Foreign Relations of the United States Diplomatic Papers, 1937, General, Volume I

852.00/6430: Telegram

The Consul at Geneva (Bucknell) to the Secretary of State

Geneva, September 11, 1937—11 p.m.
[Received 11:30 p.m.]

281. My 278, September 10, midnight. At Mediterranean Conference at Nyon today the original Franco-British plan was abandoned but an agreement was reached which will be referred to the participating Governments, the agreement to be signed if possible on Monday or Tuesday. I learn from one of the delegates who was present that the agreement in broad outline comprises the following points.

Considering that violations of the provisions enunciated in part II [IV] of the Treaty of London of 1930⁵⁵ as confirmed by the London protocol of 1936⁵⁶ regarding the destruction of commercial vessels are contrary to the principles of elementary humanity and can only be described as acts of piracy and considering that such acts of piracy have been committed in the Mediterranean against vessels which do not belong to either of the parties to the Spanish conflict it was agreed that without in any way admitting the belligerent rights of either of the parties to the Spanish conflict, without prejudice to the rights of the participating powers to take such action as they may deem necessary to protect their own commerce and without prejudice to other collective measures against piracy are agreed upon by the participating powers.

1. The participating powers will give the necessary instructions to their naval forces to carry out the following provisions in order to protect ships of all nations not parties to the Spanish conflict.

2. Any submarine attacking any commercial vessel in contravention of the London Protocol of 1936 will be subject to attack and if possible will be destroyed.

3. The provisions of 2 above will also apply to a submarine found in the vicinity where non-Spanish vessel had been attacked or sunk if the submarine is discovered under circumstances which would indicate that it was the vessel guilty of the attack.

4. To carry out these provisions the following is agreed upon. The British and French fleets will patrol the Mediterranean west of Malta as well as the territories of the participating powers in this area. The patrol of the eastern Mediterranean will be left to the powers whose territories are affected. On the high seas as far as the Dardanelles, with the exception of the Adriatic, the British and French fleets will patrol according to a plan agreed upon by both Governments in zones where danger to navigation could be expected to arise. The participating governments other than the French and British agree to furnish such help as may be requested insofar as this may be possible. Furthermore, all participating governments will give permission to the French and British fleets to operate in their territorial waters and to use such of their ports as the power controlling these ports shall indicate.

5. Participating powers agree to limit the use of their submarines in the Mediterranean as follows.

(a) Except as set forth in paragraphs (b) and (c) below no submarines of participating powers will enter the Mediterranean.

(b) Submarines may enter the Mediterranean only after prior notification and if proceeding on the surface and if accompanied by a surface vessel.

(c) Each power reserves the right to hold maneuvers in the Mediterranean in certain defined zones.

Each power agrees to prevent the presence of foreign submarines in its territorial waters except in case of force majeure.

6. Except for coastal shipping, participating powers agree to recommend to their commercial ships that they follow routes in the Mediterranean agreed upon between the participating powers.

7. Nothing in the present accord will prevent any participating power from sending any of its submarine vessels in any part of the Mediterranean.

8. Any of the participating powers may withdraw from the agreement upon 30 days notice.

The revised and complete text will be available tomorrow morning and will be telegraphed to the Department unless I am otherwise instructed. The abandonment of the original Franco-British plan, including the establishment of patrol zone, is said to be due to the fact that the participating powers other than France and Britain did not have enough modern destroyers to maintain an adequate patrol and furthermore that the small states did not wish to take the risk of sinking an “unknown” submarine which might seriously involve them with a strong power. It is widely believed in Geneva that Italy informed the British that she could not allow the establishment in the Mediterranean of the system originally proposed.

My informant states that Litvinoff wanted an agreement that any submarine attacking any ship would be sunk. He obtained no support, however, and Eden pointed out that there were different degrees of lawbreaking which called for different kinds of punishment. Litvinoff also violently opposed the provisions of the agreement which he considered as tantamount to the recognition of a state of belligerency in the Spanish conflict.

Throughout the meeting Delbos made it manifest that he did not intend to make any concession to the Russian point of view. Litvinoff plainly showed his dissatisfaction and emphasized that he must fully reserve his position until he had referred the aforesaid to his Government. That agreement is considered here as a severe defeat for Russia and it is believed that Russia will now join with Spain in strongly pushing their cases against Italy in the League.

In accordance with Eden’s announcement at the opening of the Conference Italy and Germany have been informed of all developments and it is understood that Italy will be asked to adhere to the agreement.

Bucknell

55. Foreign Relations, 1930, vol. i, pp. 107, 123.
56. Department of State Treaty Information Bulletin No. 86, November 30, 1936, p. 35, or British Cmd. 5302.