Office of the Historian

781.003/60: Telegram

The Chargé in the United Kingdom (Johnson) to the Secretary of State

London, December 16, 1937—7 p.m.
[Received December 16—3:40 p.m.]

782. Your 485, December 11, 3 p.m.

1.
The Foreign Office is grateful for the expression of the Department’s views and is particularly interested in the definition of quotas.
2.
The French representatives arrived in London on December 13. The negotiations have not yet proceeded to the point where there has been any mention of quotas.
3.
Reference inquiries in Murray’s letter of September 27:40
(a)
As I understand the view of the Foreign Office, they are willing to give Morocco most-favored-nation treatment in Great Britain on a basis of reciprocity, meaning that they will require most-favored-nation treatment in Morocco on the same basis as France or any other most-favored-nation;
(b)
The assumption in Murray’s letter that there was no thought in the minds of the British that in signing the Convention of July 29, 1937, they were giving up in any way their capitulatory rights in the Spanish zone is correct.
4.
The Foreign Office desires permission to inform the French negotiators that they have an expression of the views of the United States Government. It would be appreciated if I might be advised by telegraph as to the extent if any to which the Foreign Office may be authorized to use our memorandum in their conversations with the French.
Johnson
  1. Not printed.↩