TREATY OF LOCARNO (DIPLOMATIC DOCUMENTS).

HC Deb 22 June 1936 vol 313 cc1402-3

10. Captain McEWEN

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs with regard to the recently published German official collection of diplomatic documents relating to the Treaty of Locarno, whether all the documents included in the recent British Blue Book on the same subject are also included in the German collection; and whether any documents, published or unpublished, not included in the British Blue Book are included in the German collection?

Mr. EDEN

The answer to the first part of the question is "No, Sir," and to the second part, "Yes, Sir." I will with my hon. and gallant Friend's permission, circulate in the OFFICIAL REPORT a full statement of the particulars in which the two publications to which he refers differ.

Captain McEWEN

Is my right hon. Friend aware that Herr von Ribbentrop, in a preface to the German collection, referred to the publication of similar collections abroad as being undeniably prejudiced, and is it not to be hoped that my right hon. Friend's answer will remove all grounds for such unwarrantable accusations in future?

Mr. EDEN

I cannot be responsible for expressions of opinion. All my answer will show is which documents were published in which publication.

Following is the statement:

With the exception of the documents in the Blue Book (Cmd. 5143) numbered 5, 12, 18, 21, 23, 27, 28, 29, 30, 52 and 54, none of the documents contained in the Blue Book are included in the German collection of documents to which my hon. and gallant Friend refers.

The Blue Book only purports to cover the period from June, 1934, to 6th March, 1936, whereas the German collection of documents covers a period ranging from 19th January, 1919, to 6th May, 1936. Whereas the Blue Book contains 59 documents, there are in the German publication only 17 documents dealing with the period covered by the Blue Book. The German publication contains no document between July, 1935, and February, 1936.

The documents referring to the period covered by the Blue Book which are included in the German collection and which do not appear in the Blue Book are:

• No. 25.—German Government's declaration of 16th March, 1935, regarding conscription.
• No. 26.—British, French and Italian notes of protest (18th March and 21st March, 1935) against the conscription decision.
• No. 27.—Communiqué issued by representatives of Great Britain, France and Italy at the conclusion of the Stresa Conference.
• No. 29.—Resolution of the Council of the League of Nations, 17th April, 1935.
• No. 30.—German Government's note of protest against that resolution, 20th April, 1935.
• No. 32.—Questions and answers in the House of Commons regarding the effect of the Franco-Soviet Pact on the Treaty of Locarno, May, 1935.
• No. 33.—Text of the Czechoslovak-Soviet Pact, 16th May, 1935.
• No. 36.—Recommendations of the Committee of Thirteen regarding the application of sanctions, May to July, 1935.
• No. 37.—Extract from speech by M. Herriot in the French Chamber, 20th February, 1936.
• No. 40.—Speech by M. Flandin in the French Chamber, 25th February, 1936.

Certain parts also of documents Nos. 31, 34 and 39 in the German collection do not appear in the Blue Book, one of these being the Franco-Russian Military Agreement of 1892 and the other the Franco-Russian Naval Agreement of 1912.

All the documents contained in the German collection have already been published.