4. Every effort to be made to rally moral opinion in every other country of the world in favor of the principles embodied in the Nine Power Treaty and the effort to make perfectly clear to public opinion everywhere the attitude which the Government of Japan had assumed in connection therewith.

I said in view of this it seemed to me unnecessary to do more than to touch very lightly upon the question of fleet movements or the question of actual hostilities. I said that it seemed to me that those contingencies were remote and should not be considered at this time. I said the whole premise of this Government in going to the Brussels Conference was the keeping alive of the principles of the Nine Power Treaty and of international law and morality and, in a more practical sense, the making of every effort to promote a pacific solution by agreement. It seemed to me that until we were all convinced that there was no hope left, there was no need to consider any of the further possibilities the Ambassador had mentioned.

The Ambassador expressed his personal entire satisfaction with what I had said and stated that it entirely conformed to his own estimate and judgment of the situation. Before leaving he referred to the immeasurably difficult situation with which his own Government was confronted in almost every quarter and that the one gleam of hope he saw was for the reaching of a prompt agreement between Great Britain and the United States for the trade agreement. I said that I was optimistic in this regard and that I believed it probable that the Secretary of State himself would wish to talk with the Ambassador on this problem early next week.

S[UMNER] W[ELLES]

Chapter III: The Conference at Brussels, November 3-24, 1937

793.94 Conference/177: Telegram

The Chairman of the American Delegation (Davis) to the Secretary

of State

BRUSSELS, November 3, 1937-9 p. m. [Received November 3-9 p. m.]

69

15. At the public session today only seven powers elected to speak. The substance of Eden's and Delbos' speeches followed closely that of mine. The Italian spoke in a defeatist tone saying that it was useless to hope for results in the Conference beyond possibly facilitating direct negotiations between Japan and China. Litvinov warned us of the temptation to make conferences successful by granting aggressors many of their desiderata and persuading victims to accept

"For texts of speeches, see The Conference of Brussels, pp. 24–45.

such a solution. Wellington Koo presented China's case at length. He gave an account of Japan's "aggressions" in China, said that all of the powers except Japan had given up the older policy of exploiting China, and that China wanted to cooperate with Japan and also with the other powers. Portugal offered general cooperation.

Tomorrow morning the British, French, Dutch, Russian, Italian and American heads of delegations will meet informally with Spaak to work out procedure for tomorrow afternoon's private session.

DAVIS

793.94 Conference/186: Telegram

The Chairman of the American Delegation (Davis) to the Secretary

of State

BRUSSELS, November 4, 1937-7 p.m. [Received November 4-3:03 p. m.]

16. Your 34, November 3, 1 p. m. Plans for persuading the Germans to return to the Conference have somewhat altered since my 11, November 3, 1 p. m. [a. m.] The idea now being advocated by the British and French which seems to be meeting with general approval is that small subcommittee which will probably be set up by Conference to deal with Japan and China should also inquire of Germany whether she would be willing to cooperate in its work. This would avoid the possibility of a second rejection by Germany of an invitation from the Conference and yet might secure her cooperation where it would be useful.

In the circumstances I suggest that you delay any approach to Dieckhoff.70

DAVIS

793.94 Conference/187: Telegram

The Chairman of the American Delegation (Davis) to the Secretary

of State

BRUSSELS, November 4, 1937-midnight. [Received November 4-11: 15 p. m.] 17. At meeting at Belgian Foreign Office this morning there were present M. Spaak and delegates of United States, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal and Soviet Union.

M. Spaak proposed that the Conference should at its next meeting examine the Japanese and the German replies to Belgian Government's invitation. Delegates of United States, United Kingdom,

To Hans Heinrich Dieckhoff, German Ambassador in the United States.

France, Netherlands, and Portugal supported this proposal. The Italian delegate took the position that so far as Sino-Japanese controversy was concerned this would serve no useful purpose and the Conference should simply suggest to the two parties that they negotiate and come to an agreement. Soviet delegate merely commented that Japan would refuse another invitation if extended. Majority opinion was that contentions advanced in Japanese reply that the conflict was of no concern to the powers other than Japan and China should not be let stand without appropriate affirmation of the interest and concern of the other powers. Consensus of opinion was reached that there should be created a small committee to deal with this question and perhaps subsequently that of offering good offices.

This subject was discussed at private session of Conference this afternoon, several other powers supporting and Italy taking obstructive position.

The view that Japan should again be approached under article 7 of the Nine Power Treaty tentatively prevailed.

Agreement has not yet been reached on composition of small

committee.

We have been discussing this last point with other delegates. The British and we agree that committee composed of United Kingdom, United States, and Belgium would be theoretically desirable. However, both France and Italy seemed to feel that they should be represented. We are still considering this, also question whether several other governments should not be represented, with the idea that the committee, once constituted, could in turn create a smaller subcommittee.

DAVIS

793.94 Conference/198: Telegram

The Chairman of the American Delegation (Davis) to the Secretary

of State

BRUSSELS, November 6, 1937-11 a. m. [Received 11: 35 a. m.]

19. For the President and the Secretary. It is now possible to give a somewhat better picture of developments in the Conference. There has been present a far greater degree of defeatism than I had anticipated and the dominant attitude of nearly all the continental powers has been to appoint a negotiating committee and adjourn. Italy is openly playing Japan's game though by no means effectively.

France is interested in the Conference only if she can get out of it a guarantee by the United States and England of her Far Eastern

possessions against attack or if she can use it as a means of building up a political front of the great democracies. Delbos even suggested to me that President Roosevelt should call a new world conference to organize this democratic front and to solve all outstanding problems. Meanwhile he suggested that America, England and France should proceed to discuss what steps they might be forced to take in the Far East outside the framework of the Conference which I, of course, declined to discuss.

Belgium has made no secret of her desire to free herself as soon as possible of the responsibility of the Conference.

Litvinov is arguing to me in favor of close cooperation and understanding between Britain, the United States and Russia on the ground that if Japan were confronted with such a combination she would agree to stop hostilities and make peace and that a mere appeal to reason will have no effect.

The Netherlands is remaining in the background as much as possible being afraid to take a very active part.

China has made a good impression but instead of withdrawing temporarily from the Conference merely offered to withdraw in case the Conference asked her to, which of course was not done.

Most of the powers, with the exception of Belgium, Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy, Portugal and to some extent the British Dominions, have played inactive roles and have favored leaving the work to a small committee. Nevertheless, yesterday a more active interest was manifested and with the exception of Italy there was a united opinion in favor of refuting the Japanese contention that the present conflict only concerns herself and China. However, since we have not as yet been able to agree on the make up of a committee that idea has been temporarily shelved, while the Conference as a whole is proceeding with a formulation of a reply to Japan which it is hoped can be agreed upon and despatched today. In substance, the reply will refute the Japanese thesis, point out the obligation of Japan to confer in accordance with article 7 of the Treaty and asking whether, since Japan has refused to attend the Conference and objects to conferring with such a large group of powers, she would be prepared to confer with a smaller number of delegates chosen for that purpose. We are hopeful that it will be possible to agree upon a reply which will make a strong case and help to orient public opinion.

While there is as yet less appreciation than we had hoped of the larger issues involved and a decided tendency to try to push us out in front and while the European press has been suggesting that this is an American Conference, none the less the atmosphere is improving. The British at least seem to realize the inadvisability of trying to pass the buck to us and the importance of exploring every possibility of

a peaceful solution and building up a strong case and working along constructive parallel lines.

Delbos left for Paris yesterday, Eden for London yesterday afternoon but Eden will return Sunday unless we have in the meantime agreed upon the communication to Japan in which case he will return when the reply is received or at any time we feel his presence is needed. Litvinov is confident the Japanese are going to declare war and the British are becoming very apprehensive. For this reason we are hoping to get off the communication to Japan today and that this may help deter her and at least put her in a still less tenable position. DAVIS

793.94 Conference/204: Telegram

The Ambassador in Germany (Dodd) to the Secretary of State

BERLIN, November 6, 1937-1 p. m. [Received November 6-10:40 a. m.]

267. Other than publishing disheartening reports on the Brussels Conference the German press has refrained from comment thereon except that today's Volkischer Beobachter published the following under the heading "Destroyed Illusions?":

"The Brussels Far Eastern Conference which is to present a commission as its sole concrete result has destroyed a series of political illusions.

In the first place all hope placed in Roosevelt and his strong words has disappeared. When the President of the United States a few weeks ago delivered a speech which was interpreted as the announcement of American interference on the Continent, various chanceries in Western Europe entered this fact in their diplomatic calculations. The British Foreign Minister Eden even went so far as to comment publicly on Roosevelt's declaration whereby he welcomed an_abandonment of the American policy of reserve with joyful hope. Eden's phrase that he would go to the dark forests of Canada to accept American participation in European and continental problems clearly indicated how much in the eyes of western diplomats everything depended on the attitude of the United States.

Brussels practice, however, clearly showed what bounds were set for the American delegates. The disappointment here is so great that certain people still refuse to admit it. A few still raise a warning finger and declare there is still much to come; the American delegate had not yet fully unfolded his toga."

The article continues that Russia has proved to be a great disappointment to the western democracies.

Reference to the Embassy's telegram 266" and the Department's 115. Despite the fact that the denial of the Foreign Office relative to

"Dated November 5, 8 p. m., vol. III, p. 661. "Dated November 5, 1 p. m., not printed.