793.94/9960: Telegram
The Ambassador in France (Bullitt) to the Secretary of State
[Received 1:35 p.m.]
1251. I expressed to Delbos yesterday with great care the substance of your 466, September 3, 4 p.m.47 I then asked him what action with regard to the situation in the Far East he anticipated at Geneva. He said that he believed the League would only go so far as to request both belligerents to stop fighting.
We then discussed the Conference at Nyon on Friday.48 Delbos said that he had small hope that anything constructive might be evolved. The Conference however might be useful if both Ciano and Neurath should attend. It would be possible for Eden and himself to have direct, man to man conversations with Ciano and Neurath which might clarify the situation. Meanwhile the French Government was preparing for any eventuality. He would leave me to attend the meeting with the heads of the Army, Navy and Air Force referred to in my 1239, September 2, 7 p.m.49
While at the Quai d’Orsay I had a brief conversation with François-Poncet, French Ambassador in Berlin, who was about to leave to attend the Nazi celebrations at Nuremburg. He said that he regretted extremely Van Zeeland’s difficulties as he had had some hope that Van Zeeland might have some influence in Germany. He felt now that Van Zeeland’s prestige was too greatly reduced for him to play any great role. He went on to say that he believed the relationship between Germany and Italy amounted to a modern edition of an old fashioned alliance. The League of Nations had accomplished two things: nations no longer waged war; they waged peace; and, nations no longer made alliances but merely agreed to consult each other with regard to all important steps in the international field. He believed that Germany and Italy had such an agreement and that they both felt much stronger because of it.
He was of the opinion that Germany did not have a similar agreement with Japan; but felt that if the Soviet Union should support [Page 124] China strongly enough in the Far East to make Japanese victory doubtful, Germany would create a diversion by attacking Czechoslovakia. He saw small prospect of preserving European peace. The present state of affairs in reality was no longer peace but undeclared war.