Office of the Historian

CFM Files

United States Delegation Journal

October 5, 1946, 10 a.m.

USDel (PC) (Journal) 62

The Commission resumed consideration of its final report to the Conference (CP(IT/P)Doc 108).32 The Rapporteur, Mr. McIntosh (New Zealand) said that at the suggestion of M. Vyshinsky he had attempted to expand that portion of the report relating to Article 16 (page 22) and proceeded to read out his proposed revision of this section which included quotations from the Subcommission for a Statute for the Free Territory of Trieste. The revision was approved by the Commission. M. Vyshinsky suggested reference on the first page of the report to the appearances of the Albanian, Egyptian and Italian Delegates before the Commission. The Byelo-Russian Delegate asked that his delegation’s views on the Italo-Yugoslav frontier and the Yugoslav-Free Territory frontier be included as a minority report. Both these suggestions were accepted. The Commission adopted the report of the Rapporteur as amended with the additional chapters 4 and 5 agreed upon yesterday.

The Delegates of the USSR, China, Czechoslovakia, France, Australia, Brazil, Poland, Belgium, UK, the Netherlands, as well as Senator Connally for the USA, made closing speeches of appreciation and thanks to the Chairman, the Rapporteur, the Secretariat and the staff of the Commission for their forebearance, ability and cooperation during the forty-three meetings of the Commission. The Senator added that while there had not always been agreement in the [Page 682] Commission, the over-all picture he felt had contributed to world understanding. He echoed the thought of the Australian Delegate that the spirit shown throughout the Commission’s meetings was an augury for world peace, the responsibility of which the Senator said, rested first upon the four Great powers and secondly upon all those who are represented at the Conference. It is unthinkable that anyone could speak of another war and he cited the findings of the Nuremberg trials as evidence of the futility of war. In conclusion he expressed the profound hope that the labors of this Commission would contribute to the construction and maintenance of world peace. The representative of Yugoslavia associated himself with the sentiments expressed by the other delegates regarding the Chairman, Rapporteur, Secretariat, etc., but added that the Yugoslav Delegation would unhappily carry away bitter memories of the meetings and of the character of the Conference, which had preferred to follow a course of mechanical Recording of votes rather than attempting to reach unanimous agreement.

The Chairman thanked the Delegates and adjourned the final meeting of the Political and Territorial Commission for Italy at 1:00 p.m.

  1. Not printed; for text of the Commission report finally adopted, C.P.(Plen) Doc. 24, see vol. iv, p. 299.↩