793.94 Conference/216: Telegram
The Ambassador in the United Kingdom ( Bingham ) to the Secretary of State
[Received November 10—10:24 a.m.]
705. Following is that portion of the Prime Minister’s Guildhall speech which refers to the United States:
“In our view an essential factor for success in any endeavor to bring about a settlement is the cooperation of the United States whose influence and interests in the Far East are so considerable. We rejoice therefore that in the admirable exposition of the objects of the Conference which he gave in his opening speech Mr. Norman Davis made it clear that all the participating governments are assured of the constructive cooperation of the United States Government. His Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom for their part are prepared as the Foreign Secretary declared on the same occasion to offer the very fullest collaboration to promote the success of the Conference. The prolongation of this unhappy conflict with all the misery and suffering which it involves can only result in increasing damage to each of the two great nations concerned and we who have a long tradition of friendly relations with both of them will anxiously await the day when their differences shall be composed and they can once again turn their attention to the development of their resources and the welfare of their respective peoples.
I have spoken of the pleasure with which His Majesty’s Government received the news of the readiness of the Government of the United States of America to cooperate in the Brussels Conference. We regard that action as a first and most valuable step toward the fulfillment of the desire expressed by President Roosevelt at Chicago for a concerted effort by peace loving nations for the sanctity of treaties and the settlement of differences by peaceful means. We are convinced that a closer understanding and a more complete community of purpose between our two nations may do much to assist the cause for which the President has pleaded and which is also nearest to our hearts. We are now engaged in informal discussions with a view to the eventual conclusion of an Anglo-American trade agreement and I earnestly wish that in spite of all the difficulties to be surmounted we may succeed in arriving at an accord which might well bring [Page 172] benefits to the world for [far] transcending the immediate advantages to the trade of our respective countries.”
In the course of an editorial the Times says: “There can be no more welcome news than Mr. Chamberlain’s statement that steps are in progress towards an Anglo-American trade agreement” and the Manchester Guardian concludes from the Prime Minister’s statement that “at last the Government seems in earnest”.