793.94/10183: Telegram
The Minister in Switzerland (Harrison) to the Secretary of State
[Received September 21—6:09 p.m.]
2. At the meeting of the Advisory Committee this evening, Delbos told me he intended at our next meeting to propose that the whole question be referred to a committee composed of representatives of states directly interested in the Far East. He gave me this, he said, as advance information in the most friendly spirit. He hoped that this plan would be agreeable to you. His purpose was to take the matter out of the Advisory Committee and have it handled by a more effective body as the Mediterranean question had been handled at Nyon.48 I asked him who would participate. He answered Great Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Australia, and Russia. [Page 29] He also suggested Germany but she might refuse to accept the invitation to participate in the work of the Advisory Committee, also Italy who was already a member of the Committee but was not represented at today’s meeting.
After the meeting, I asked to see Cranborne who attended in lieu of Eden about the Delbos proposal. He has just telephoned me to say that Eden, who particularly desired to work with us and who wished to present the matter himself to us, would be surprised should we be the first to mention it. Consequently, he wanted, he said, to communicate with Eden before he saw me and asked if I would delay informing you until I had seen him. I am to see him tomorrow morning at 12:30 and will report further.
- See vol. i, pp. 387–421, passim.↩