851.30/190: Telegram

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

1024. Embassy’s 1010, July 11, 1 p.m.20 Laval sent for me this afternoon and delivered me a note of which the following is a careful translation:

“1. The new proposal formulated by President Roosevelt in his note of July 1121 cannot be accepted. It is incompatible with the obligations of the Armistice Conventions which stipulate that ‘all warships outside of French territorial waters should be recalled to France’ (Franco-German Convention, article 8) ‘to metropolitan ports’ (Franco-Italian Convention, article 12). If the presence of the French squadron at Alexandria at the time of the Armistice did not permit the immediate execution of this provision the obligation nevertheless exists for France to recall to metropolitan ports all ships which are not in French territorial waters.

The German Government and the Italian Government in allowing the return to a French port of our ships in Alexandria and in not putting forward any claim to these vessels affirm their respect for the Armistice Conventions whereas the French Government by accepting the American proposal would violate these same Conventions.

2. The new proposal formulated by President Roosevelt must like the one which preceded it be rejected as being contrary to the honor and interests of France.

Indeed President Roosevelt cannot without offending the French nation doubt the will of the French Government to maintain the French flag on all warships. The French Government alone has the right to insure by its own means and in particular by the choice of their station (base de stationnement) the safety of these ships.

3. The French Government in renewing its request to permit the departure of these vessels from Alexandria to the nearest French port affirms a right which cannot validly be contested by President Roosevelt. By refusing us this right and by exposing these disarmed warships to an attack by British force President Roosevelt would assume a responsibility the extreme gravity of which the French Government wishes once again to stress.”

In a conversation with a qualified political observer who maintains a close contact with the Foreign Office, it was intimated to us that the French Government might be disposed to view with favor the suggestion that these ships be permitted to proceed from Alexandria to Casablanca and would not be unwilling to approach the German and Italian Governments in this sense.

Tuck
  1. Not printed.
  2. See supra.