890D.01/621: Telegram
The Consul at Beirut (Gwynn) to the Secretary of State
Beirut, July 26,
1942—3 p.m.
[Received July 27—2:04 p.m.]
[Received July 27—2:04 p.m.]
264. Department’s 111, July 21.
- 1.
- As pressure of business in Beirut has not permitted me to pay calls long overdue on Damascus officials, I shall if Department concurs proceed to that city Wednesday 29th, call on French delegate Collet, President of Syria and his Foreign Minister, and return here Friday. I should like to make these first visits merely courtesy calls allowing any subjects to be discussed that may come up, and to put off aide-mémoire which is sure to be somewhat disagreeable to Syrians (and to British) for second visit about 10 days later.
- 2.
- Nothing can be done for the moment with Lebanese as Ministerial crisis is on. New Foreign Minister will probably be Joseph Salem, a well known Beirut businessman and long time friend who has never held public office, who will need some time to get his office in hand, … (see my 259, July 2421).
- 3.
- For obvious reasons two démarches should be made on about same day.
- 4.
- As regards second paragraph of aide-mémoire I suggest following phraseology be used “recently made by its representatives at Beirut to the Delegation General of Free France in the Levant for communication to the competent Syrian Lebanese authorities”. While I have no reason to doubt that French have transmitted substance of Consulate General’s several notes to Syrians and Lebanese, the confusion and disorder are so extreme that it is possible that local governments may claim not to have been duly apprised. In any case our notes were addressed to the French and to no one else.
- 5.
- In other respects the proposed text seems very satisfactory.
- 6.
- As to the appointment of a Diplomatic Agent here I am not well enough acquainted with the details of the position in Egypt, Bulgaria, and Morocco to judge whether the tradition should be deemed as meriting great consideration as applied to these two countries. I can see no great advantage in changing now the present status of this post. The disadvantage of becoming implicated in any way in the Franco-British jockeying for position must be apparent. When they have settled their differences between themselves and their relations to Syria and Lebanon and the situation has become somewhat clarified it will be time enough for the United States to determine its attitude. In the meantime we are on solid ground and our interest in no serious danger. Our recognition of Syrian and Lebanese independence should be considered by ourselves as the culminating point, as it would be [Page 654] by others, and any present move in that direction would seem to me premature. For the time being I should think the less said the better.
- 7.
- As concerns the directions to continue to deal informally on a de facto basis with the British, Free French, Lebanese and Syrian authorities, I feel obligated to point out that the Consulate General has for the past year dealt with the Free French Delegation on as formal a basis as it did with the French High Commission for some 20 years prior to the Vichy withdrawal from the Levant. I think we should continue to do so, considering the Free French as the natural successors to the party with whom our international agreements concerning these territories were concluded and as such responsible to us for the protection of our interests. With the others our relations should, I think be friendly, informal and de facto.
Gwynn
- Not printed.↩