845.01/211
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Secretary of State
The British Ambassador called at his request.
I inquired as to just what he had meant some days ago in his conversation with me89 when he raised the question of whether an impartial mission to India might be feasible and advisable. The Ambassador replied that after my mention of India in our conversation and his mention of a possible mission, he had communicated with the Secretary of State for India89a and asked his opinion. The Ambassador said that that official had replied that a mission of one or more individuals sent by some American university to India to investigate and report on India’s constitutional future, with suggestions as to a solution, might be beneficial in an educational way to America and might also have some advantageous effect on the Indian situation.
In any event, the Ambassador said that such a proposed mission could have no effect on the immediate situation in India, especially since Gandhi is almost daily threatening some new and far-reaching development. The Ambassador did not undertake to minimize these possibilities of trouble which Gandhi is threatening to create. Instead he seemed to prefer just to say nothing on the question. The Ambassador, in answer to a question as to what Gandhi’s methods and purposes primarily would be, said that he supposed they would be to have the people disregard the law and to refuse any cooperation with the military forces and authorities.