the country and cultivate the land in the vicinity of Aduwa and more undoubtedly would follow their lead.

The Ambassador asked me what position the United States would take in the circumstances and he proceeded to give his own ideas as to what this attitude would be; that the United States, not being one of the powers more immediately concerned in that part of the world, would await the action of the more interested governments before reaching any conclusion, etc. etc.

I said that, in my opinion, we were not ready even to go as far as this; that, in fact, we had not yet decided what course we were ready to [Page 231] pursue; that the situation was still, as far as we were concerned, in a state of flux and that this Government had not determined the course which we would adopt.

The Ambassador concluded his remarks by a reference to the adjournment at Geneva and the fact that the next regular meeting of the League Council would be in January [June?] when he assumed that the attitude of the nations with respect to Abyssinia would again be the subject of discussion.

William Phillips