845.01/161
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Acting Secretary of State
The British Ambassador called to see me this evening at my request.
I asked the Ambassador if he had any information today from India. He said that he had no direct word but that the situation seemed to be turning out about as he had envisaged it. He said that it had seemed inconceivable to him that the Congress would accept any plan, since the Congress was perfectly well aware that they could not, themselves, reach any direct agreement with the Moslem League, and that they thus avoided the responsibility for failure which otherwise would certainly have been placed upon them. They reasoned, he believed, that if the worst came to the worst the present plan would merely be placed upon the shelf and would be available later if nothing better transpired in the meantime.
I asked the Ambassador what he thought would happen, now that this negotiation had broken down. His reply was, “Nothing.” He said he did not anticipate any major disorders, and that the general situation would remain tranquil on account of the favorable economic situation in India and the realization of the Japanese menace.