890D.01/468: Telegram
The Ambassador in France (Bullitt) to the Secretary of State
[Received February 7—5:07 p.m.]
206. Reference Wallace Murray’s letter of January 13, 1938, regarding Syria and the Lebanon:
We have had a satisfactory talk concerning these questions with Lagarde, the new chief of the Africa–Levant section of the Foreign Office. He agrees “in principle” that the United States must be consulted regarding the termination or modification of the mandate and that there should be an agreement formally discharging France from the obligations assumed towards the United States under the Convention of April 4, 1924. He is also of the opinion that it would be in the interest of Syria and the Lebanon to have an agreement with the United States regarding the rights of American nationals in those countries, thereby putting an end to the legal right to claim reestablishment of capitulatory privileges. He is of the view that the best way to deal with the foregoing matters would be through the negotiation of tripartite conventions between the United States, [Page 1011] France, and Syria in one case, and the United States, France, and the Lebanon in the other case, along the lines of the 1930 treaty between the United States and Great Britain and Iraq.
Lagarde leaves today for Morocco to be gone until March 1 and we will resume our discussions following his return. I should greatly appreciate it if the Department would prepare and forward to the Embassy so that it will be received if possible prior to March 1 a draft of a tripartite convention which we can use as a basis of discussion.