760F.62/238: Telegram

The Ambassador in Germany (Wilson) to the Secretary of State

226. With reference to the Embassy’s telegram No. 223, May 5, 4 p.m.,21 the French Embassy confirms that France and Great Britain [Page 493] will make parallel démarches at Praha.22 According to the French the chief feature of these will be a statement to the Czechoslovak Government that up to the present sufficient concessions have not been made to the Sudeten Germans. It was explained that the background of this position is that France cannot give blanket guarantees of assistance to Czechoslovakia to be operative under all conditions and that any concept of assistance carries with it the right to advise respecting a situation which might lead to war.

The French will not make a démarche here. They will be “covered” by an agreement that the British Ambassador will say to the Germans that “Great Britain recognizes that France is in a special position respecting Czechoslovakia and that Great Britain cannot be indifferent to any matter whatsoever which affects French interests.”

It was stated that the concept back of the foregoing is that a degree of unity in French and British action backed by the arrangements for general staff conversations will serve to strengthen the diplomatic positions of both of the two powers.

The French Embassy understands, however, that the cardinal policy of the British both in Praha and in Berlin is the employment of every effort and device to avoid a general war.

The French Embassy also expressed the hope that Mussolini may likewise exercise an influence on Hitler during the Rome visit23 to restrain Germany from taking action inimical to the general peace.

Wilson
  1. Not printed.
  2. See British Documents, 3d ser., vol. i, doc. No. 195, p. 265.
  3. May 3–9.