851.85/432: Telegram
The Ambassador in France (Leahy) to the Secretary of State
[Received 11:06 p.m.]
167. At 4:00 p.m. today I obtained an interview with Marshal Pétain, with Darlan47 present, and delivered to him orally the information contained in your 65, January 31, 3 p.m., in which I informed the Marshal that an “agreement by the French authorities which would permit the use of French vessels by the Japanese forces would be a most unfriendly act”.
Admiral Darlan replied that the Governor General of Indochina has been directed to not take any definite action in this matter as the French Government is negotiating with Japan with the purpose of avoiding seizure of the ships by entering into an agreement that some of the ships be permitted to engage in purely commercial trade between Indochina and Japan under the French flag in which they would carry no troops or contraband “which includes rubber”. These negotiations have not been concluded and no decision has yet been made.
Darlan questioned me as to whether the United States would prefer that all French ships in Japanese-controlled waters be seized by Japan or that an arrangement be made to permit some of them being used for purely commercial purposes.
I replied that I am not informed as to the preference of my Government but that I am informed that an agreement by France to permit the use of French vessels by Japanese forces would be considered an unfriendly act.
He then stated that the Japanese proposal was very like the one previously made by the United States in regard to the French vessels in American waters to which I replied that the French-American arrangement48 to which he referred was made between [Page 673] two neutral nations and that any assistance given now to Japan would be helping a declared enemy of the United States.
Darlan concluded with a statement that he is in this question only making an effort to save as much as is possible of the French merchant marine.
The Marshal who was always very friendly in his attitude and understanding throughout the interview expressed his pleasure that I had brought the matter to his attention, stating that such discussions are always helpful to him in his ever present difficulties.
A memorandum expected from the Foreign Office this evening covering details of the agreement suggested by the French Government for consideration will be cabled later.49
- Adm. Jean Francois Darlan, Vice President of the French Council of Ministers and Commander in Chief of Land, Sea, and Air Forces.↩
- See Foreign Relations, 1941, vol. ii, pp. 526 ff.↩
- See infra. ↩