Office of the Historian

852.00/2452: Telegram

The Chargé in Italy (Kirk) to the Secretary of State

Rome, August 6, 1936—5 p.m.
[Received August 6—3:20 p.m.]

316. My 314, August 5, 5 p.m. An official communiqué published this afternoon states that the following are the points of the oral reply given by the Italian Minister for Foreign Affairs to the French Ambassador following the proposal presented orally by the latter for an Italo-Franco-British agreement of non-intervention in Spanish affairs:

  • “First, Italy agrees in principle to the idea of non-intervention in the Civil War which is afflicting Spain.
  • Second, Italy asks whether the moral solidarity with one of the parties in conflict which has been and is being expressed through public demonstrations, press campaigns, money subscriptions, enlistment of volunteers, et cetera, does not already constitute a blatant and dangerous form of intervention.
  • Third, Italy desires to know whether the agreement of ‘non’ intervention will have a universal character or not, whether it will bind only the Governments or also private individuals.
  • Fourth, Italy desires to know whether the Government making the proposal has also in mind methods of checking up on the observance of the pledge of ‘non’ intervention.”

The Government spokesman insists in tonight’s Giornale that the agreement for “neutrality” must be absolute and universal including all countries that might give assistance to either side, not representing merely a generic incomplete and equivocal official manifestation. After noting the funds collected in Russia for transfer in French francs to Spain, the enlistment of volunteers in France, and public declarations of official newspapers and political leaders in France in favor of the Madrid Government and in opposition to Fascism and Naziism, Gayda30 points out that to declare war on those two schools of political thought is simultaneously an act of political aggression against Italy and Germany—two countries from which the French Government desires a declaration of neutrality. Such manifestations [Page 467] threaten to divide Europe into political blocs far more dangerous even than military blocks. In conclusion he says that it is up to the proposing Government to indicate the methods whereby there will be a checkup on the observance of non-intervention and that the Italian Government will promptly and benevolently consider all efficacious suggestions Paris may make in this connection.

The above editorial is immediately followed by a despatch from London stating that it has been learned from an absolutely reliable source that the Spanish Ambassador to London has placed the following orders with the Vickers Armstrong concern against payment in cash and gold and to be shipped on British vessels: 2000 anti-airshells and 2000 other shells for the cruiser Cervantes, 3000 highly explosive shells for the destroyer Anteguera, 5000 shells for the destroyer Churruca. The despatch concludes with the statement that the above information cannot be denied. This report in turn is followed by despatch from Moscow announcing a subscription of funds in Russia for transmission to the Government of Madrid.

Kirk
  1. Virginio Gayda, editor of the Giornale d’Italia.↩