890E.00/112
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Under Secretary of
State (Welles)
[Washington,] April 28, 1942.
The British Ambassador called to see me at his request this afternoon.
The Ambassador handed me a paraphrase of a telegram he had received from
Mr. Eden17 on April 26 which related to a
conversation I had some days ago with the Ambassador concerning the
increasing bitterness developing between the Free French authorities in
Syria and General Spears, the British representative there. I asked the
Ambassador to thank Mr. Eden for his message and to say that immediate
consideration would be given to his suggestion.
[Enclosure]
Telegram Received by the British Embassy From the
Foreign Office, Dated April 26, 1942
Sir E. Spears has high opinion of United States Consul General and we
have reason to think latter shares Sir E. Spears’ views about
[Page 593]
need for internal changes
in Syria and Lebanon. If the United States Consul General is really
anxious that Catroux is near breaking point I hope he will speak
frankly to Sir E. Spears with whom he has always co-operated closely
up to date. We had not heard things were as bad as this and we
should expect to be told soon enough by de Gaulle if they were so.
But I am warning Minister of State to keep his eyes on this and
meanwhile you will note that we have expressly laid down that acting
Minister of State and Commander-in-Chief of the Middle East should
themselves put their recommendations to Catroux.
Please explain this to Mr. Sumner Welles and thank him for his
message. The fact is that Sir E. Spears has most difficult role to
play and fundamentally I do not think it can fairly be said that the
fault lies on his side when he is carrying out a policy which has
been approved by His Majesty’s Government and with which we
understand United States Consul General himself agrees. This
personal aspect shows clearly that support of United States
Government would be most helpful over this question and I hope you
will be able to get the State Department to send the necessary
instructions to United States Consul General.
