740.0011 European War 1939/8525
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Assistant Chief of the Division of Near Eastern Affairs (Villard)
| Participants: | Mr. N. M. Butler, Counselor, British Embassy |
| Mr. Murray50 | |
| Mr. Ailing51 | |
| Mr. Villard |
Mr. Butler outlined the steps which the British had taken in respect to the situation at Tangier and explained the present position of his Government. Mr. Murray described the information which we had, on our part, received from the Embassy at Madrid on the same subject and explained the steps we had taken to present our point of view to the Spanish Government.52 It was pointed out to Mr. Butler that, according to our Embassy at London, the British Embassies at Madrid and Washington had been instructed to communicate fully to us the various developments with respect to Tangier. Mr. Butler said that he had never received such an instruction but that he would be glad to keep us informed. Mr. Murray suggested that a member of the Embassy staff might be detailed to maintain contact with us on this matter, to which Mr. Butler agreed.
Mr. Murray took occasion to tell Mr. Butler that we were concerned at the reported difficulties encountered by the French to maintain the economy of their North African possessions. He said that our information indicated a serious breakdown was threatened and no supplies of commodities such as petroleum products were permitted to pass the British blockade. While Mr. Butler indicated that the policy of his Government was to enforce the blockade as much as possible, he [Page 242] said it was not correct to say that it was being carried to the point of “asphyxiating” or “strangling” the French colonies. He said it was only the policy to exert pressure to a certain point, in the expectation that economic necessity would drive the French colonies away from Vichy and to the support of the British. Mr. Murray said that there were many persons who held a contrary view, and that the effect of the blockade might be to send the French colonies into the arms of the Germans.
Mr. Butler pointed out that the British had no officials in North Africa and were therefore not as well informed as they might be concerning events in the French territories. He said that if we had any specific information, obtained from our own officials, depicting the general economic situation in North Africa, he was confident that his Government would like to consider it. Mr. Butler admitted that there were two sides to the question and that evidence of a convincing nature might well change the policy of the British Government.
- Wallace Murray, Chief of the Division of Near Eastern Affairs.↩
- Paul H. Alling, Assistant Chief of the Division of Near Eastern Affairs.↩
- For correspondence on this subject, see vol. iii, pp. 550 ff.↩