852.00/5896
Memorandum by the Under Secretary of State (Welles)
The Ambassador of Germany called upon me this morning for the purpose of complying with the friendly suggestion I made to him yesterday, namely, that he keep the Department of State advised so far as might be possible of any information which he might receive from his own Government with regard to all developments connected with the Spanish situation.
The Ambassador emphasized the fact to me, of which he had now had confirmation from his Government, that the German Government had not withdrawn its representation from the Non-intervention Committee at London, but had merely refused to permit its naval vessels to continue taking part in the naval patrol of Spanish waters. He stated to me that, in view of these circumstances, he could not credit the press report which alleged that Germany had not only withdrawn from the patrol but also from the Non-intervention Committee.
The Ambassador again went over the torpedoing of the German cruiser Leipzig and said that his Government had to its own satisfaction definitely established the fact that the attack on the Leipzig had been undertaken by a submarine of the Valencia Government. The Ambassador further said that the despatch from Germany of the Graf Spec to Spanish waters did not imply that the German naval force in the Mediterranean is being increased, since the Deutschland, after it was bombed, had returned to Germany and another German cruiser had likewise gone back to Germany carrying many of the wounded from the crew of the Deutschland. The Ambassador remarked that he also was advised that his Government was still maintaining [Page 340] representatives on the International Control Committees in French and Italian ports with the nominal duty of preventing the sending of arms, munitions and troops to Spain.
The Ambassador continued by saying that he was further informed that his Government considered the Leipzig incident closed, which meant that no act of retaliation would be taken by the German Government against the Spanish Government but that, if new attacks were made by the Valencia Government upon German cruisers or German merchant vessels, the German naval vessels would be under orders at once to undertake a counter attack against such acts of aggression.
The Ambassador then discussed at some length the policy of his Government and stated that it was the “firm intention and unfaltering desire” of the German Government to reach an amicable adjustment of all the problems which were now at issue.
I inquired regarding the cancellation of the visit of Baron von Neurath to London, and the Ambassador told me that he was advised that the visit had not been cancelled but merely postponed because of the temporary inability of the German Foreign Minister to leave Berlin at this critical moment. He said that the cornerstone of the foreign policy of Hitler was a friendly understanding with Great Britain. He said I only had to refresh my memory by reading Hitler’s book “Mein Kampf” to see how, even in 1923, when he was merely a private citizen, Hitler had maintained that Germany’s foreign policy must be based upon an understanding with England. The Ambassador said further that he would assure me most positively that Germany had no secret treaty, no alliance and no military understanding of any character with Italy but that, on the contrary, Germany hoped as a friendly mediator to prevent a continuation of the difficulties between Great Britain and Italy which had been continuing during the past two or three years.
I expressed to the Ambassador my appreciation of his courtesy in talking with me in this friendly way of the information he had received from his Government and concerning his Government’s policy, and said I would welcome at all times any further information which he might feel free to give me. I concluded by saying that, in view of the Secretary of State’s conversation with him, he was thoroughly familiar with the attitude of this Government, which had followed and would follow its own independent course but which, nevertheless, continued to follow with the deepest interest all developments which had any bearing on the maintenance of world peace and upon the bases for the creation of a more satisfactory foundation for the construction of a lasting world peace.