793.94/2042: Telegram
The Consul at Geneva (Gilbert) to the Secretary of State
[Received October 11—3:10 p.m.]
172. (1) Your 74, October 9, 7 p.m.22 The information therein has been made available to Drummond.
(2) As to your query whether the information furnished by you corresponds to other information in the League’s possession, Drummond wishes me to report that all the information he is receiving is being sent to you. From what you are receiving you will note that yours is much more complete and more far reaching than anything Drummond yet has at his disposal, so that to check in any detail is not yet a practical question. Drummond has furnished you already [Page 156] with information from the British Government (see my 171, October 11, 2 p.m.23), but he expects much more from this source and hopes also to get something from other governments, especially from the French and German. As it comes in he will send it to you at once.
(3) Drummond asks me to tell you that he appreciates highly the information you have sent him, as it greatly assists him personally, but its value would be enhanced enormously, in his opinion, if he were at liberty to transmit the facts confidentially or otherwise to the Council members, especially as the forthcoming special meeting is likely to be attended by so many foreign ministers. To compare and coordinate reports from all sources will, he feels, be of the utmost assistance in the meeting’s discussions and deliberations.
(4) Drummond then discussed his role of Secretary-General of the League of Nations and its relation to a matter of this nature. He pointed out that in no way was his position analogous to a Foreign Minister’s. In a relationship between the League and various governments, he is in effect only an agency of transmission. Accordingly, to exchange information with him alone is not in any way tantamount to an exchange with either the Council or its members. In regard to this valuable information you have supplied, he remains handicapped in his use of it in any practical fashion so long as he is restrained by the injunction not to reveal its source. Should he communicate it to anyone, the first question he would be asked would be as to the source of the information. From the kind of reply he would give, the information either would not be accorded its due weight or its source would be surmised. In case of the latter, he might be placed in a position of appearing to breach the Consulate’s confidence. Drummond said he saw three ways to make use of factual information on the Manchurian situation received from neutral sources. In their order of effectiveness these are:
- (a)
- To circulate among the Council members and to make public;
- (b)
- To inform Council members confidentially;
- (c)
- To make known for confidential use to the members of the so-called Committee of Five.
(5) Drummond said he trusted that you would understand the spirit in which his position in this matter is being made known to you, and he solicits your assistance in whatever way you feel able to give it.
(6) I wish it to be understood that in the foregoing I have transmitted the views of Drummond as they were expressed to me by him.