851.01/534
The British Embassy to the Department of State
Aide-Mémoire
The British Ambassador lost no time in communicating to the Foreign Office the text of the aide-mémoire regarding the Free French movement which the Secretary of State handed to him on June 11th. At the same time, in accordance with Mr. Hull’s request, [Page 529] Lord Halifax asked to be informed of Mr. Eden’s comments on this aide-mémoire. The Ambassador also explained that the Secretary of State had stated that he had no objection to the document being shown in strict confidence to General de Gaulle, provided that no premature leakage took place.
A telegram has now been received from Mr. Eden giving his views on the aide-mémoire. The substance of Mr. Eden’s remarks is as follows:—
Paragraphs 1 and 2 of the aide-mémoire should be acceptable to General de Gaulle, though they are hardly likely entirely to satisfy him. The General would certainly prefer that the “assistance and support” referred to in the second paragraph should not be confined to military matters.
As regards paragraph 3, Mr. Eden feels that it is most unlikely that General de Gaulle would be prepared to agree to the United States authorities dealing with local Free French officials to the exclusion of the Free French National Committee. The territories in question are under the control of the Committee and are administered by officials who act under General de Gaulle’s leadership without question. It seems probable that any attempt to deal with these officials separately would only result in their referring to the General for instructions in every case. It is true that the British Government try as far as possible to deal with Syrian affairs through the Minister of State in Cairo and General Catroux, but it has always been recognised that the ultimate French authority lies with the Free French National Committee. In these circumstances Mr. Eden enquires whether the State Department would be prepared to consider amending the first sentence of paragraph 3 of the aide-mémoire so as to run as follows:—
“In pursuing the common war objective, the Government of the United States will deal with the National Committee or its local officials in respect of those parts of the French Empire of which the National Committee is in control.”
As regards the last paragraph of the aide-mémoire Mr. Eden feels that since the National Committee exercises governmental functions in those territories which have rallied to General de Gaulle, it would hardly be appropriate to treat civilian representatives of the Committee as being subordinate to military and naval representatives. Mr. Eden therefore suggests that the last sentence of this paragraph be reworded as follows:—
“It would also be agreeable to the appointment of a representative of the National Committee with military and naval advisers to serve in Washington for purposes of appropriate cooperation in the common war effort.”
Mr. Eden feels that if the State Department found it possible to agree to the two modifications suggested above, General de Gaulle should be satisfied for the time being, though naturally this cannot be guaranteed.
In his telegram, Mr. Eden adds that pending the State Department’s comments on the above suggestions, he does not propose to show the text of the aide-mémoire even in confidence to General de Gaulle, or to inform him of its existence, since he considers the risk of leakage is too great.