890D.01/437
The Ambassador in France (Straus) to the Secretary of State
[Received November 18.]
Sir: I have the honor to refer to your telegram No. 442 of November 3, 3 p.m., with regard to Syria and the Lebanon.
There was no doubt in our mind that the Foreign Office memorandum of August 25, 1936, applied to both Syria and the Lebanon; and we were of the opinion that the fact that M. de Martel had received [Page 502] no instructions from the Quai d’Orsay regarding the Embassy’s Aide-Mémoire of August 19, 1936, was probably due to the circumstances that his rôle was primarily that of negotiator with Syria and the Lebanon, the matter of consultation with the Government of the United States concerning the termination of the Mandate, et cetera, being a matter to be dealt with by the Quai d’Orsay itself. Nevertheless, in order to be doubly sure, Mr. Wilson of the Embassy called this morning upon M. de Saint-Quentin and informed him of the substance of Mr. Marriner’s telegram to the effect that M. de Martel had received no instructions on the subject from the Quai d’Orsay and would be glad to have the point of view of the United States Government brought officially to his attention. M. de Saint-Quentin confirmed the view which we held, as expressed hereinabove, namely, that the Foreign Office memorandum of August 25 applies to both Syria and the Lebanon. M. de Saint-Quentin said that he did not know why the Embassy’s Aide-Mémoire had not been communicated to M. de Martel for his information, as M. de Martel was in Paris at the time the Aide-Mémoire was left at the Foreign Office, but he presumed that it was because of the fact that the question of consultation between the French and American Governments regarding the termination of the Mandate, et cetera, was one to be dealt with by the Quai d’Orsay rather than by the High Commissioner in Syria, He said that there was no possibility that our interests could in any way be adversely affected because of M. de Martel’s lack of instructions regarding our position, adding that he would in any case transmit at once copies of the Embassy’s Aide-Mémoire of August 19 and the Foreign Office memorandum of August 25 to M. de Martel.
Mr. Wilson mentioned to M. de Saint-Quentin that a copy of the Foreign Office memorandum of August 25 had been transmitted to the Department of State and that doubtless the Embassy would receive further instructions from the Department regarding this matter.
Respectfully yours,