781.003/211
The Counselor of Embassy in the United Kingdom ( Johnson ) to the Chief of the Division of Near Eastern Affairs ( Murray )
Dear Wallace: I refer to your instruction No. 581 of March 17, 193927 regarding the attitude of the Italian Government toward the Anglo-French Commercial Treaty of July 18, 1938, with respect to French Morocco. There is enclosed with this instruction a copy of a letter to you from the Secretary of the Italian Embassy, in which he refers to a communication made by his Government to the British and French Governments setting forth the attitude of Italy toward this Treaty. You also enclosed a copy of an aide-mémoire of the Italian Embassy dated March 13, giving a resume of the Italian note.
I have had an opportunity to discuss this matter informally with an official of the Foreign Office who has dealt for a long time with the [Page 652] Moroccan question. He showed me the Italian note, of which your summary is substantially accurate. It was, however, sent at the beginning, not the end, of February. The British Government has not yet answered, but the Foreign Office has drawn up its views in a memorandum which has been sent to the Board of Trade for an expression of opinion. The Board of Trade has not replied to the Foreign Office request, and my informant said he did not know exactly when a reply would be sent to Italy.
The gist of the view of the Foreign Office, as transmitted to the Board of Trade, is substantially as follows:
They do not recognize any legal right of Italy or any other signatory of the Treaty of Algeciras to question the agreement that they had made with France, and they will wish to point out to Italy that any other country having treaty rights in Morocco under the Treaty of Algeciras, or otherwise, is at complete liberty to negotiate an agreement, as the British have done; that there is nothing in the Anglo-French treaty which creates for Great Britain an exclusive position; that any privileges which Great Britain has secured are open to other countries through negotiation with France.
Whether or not this stand of the British is legally sound, at any rate it is a statement of their present views. I will keep in touch with a view to getting what information I can when the British finally send their reply. In the present state of Anglo-Italian relations and of Franco-Italian relations, it may be that they will be in no hurry to reply to the Italian note of February.
With best wishes as always,
Yours sincerely,
- Not printed.↩