Foreign Relations of the United States Diplomatic Papers, 1936, General, British Commonwealth, Volume I

740.0011 Mutual Guarantee (Locarno)/407: Telegram

The Ambassador in France (Straus) to the Secretary of State

Paris, March 11, 1936—2 p.m.
[Received March 11—11:45 a.m.]

197. I called upon Flandin this morning to convey to him the message contained in your 70, March 10, 12 noon, at which he showed some disappointment and expressed the hope that the American press might give some moral support to the French thesis. I told him it was difficult here to know just how it could be effected.

I then asked him how he regarded the present outlook and he said somewhat improved. I remarked that the Belgian thesis (see my 190, March 10, 9 p.m.⁸⁰) which had no doubt been suggested to Van Zeeland^80a by him, an implication which seemed to please him, had seemed adroit. He said that Belgium certainly could not be accused of having broken Locarno and that because of Belgium’s relations with England he hoped that some form of collective security would result that would solve present difficulties. He said that by Belgium’s relations to England he meant that the danger of a German attack on England through Belgium was ever present in the public mind there and that any fears of Belgium were immediately reflected in England. He added that he felt that all over the continent of Europe that Germany’s action had caused great uneasiness and had solidified the desire for collective security. He said that Germany’s continued occupation of the demilitarized zone could not be tolerated.

Repeated to London, Berlin, Moscow, Rome, Geneva.

Straus

80. Not printed; the pertinent passage reads: “It appears that Van Zeeland, for Belgium, took the lead in the demand for sanctions against Germany pointing out that his country was injured by the occupation of the demilitarized zones and that there was no vestige of excuse for this injury as Belgium had made no pact with Soviet Russia or otherwise given the faintest color to German argument of a breach of Locarno.” (740.0011 Mutual Guarantee (Locarno)/402)
81. Paul van Zeeland, Belgian Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Foreign Commerce.