Spain : memorandum of interviews / Walter Citrine... Lord Cranborne ; Lord Plymouth

1937-10-11 016b-0044-002 PRIVATE & CONFIDENTIAL. MEMORANDUM OF INTERVIEW. Date 11th October, 1937. Time 5.15. to Reference WMC/FP/54 Present Sir Walter Citrine, Lord Cranborne, Lord Plymouth. SUBJECT. SPAIN. I accordingly met Lord Cranborne, who was accompanied by Lord Plymouth. I asked...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Citrine, Walter, 1887-1983
Institution:MCR - The Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick
Language:English
Published: 11 October 1937
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10796/3D461F96-8E95-4253-9279-B121ABF687AE
http://hdl.handle.net/10796/F8C04656-8DAC-4BA1-90E0-F790D17EDFF1
_version_ 1771659906261188609
author Citrine, Walter, 1887-1983
author_facet Citrine, Walter, 1887-1983
description 1937-10-11 016b-0044-002 PRIVATE & CONFIDENTIAL. MEMORANDUM OF INTERVIEW. Date 11th October, 1937. Time 5.15. to Reference WMC/FP/54 Present Sir Walter Citrine, Lord Cranborne, Lord Plymouth. SUBJECT. SPAIN. I accordingly met Lord Cranborne, who was accompanied by Lord Plymouth. I asked him concerning the general question whether the British Government had made up its mind as to what action it would take in the event of Italy sending more troops. Would the French frontier be opened, and would the British Government give its support? Lord Cranborne said that they had not even yet heard definitely from the French what they intended to do. There were divisions in the French Government, and, in any case, the opening of the frontier might not prove a sufficient deterrent to Mussolini. Lord Plymouth said that they had no confirmation of the reports that Italian troops had recently arrived in Spain, and that they had checked the Italian explanation that the 800 men who had arrived at Cadiz some time ago were medical men. They had found that this was true. There had been no recent large reinforcements, and it was by no means sure that there would be. I urged as strongly as I could that the Government should show its sympathy with democratic Spain, as the British Government was constantly being placed in an unfavourable light as contrasted with the French Government. I stated that the French Government was continually being held up as ready to do anything to help republican Spain, but when we went into the question more carefully, we generally found that they did not propose anything nearly so definite as we were told at our international gatherings. Lord Cranborne said it was no use making a gesture unless we were willing to carry it into some practical effect. It seemed that any such gesture increased enormously the dangers of war, and that was a very serious question for the Government to determine. We then passed on to discuss del Vayo's request, and Lord Cranborne said that this was the first time they had ever been asked to evacuate combatants. Formerly they had confined evacuation to refugees who were old men, women and children. He understood the danger in which the Asturians stood, and he would discuss the matter with Mr. Eden, and in all probability the French would be 292/946/16b/48(ii)
geographic UK
Spain
id SCW-1650_1bf8fabfe87b483caf88315ff9b90a59
institution MCR - The Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick
is_hierarchy_title Spain : memorandum of interviews / Walter Citrine... Lord Cranborne ; Lord Plymouth
language English
physical TEXT
publishDate 11 October 1937
spellingShingle Citrine, Walter, 1887-1983
Archives of the Trades Union Congress
Spanish Rebellion - Documents 1937 (2)
Spanish Civil War
Spain : memorandum of interviews / Walter Citrine... Lord Cranborne ; Lord Plymouth
title Spain : memorandum of interviews / Walter Citrine... Lord Cranborne ; Lord Plymouth
topic Archives of the Trades Union Congress
Spanish Rebellion - Documents 1937 (2)
Spanish Civil War
url http://hdl.handle.net/10796/3D461F96-8E95-4253-9279-B121ABF687AE
http://hdl.handle.net/10796/F8C04656-8DAC-4BA1-90E0-F790D17EDFF1