500.A15A4 General Committee/649
The Ambassador in Italy (Long) to the Secretary of State
[Received October 25.]
Sir: I have the honor to refer to my telegram No. 109 dated October 12, 7 p.m., and to previous despatches on the subject of disarmament, and to inform the Department that I had a conversation this evening with the German Ambassador66 and in the course of it we discussed the situation vis-à-vis the Disarmament Conference. He said that his Government was in a better position today to come to agreement than any other of its recent predecessors, for the reason that its predecessors had always had the Nazi strength in strong opposition. But now with the Nazis in complete control he said that they could make commitments for the Government which would be accepted by the people at large; that the people at large accepted the Nazi regime and had confidence in it; and that his Government as at present constituted could now make any reasonable commitments which did not involve the honor of Germany or its national dignity. He said that there was no great obstacle to be overcome as far as the periods provided in the plan for disarmament; that his Government could be induced to agree to the two periods. But he said his Government insisted upon parity of quality but not on parity of numbers. He said “parity” had become a national objective with the people at large and that his Government was committed to it and that they could not compromise on the question of the right to have armament similar to that which France had; that they were surrounded by governments allied to France, each of which was better armed and equipped than was Germany and that the self-respect of the German people demanded, and his Party had laid down as a principle, the achievement of parity of right without any desire to approximate the parity of strength.
The German Ambassador also said Mussolini is not a pacifist. He does not want war now, however, because it does not suit his purpose. Italy is not ready for war.
As regards sanctions, he said that those of a military character were entirely out of the question; that it was not possible now to occupy [Page 260] any part of Germany without uniting all of Germany and causing it to fight with such weapons as it might have, and that if there was an attempt at a military occupation of any part of Germany there would be fighting, but of course Germany would be beaten, and beaten badly, but nevertheless that they would fight. As to other sanctions of an economic character, he indicated that he believed in their propriety but did not admit that his Government would agree to them, though it was plainly inferable from his language and manner that sanctions of some kind were a foregone conclusion.
Respectfully yours,
- Christian August Ulrich von Hassell.↩