PARIS, March 7, 1940. I was received by President Lebrun at the Elysee Palace at 4 o clock on the afternoon of March 7. The American Charge d'affaires accompanied me, as he did to all my interviews with the members of the French Government at my particular request. President Lebrun greeted me with the utmost cordiality, and I outlined to him the nature of my mission and emphasized the confidential character of any views he might care to give me. The President read to me the text of the message which he had addressed in November to the Queen of the Netherlands and the King of the Belgians indicating the nature of the peace which the French Government regarded am being indispensable. He emphasized the words "a durable and Just peace" and the insistence of France that no peace could be made unless France obtained thereby complete guarantee~ of security for the future. I said to the President that the President of the United States had especially charged me to make it clear that the Government of the United States was not interested in the possibility of any temporary or precarious peace, but solely in the possibility which might today exist of finding the basis for a peace based on Justice and security. I said that In this regard the views of my Government corresponded very exactly to the views already enunciated by the French Government, although I desired to make it clear that at this stage my Government had no suggestions or proposals to offer. |