740.5/1–352
Foreign Minister Schuman to the Secretary of State 1
My Dear Colleague: I have already informed Mr. David Bruce of our need to request the postponement of the Lisbon Conference to Feb 9.
I now write you to explain to you, in a personal way, the imperative reasons which oblige me to take this position. The Fr Parliament will recess from Jan 9 to Jan 29—now it has been most solemnly understood here that, prior to the Lisbon meeting, the National Assembly was to authorize the Fr Govt to commit itself definitively to the course of the Eur Army.2 It is manifestly impossible to hold the important debate which will be necessary between Jan 29 and Feb 2.
On the other hand, the premature recall of the Assembly wld have, without doubt, an unfortunate effect on the attitude of the Assembly. Your own experience in politics will permit you to agree with me on this point.
In the very interest of the success of our projects, I am thus led [Page 2] to ask you in the most pressing fashion for your support to the end that the Lisbon Conference may be postponed for a week.
My reason for writing you is because I know that I can always count on your understanding and also because I wanted to send you the affectionate good wishes for 1952 of a colleague who honors himself with being at the same time your friend.
Faithfully yours,
- The source text is a “free translation” transmitted to the Department of State in telegram 3953, Jan. 3, from Paris with special instructions to distribute only on authority from the Secretary of State’s office.↩
- The telegraphic source text also includes the following French original interpolated at this point: “a s’engager définitivement dans la voie de l’armée Européenne”.↩