The French Yellow Book

No. 327 : M. Georges Bonnet, Minister for Foreign Affairs, to M. Francois-Poncet, French Ambassador in Rome. Paris, September 1, 1939.

(By telephone at 11.45 a.m.)

YOUR telegram of August 31.

You should inform Count Ciano as follows:

"The French Government values highly the spirit in which the proposal of the Royal Government has been made, and reaffirms its willingness to seek all possible means, and to associate itself with any steps intended to facilitate and render possible an amicable settlement of the dispute which has arisen between Germany and Poland.

"The French Government pays sincere tribute to the effort made to this end by the Italian Government, and thanks it for its communication regarding a plan to call a conference, which has been transmitted by the French Ambassador in Rome and to which a favourable reply has been given.

"The French Government must nevertheless point out that in its opinion such a conference could not raise problems touching the interests of powers not represented, and no arrangement could be made affecting the interests of any power unless that power were present.

"The French Government considers that the activities of such a conference should not be restricted to an attempt to seek partial and temporary solutions of limited and immediate problems: it should, by raising all the problems of a general character which are at the root of any dispute, result in general appeasement such as will allow the peace of the world to be re-established and organized on solid foundations."

Georges Bonnet.