852.00/6466: Telegram
The Consul at Geneva (Bucknell) to the Secretary of State
[Received 10:25 p.m.]
295. The Mediterranean Conference held a meeting today at Nyon for the purpose of signing the agreement concluded on September 11.57 With the exception of Albania all the states whose names were appended to the agreement as transmitted in my 282, September 12, 2 p.m.,58 signed the agreement without any material changes. I learn that in fact Albania did not at any time participate in the Conference.
In a communiqué issued by the Conference to the press it is stated that the President informed the Conference that in conformity with the wish expressed by the states of the Balkan Entente and by Bulgaria, the British and French Governments have communicated the substance of the arrangement to the Italian Government requesting the latter to participate therein, that the definitive reply from Italy had not been received, and that it would be communicated to the members of the Conference as soon as it arrived.
[Page 399]It was decided that the President should convoke the Conference at Geneva for the pursuance of its work subsequent to the signing of the agreement.
At the moment of the signing Delbos emphasized the moral and practical effects of this example of international solidarity in the face of a grave situation. He stated that having settled the mope serious problem of attacks by submarines, the Conference would deal at Geneva with the other forms of aggression in the Mediterranean.
It is variously reported here that: (a) Italy in replying to the invitation to participate accepted “in principle” but claimed an equal share in the patrolling; (b) the Italian reaction to the results at Nyon was definitely “unfavorable”; and finally (c) in order to soothe Italian susceptibilities the Conference at Nyon might be continued in the London Non-intervention Committee.
I am informed that the annexes mentioned in the text of the agreement already telegraphed to the Department define (a) the routes to be followed by commercial shipping in the Mediterranean and (b) zones in which the powers may hold exercises for their submarines. A delegate who was present today informed me that he would give me privately these annexes as soon as a final revision had been made.