500.A15a3/1512: Telegram
The Ambassador in Great Britain (Dawes) to the Secretary of State
[Received April 20—11:40 a.m.]
115. Today the French Cabinet is being asked by Massigli for their approval of a suggestion which he desires to present to the committee [Page 393] here as a basis for settlement. Part III of the London Naval Treaty binds Great Britain, the United States, and Japan to a 6–year program for subsidiary naval craft. Although the Foreign Office here is not certain, it is believed that Massigli’s suggestion is to spread the building program of such vessels as between France and Italy over just a 5-year period. The British Government is not disposed to accept this proposal. The surmise here is that when France receives word of the unfavorable British response she will suggest that further negotiation be postponed until the General Disarmament Conference meets in 1932.
The foregoing is tentative, but it represents the status of the Franco-Italian naval difference as seen here.