741.62/201: Telegram
The Chargé in the United Kingdom (Johnson) to the Secretary of State
[Received 8:26 p.m.]
735. Embassy’s 717, November 15, 6 p.m.88 The Prime Minister in the House of Commons this afternoon in reply to a question regarding the recent conversations between Lord Halifax and Herr Hitler stated inter alia:
“The visit of the Lord President of the Council was entirely private and unofficial. It had, however, been arranged that Lord Halifax should see Herr Hitler.…89 The Lord President also had an opportunity of meeting General Goering, Doctor Goebbels and other prominent leaders in Germany. These conversations were of a confidential character and the House will not I am sure expect me to make any further statement in regard to them at this stage. I am satisfied, however, that the visit has been valuable in furthering the desire, which I feel to be generally felt in both countries, for the establishment of closer mutual understanding”.
Official of the Foreign Office, in conversation this afternoon, subsequent to the Prime Minister’s statement, deplored the large amount of public and speculative comment of which the Halifax visit has been the occasion. He realized that this publicity was inevitable but that speculation in general has gone so far beyond the facts that the results may be harmful. The official did not volunteer any information as to the nature of the conversations, but pointed out that they were merely another link in the chain of discussions which Sir Nevile Henderson90 has been carrying on for months. There were, however, certain points which he said he hoped I would emphasize in any report to my Government:
There is no justification for interpreting from the Halifax visit that there has been any fundamental change in British policy vis-à-vis continental Europe. The British have no intention, he said, of reaching a bilateral settlement of difficulties with Germany and they still adhere to the belief and policy announced authoritatively on many occasions in the past 2 or 3 years by British statesmen that there can be no permanent appeasement in Europe and no permanent solution in particular of the German problem except on the basis of a collective settlement in which the rights of all countries would receive due consideration. It was unthinkable, he said, that Great Britain should abandon her old ally France, with a view simply to reaching a settlement of her own with Germany that might on a short view be favorable to Great Britain.
(The British are fully aware that a bilateral Anglo-German agreement without the concurrence of France would merely be the signal for smaller European powers closely connected with France by treaty and understanding to flock to Berlin to make bilateral agreements on their own behalf on the best terms they could. This would give Germany such a preponderating position on the Continent that it would be no solution at all from the British point of view.)
The official also said that he hoped I would make it clear that there is not, as believed in some quarters and reflected in portions of the press, any real divergence in the Cabinet as to the bases of the policy Great Britain is to pursue in the endeavor to reach an agreement with Germany. The visit of Lord Halifax, he said, did not result in any new preclusion of Germany’s aims nor in any agreement or understanding of any kind. He said it would be most accurately described as a [“]prise de contact”.
I gather from this conversation that the Foreign Office at least had not entertained any exaggerated hopes of the Halifax visit and that it was neither disappointed nor surprised at the results, whatever those results precisely may be. They feel that a useful contact has been [Page 179] made and a certain degree of confidence established in the German leaders by an able and experienced and thoroughly reputable member of the British Government. The official mentioned the fact, now made public, that M. Chautemps and M. Delbos have been invited to visit London on November 29 and 30 and although he did not say so this visit is unquestionably linked with the Halifax visit to Berlin and is further evidence in my judgment that the British are making no attempt to reach terms or understanding with Germany outside the Anglo-French entente.
I venture once again to express my belief that the progress made by the British rearmament program is the master key to British foreign policy in general and to her policy towards Germany, and Italy, in particular. Until this rearmament has reached a stage where its exigence will be an effective background for negotiations the British are not going to allow themselves to be put in any position which might lead to an impasse nor allow any tempting offers from other quarters to lure them away from their present close understandings and cooperation with France on all matters affecting the basic security of the two countries.
While the Berlin–Rome Axis has been somewhat strengthened in recent months and the tactics of Italy in the Mediterranean created a situation of danger which at one moment was acute, my belief has been strengthened that the British Government feels there is no essential solidarity in this Axis; that while it might be used to dangerous effect Italy is nevertheless nothing but the spearhead of German endeavors to put herself in a position of hegemony on the Continent. The diplomatic attack on this axis will therefore continue to be made at both its ends and, as my Foreign Office informant remarked, in his opinion “either one of those two gamesters would throw the other over completely if it should be to his advantage to do so”.