740.0011 European War 1939/16688
The French Ambassador (Henry-Haye) to the Secretary of State
Mr. Secretary of State: In the course of the interview which I had with Your Excellency on May 20, you expressed to me a desire to receive written assurances from the French Government defining the position taken by it following the recent Franco-German conversations relative to its foreign policy.
I have been instructed by a communication dated May 24 from His Excellency Admiral Darlan, Minister of Foreign Affairs, to give the Federal Government the following information:
The French Government asks me first of all to point out to Your Excellency that it has always taken the greatest care loyally to fulfill [Page 182] engagements assumed by it vis-à-vis the United States. It declares itself rightfully astonished at the unilateral decision of the American Government in ordering, without notice, the military occupation of French vessels stationed in United States ports. It is no less astonished at the seizure by British authorities of the oil tanker Schéherazade, despite the fact that, before its departure from American waters, this vessel had obtained a British navicert and a guarantee of free passage given by the federal authorities.
The French Government furthermore expresses itself as painfully surprised at recent manifestations of American opinion advocating certain hostile measures against our possessions in the Western Hemisphere, particularly against the French West Indies.
These manifestations are the less justified inasmuch as, in its American possessions, my Government has granted all the guarantees asked by the Federal Administration.
The French Government, having never failed in its written engagements—renewed here today—has full basis for considering the contemplated measures as unfriendly and unjustified.
It is thus advisable to seek out and define the causes which may have led the Federal Government to change its attitude with regard to the Government of France.
Your Excellency was good enough to advise me, on May 20, of the anxiety which you felt concerning the consequence which a reversal of French policy might have for American interests.
I informed my Government of these fears. It authorizes me to give Your Excellency the following data:
In continuing with the occupying power the policy of collaboration inaugurated last October by the Montoire interview, a policy which was, at the time, noted by the United States, the Government of Marshal Pétain formally renewed its previous declarations by the speech given by Admiral Darlan on May 23.83
The Admiral in fact confirmed that France will not lend itself to the surrender of its fleet or to the cession, to any power whatever, of a territory belonging to the Empire.
The flight of German and Italian airplanes over Syria and the use of the airdromes of the States of the Levant constitute the sole specific arguments which have been invoked to justify American apprehensions.
I have the honor to recall to Your Excellency, as I pointed out to you on May 20, that this is a question of obligations resulting from [Page 183] the terms of the armistices signed at Rethondes and at Rome and more particularly from Article 18 of the Franco-Italian Convention.84
If from the time of the armistice until the conclusion of the operations in Greece, Germany and Italy did not demand a strict application of Article 18 in Syria and Lebanon it is because no theater of operations existed in the neighborhood of our possessions in the Levant. That was no longer true after the opening of hostilities in Iraq.
With respect to the use by the German and Italian armies of French war matériel, that results from the obligations established in Article 6 of the Franco-German armistice convention and from Article 11 of the Franco-Italian convention.
These articles expressly provide that arms and munitions of any kind remaining in unoccupied French territories should be collected and placed under Italian or German control.
But the French Government must make it clear that it did not give direct assistance to German and Italian forces supporting the military action of the Government of Iraq. No war matériel, other than that already placed under the control of the Axis powers, was supplied to Italian or German armies.
If the Government of Marshal Pétain must now carry out the hard obligations resulting from our defeat last year, it requests the Federal Government to understand the difficult situation which it must face.
While respecting the essential engagements entered into vis-à-vis the United States, my Government owes it to itself to seek, by means of an agreement with the occupying power, an attenuation of the heavy consequences entailed for it by the prolongation of the war and by the heavy reverses of France whose armies, in 1940 fought wholeheartedly and desperately without support.
The foregoing explanations allow me to hope that within a very short time the American Government will have the necessary measures taken for the resumption of the maritime traffic and the exchanges between the United States, the free zone of France, and the possessions of its Empire.
By two attached notes85 I request Your Excellency to have steps taken for the immediate withdrawal of the armed guards which are occupying our vessels in American ports and to be good enough to intervene with the British authorities to obtain the prompt release of the oil tanker Schéhérazade, improperly seized.
The application of these two measures would contribute to dispelling the very distressing impression felt in recent days by Frenchmen and [Page 184] to maintaining the traditional and cordial relations of our two countries.
In the present serious circumstances and in the course of events which may occur in a near or distant future, Your Excellency will not, I am sure, underestimate the considerable interest which exists, for the United States and for France, in safeguarding a collaboration which, in the past, has been the source of such noble accomplishments.
Before concluding this restatement of facts, allow me to recall to Your Excellency the delicate period which marked Franco-American relations from October to November, 1940.
On October 24 the Honorable Sumner Welles had me come to the Department of State to hand to me, for President Roosevelt, a message intended for Marshal Pétain.86
That message contained warnings against carrying out important concessions made to Germany and unjustly attributed to the new French policy.
The Marshal replied by a note which I had the honor to deliver to Your Excellency on November 487 and which completely refuted the allegations made by ill-intentioned informants.
In the course of that interview on November 4,88 I placed Your Excellency on guard against the serious difficulties which might result from consideration being given in official American circles to uncontrolled rumors. On the other hand, I asked the Government of the United States to take as valid the engagements entered into by France and to have confidence in its Government.
On the basis of this experience, I have the honor to make the same request to Your Excellency today.
Seven months have elapsed since that interview and although the material aid asked of the United States by France, in its distress, has been given us only in a very small proportion in relation to our immense needs, the French Government, during the course of a cruel winter, resisted all internal and external pressure and courageously and worthily maintained the line of conduct which its chief had laid down.
American opinion, badly informed as to the conditions under which France entered the war and as to the wholly incomparable sacrifices borne by the French, shows itself unjustly hostile with respect to a nation which has never selfishly refused its assistance to an equitable cause.
[Page 185]The glorious past of France and the future which it is resolved to make for itself, despite its present misfortunes and its disillusions, make it hope that in this period—one of the most anguished of its long history—the friendly understanding of the American Government will not fail it, and this in the very interest of the United States and of France, the aspirations of which two countries have never been opposed.
It is in this conviction, Mr. Secretary of State, that I beg you to accept [etc.]
- For text of speech, see New York Times, May 24, 1941, p. 4, or Documents on American Foreign Relations (Boston, World Peace Foundation, 1941), vol. iii, p. 400.↩
- Armistice Agreement signed June 24, 1940. For text in English translation, see New York Times, June 26, 1940, p. 5, or Documents on American Foreign Relations, July 1939–June 1940, vol. ii, p. 436.↩
- Not attached to file copy, but see note of May 26, from the French Ambassador, protesting the occupying of French vessels in U. S. ports by U. S. armed guards, p. 531.↩
- See telegram No. 636, October 25, 1940, noon, to the Chargé in France, Foreign Relations, 1940, vol. ii, p. 475.↩
- See note from the French Embassy dated November 2, 1940, ibid., p. 481.↩
- See telegram No. 689, November 6, 1940, 6 p.m., to The Chargé in France, ibid., p. 482.↩