741.65/549: Telegram
The Chargé in France (Wilson) to the Secretary of State
[Received April 25—2:40 p.m.]
650. The British Ambassador told me today that Hore-Belisha70 who left here at noon for London was enthusiastic over his Rome visit. He said that Mussolini had been most cordial and that the atmosphere had completely changed as regards Italian feeling towards England. He said that he had found genuine apprehension in Rome regarding future relations with Germany. He had gathered the impression that the Franco-Italian discussions were going satisfactorily and that after Ciano’s return from Albania they would be concluded without difficulty.
A friend who saw Hore-Belisha off at the air port was told by him that in his talk with Daladier last night he had urged that the French be as reasonable as the British in forthcoming negotiations and that he had in mind particularly negotiations with Germany.
Copies to London, Berlin and Rome.
- Leslie Hore-Belisha, British Secretary of State for War.↩