800.796/891
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Assistant Secretary of State (Berle)
The Egyptian Minister said that his Government had been following the London air conversations with great interest, and had presented a note saying that they hoped no decisions would be taken directly or indirectly affecting Egypt without giving Egypt a chance to be heard. I told him there was no such intention; these were merely preparatory to an air conference.
The Minister likewise said that he was not sure the same view would obtain in other quarters. He obviously referred to the British though he did not say so. He said that at a previous conference President Wilson had recognized the British protectorate even before hearing the Egyptian delegation.17 I told him I knew that, but that of course the situation was different now. The Minister said that he hoped that full weight would be given to the national voice of all the countries. I said that the only answer I could make to that was to call his attention to the phrasing in the Moscow Declaration18 which contemplated a world organization based on recognition of the juridical equality of all nations. Then the Minister said he hoped nothing had occurred to modify that part of the Declaration. I said I had not heard of anything.
- For documentation regarding recognition of the British protectorate over Egypt, see Foreign Relations, 1919, vol. ii, pp. 201 ff.↩
- For text of the Declaration of Four Nations on General Security, November 1, 1943, see ibid., 1943, vol. i, p. 755.↩