740.0011 European War 1939/20288: Telegram
The Ambassador to the Polish Government in Exile (Biddle) to the Secretary of State
[Received March 13—2:40 p.m.]
Polish Series 21. For the President and the Acting Secretary. Your 12, March 6, 4 p.m. Sikorski is shelving discussion of the joint declaration for the present.
In discussing the matter with him, I did not mention that I had instructions about the matter. I said that after study it was my strong personal impression that the declaration was open to misconstruction; that while I saw no reason why the Allied Governments here should not quietly consider post-war questions I could not but feel that efforts to formalize them at this time were calculated to accentuate differences and to interfere with the primary objective of winning the war.
I asked him whether in view of these dangers he himself did not feel it was preferable to drop further discussion of the declaration. Sikorski indicated that he was conscious of the force of these ideas and that he had decided to postpone discussion for the present. It was also possible that on his return from Washington he might drop the matter altogether.
He went on to say that he intended to leave by plane in the near future arriving in Washington on or about March 22 to remain for about a week.
Sikorski later told me he had discussed matter with Eden and by coincidence Eden had indicated that he thought it desirable to let the declaration drop whereupon he, Sikorski, informed him that he had decided to do so for the present.
I later told Cripps of my talk with Sikorski. [He welcomed?] Sikorski’s decision and expressed pleasure that in my conversation I had made the point that there was no desire to suppress quiet discussion of post-war problems by the Allied Governments here in advance of a general settlement. Cripps added that he considered an early Anglo-Russian understanding together with an indication of our attitude thereto, as a matter of crucial importance.
[Page 118]While Sikorski has thus dropped the idea of further discussion of the declaration for the time being, he has done so by his own volition and in no sense under the impression that he has acted at our instance.