852.00/8214: Telegram
The Ambassador in France (Bullitt) to the Secretary of State
[Received 11:24 a.m.]
1075. I discussed last night with Bonnet81 the situation in Spain. As you know Del Vayo, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Barcelona Government, has been in Paris for the past week. Bonnet said that the Barcelona Government was not only ready to accept mediation and make peace but also was intensely eager to have some sort of action taken which might bring an early armistice. Bonnet said that he was under the impression the Barcelona Government now felt that it should have made an effort to obtain peace some time ago.
The British, he added, were continuing to attempt to interest Franco in the idea of peace but had not had any success.
Bonnet then recurred to a variation of the suggestion which Delbos made to me many months ago. He said that he felt that if England, France, the Pope and the President of the United States should propose an armistice and offer mediation in Spain the weight of moral influence would be so great that Franco would be compelled to accept an armistice. He added that he knew that not only the French and British Governments but also the Pope would be ready to take such action at once if the United States could see its way clear to participate.
I should be obliged for any instructions the Department may care to give me with regard to this matter.
- Georges Bonnet, French Minister for Foreign Affairs in the Daladier Cabinet.↩