740.0011 Mutual Guarantee
(Locarno)/851
The Ambassador in Belgium (Morris) to
the Secretary of State
No. 1080
Brussels, December 3,
1936.
[Received December 11.]
Sir: Referring to the Embassy’s despatch No.
1036, of October 26, 1936,27 concerning Belgian
Foreign Policy and the Locarno negotiations, I have the honor to report
that the Belgian Government has received from the British Government two
further notes dated November 4, 1936, and November 19, 1936, regarding
the question of a new Western Pact. Mr. Le Ghait, Chef
de Cabinet of the Belgian Minister for Foreign Affairs,
informed a member of the Embassy (Mr. Sussdorff) yesterday that the
Belgian Government is now drafting its reply to the last two British
notes. Mr. Le Ghait said that it was not possible to give a synopsis of
the Belgian reply yet, as the reply
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will not be ready until next week, but he
intimated that it will be entirely favorable and in line with the
desires of the British Government. A memorandum of this conversation is
enclosed.
Respectfully yours,
[Enclosure]
Memorandum by the Counselor of Embassy in
Belgium (Sussdorff)
Mr. Le Ghait stated that Great Britain’s note of November 4, 1936,
collated the replies received from France, Belgium, Germany and
Italy to the British note of September 17, 1936, while Great
Britain’s note of November 19, 1936,28 contained new
suggestions devised to reconcile the divergent views expressed in
the replies and sought to spur the other Governments concerned
toward the conclusion of a new Western Pact. In its note of November
19, 1936, the British Government proposed that it should become a
Guaranteed State in a new Western Pact as well as a Guarantor—the
guarantees to be furnished by France and Germany—and suggested that
the Pact of Paris (Kellogg Pact) might be taken as the determining
measure of aggression instead of the League Covenant. The latter
suggestion is devised to meet German objections.
Mr. Le Ghait said that the Belgian Government’s reply to the last two
British notes will be ready in about a week, that it is still
subject to change, but that he believes that it will be entirely
satisfactory to the British Government. Mr. Le Ghait indicated that
the Belgian Government is very much pleased with the consideration
which the British Government is showing to Belgium in accepting
willingly the Belgian desire to restrict its liabilities in any new
Western Pact.
Mr. Le Ghait said that the British note of November 19, 1936, shows
that Great Britain is determined not to let the question of a new
Western Pact go to sleep. However, he does not feel that the outlook
for rapid progress in the matter of a new Western Pact is bright in
view of the divergence of views between the former Locarno
Powers.
Brussels, December 2,
1936.
