763.72119/12452
The Ambassador in France (Edge) to the Secretary of State
[Received February 11.]
My Dear Mr. Secretary: I have been very much interested in reading the mimeographed account of your conference with the press on January 14th last, in which, under the heading “Armaments”, I see that you were quizzed by the correspondents regarding Armour’s attendance at the Conference of Ambassadors on January 12th.
I remember when I was in Washington your telling me that it is quite impossible for you to see the reports on various subjects from the fifty-five odd missions and you suggested that, in case of any despatch in which I thought you might be interested, I should bring it to your particular attention. It occurs to me that you may not have seen my despatch No. 1170 of January 16, 1931, in which I reported the meeting of the Conference of Ambassadors and the reasons why I did not attend and why Armour did. As stated in the despatch, our attendance at the meetings of the Conference as observers is in accordance with instructions from Washington, which, so far as I know, have never been reversed. Having found, however, that Herrick had discontinued attending the meetings some years before his death and had been in the habit of sending the Counselor of the Embassy to represent him, I followed the same practice, which accounts for Armour’s attendance. Of course he took no part in the meeting, merely was present and prepared a report for me which I forwarded to the Department as to what transpired.
As I could not have anticipated that the press would seize upon this minor incident to use their inquisitional methods upon you, I thought my written despatch was all that the occasion merited. This despatch, I find, although dated January 15th [16th], did not leave the Embassy until January 20th as there was no pouch until that date, so it could not have reached Washington much before January 26th or 27th.
We are glad to see from a telegram we received to-day that Cotton32 is making slow but satisfactory progress. Please give him my best wishes for a speedy recovery when next you see him.
Very sincerely yours,
- Joseph P. Cotton, Under Secretary of State.↩