751.62/495: Telegram
The Chargé in France (Wilson) to the Secretary of State
[Received 7:46 p.m.]
1899. Bonnet said to me at luncheon today that he believed it should be possible before long to arrive at an agreement with the German Government regarding nonaggression and consultation on all questions which might divide the two countries. He said that he was not pressing the German Government on this matter because if they thought the French Government was too eager for such an agreement they would of course raise their price. For the moment he is not considering discussions with Germany on other matters believing that if an agreement could be announced on nonaggression and consultation this would have an excellent effect on the international situation.
He said that many people were skeptical of the value of a nonaggression declaration with Germany citing the numerous treaty violations by the latter. He on the contrary believes that such an agreement would be of positive value. While Germany has violated the Treaty of Versailles and other agreements growing out of that treaty she has sought to justify such action on the ground that Versailles had been imposed upon her. Bonnet professes to believe that it would be a different matter with an agreement now entered into freely by a Germany which had cast off the injustices of Versailles. He believes, moreover, that a nonaggression agreement would be of value to France because if it should be violated by Germany such violation would at once bring world opinion to France’s side.
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