851B.01/31: Telegram

The Chargé in France (Matthews) to the Secretary of State

961. Seguin called this morning to tell me confidentially that the Germans through Wiesbaden have asked the French for information concerning the sending of an American observer to Martinique and the sending of our destroyers to that island and Guadeloupe. The Foreign Office is replying, he said, along the lines that in its present difficult position with respect to the French Colonial Empire, France is subject to “various pressures” from neighboring powers and is compelled to make arrangements as best she can; that the purpose of the visit of Admiral Greenslade concerns negotiations for the food supplying of Martinique and the question of time charters.

Seguin went on to say off the record that he hoped in any press conferences or public statements we would endeavor as far as possible to avoid giving any impression that we are “satisfied” with the way negotiations are proceeding with respect to the Antilles. Any indication that we are “mediators” he said will result in further difficulties for the French from the German side.

[Page 528]

Incidentally Seguin went on to say that early reports reaching the Foreign Office as to the Molotov86 visit to Berlin are not “encouraging”; the Greeks and the Rumanians are both apparently unhappy and the Turks likewise seem anxious.

Matthews
  1. V. M. Molotov, People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the Soviet Union.