711.5112 France/51

The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Great Britain ( Houghton )16

No. 1009

Sir: The British Ambassador called on me on July 6th and asked if I could give him any further information about the proposed treaty with France. I told him no, there was nothing new; that I had received Briand’s suggestions which were simply that the United States and France would not go to war. I told him that I had not [Page 624] yet given the subject careful consideration, for want of time; that as he understood, we had two treaties with Great Britain—, the Root arbitration treaty and the Bryan treaty; that we had the same with France and that the Root treaty with France expired on the 27th of February, 1928, and with Great Britain on June 4th, 1928; that we had no Bryan treaty with Japan but were willing to make one; that we had a Root treaty with Japan expiring in August, 1928; that I thought we had a Root treaty with some other countries but I was not sure and would ask to have it looked up; that we had Bryan treaties with a good many countries, probably twenty-five or thirty.

I said that we would not desire to make any treaty with France which we would not be willing to make with Great Britain, Japan or any other country. I asked him if his government would be willing to discuss the subject of the renewal of the Root treaty and any further treaty provisions which might be considered advisable. He wanted to know if that was at the same time we discussed it with France and I said yes. He said he would inquire of his government. I told him that I had asked you to inquire of Sir Austen very confidentially and I impressed upon him that at the present the matter was very confidential and that I expect to hear from you first; that you had been here and I had had a chance to discuss it with you. I told him I was not prepared to say what kind of a treaty we could make but I thought we should renew the Root treaty.

I am [etc.]

Frank B. Kellogg
  1. The same on the same date to the Chargé in France.