740.00119 EW/10–3145: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in France (Caffery)
5204. Urtels 6326 and 6327, Oct. 31.57 For Amb and Angell. French Emb here has formally advised Dept that Couve de Murville will arrive soon to undertake discussions on the French proposals for the Rhineland–Ruhr. French Govt understands these conversations will be held in Washington but has requested that Angell be authorized to listen to what the competent services in Paris may have to say and to ask any questions he may desire. These would be strictly informal exchanges by which the reparations experts would merely pass on any info which might be of interest. It would not in [Page 894] any way prejudice the holding of the basic conversations in Washington.
Under these conditions, Dept has no objection to hearing informally what the French officials may have to say. We consider, however, that the basic discussions will be in Washington and that any exchanges in Paris are purely informal.
- Telegram 6327 not printed. This telegram, from Mr. Angell in Paris, reported that in a recent conversation Assistant Secretary of State Dunn had thought it desirable to proceed with exploratory discussions regarding the economic aspects of the French position (740.00119 EWA/10–3145).↩