793.94 Conference/284a: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Chairman of the American Delegation (Davis)
76. We are still reading in the press stories from Brussels alleging American responsibility for “failure of the Brussels Conference”. I wish that you would take occasion, in talking with your British, French and other colleagues in the next few days, to impress upon them the urgency not only of not disseminating such impression, but of actually combatting it. As stated in the last paragraph of Department’s 68, November 16, 9 p.m. “This entire situation is so much broader and more important than the specific responsibility for action taken or not taken that the only ones who will profit by an evidence of disagreement between us will be the very states whose action the peaceful minded states of the world are desirous of circumventing.” Furthermore, a feeling of injustice and unfairness will be engendered thereby in this country against our associates at Brussels with possibilities of unfortunate repercussions and of serious injury to future cooperation.
We have heretofore taken no public position as to this question of responsibility and hope to be able to avoid it. If we are driven to it, however, a strong case can be made from our own records of conversations and reports from Geneva, London and Paris to show that the states of the League assembled at Geneva made every effort to persuade Koo not to press for consideration of means of pressure provided by [Page 218] the Covenant and over a period of 2 or 3 weeks stoutly argued in private conversations about the difficulty, if not impossibility of sanctions. The states of the League who are at Brussels should really be urging us to assume a share in the responsibility for non-application of sanctions rather than attempting, after their refusal to entertain the idea, to put the burden upon us. When the records show that they turned down sanctions at Geneva and when there is not a syllable of law to authorize our own Government to participate in sanctions, it is difficult for us from here to understand why the question of sanctions is a dominant theme of conversation at Brussels. If the other delegations persist in attempting to push responsibility upon us, we feel that, in your private conversations, you are so equipped with the facts as to squarely place them on the defensive.
We agree with the sentiment you express in section 3 of your No. 45, of November 19, 4 p.m., where you state “we came here to participate only in efforts to bring about a peaceful settlement by agreement”. This is a tenable program and no one of the nations represented at Brussels should feel that it has to apologize or to evade responsibility for having tried and failed to bring about a peaceful settlement. These nations must maintain a solidarity of purpose in behalf of peace.
I feel that each peace seeking nation, through an appropriate program acceptable to it, should make every effort to educate its people as to the urgent importance of the principles of peace and that each such nation should give its constant and earnest attention to building up, through all practicable means, an understanding of the principles essential to orderly and healthy relations among the nations.
It seems to us that a real opportunity presents itself at this time for a dramatic call for efforts on the part of the nations along these lines. There is an opportunity to give greater importance to the report of the conference and to provide a broader basis for the support of the principles on which international relationships should be founded by including in the language of paragraph 17 of the memorandum sent you in our No. 73 of November 17, 9 p.m. an insistent appeal to the nations of the world to undertake definite and continued efforts to keep alive and vivid to their peoples these basic principles of international relationships and to continue to point out that peace can be maintained only on this basis.
The essential first step in building for peace is development of an understanding and awareness on the part of the peoples and governments of all nations of the vital importance of the principles indispensable to normal internation relationships.