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The suggestion was also put forward that the
opportunity should be seized not only of publishing
the British reply to the American Note but also of
putting forward the Unionist view of British Naval
Policy generally, and not only with reference to
the recent exchange of Notes with France.
The Cabinet agreed
(a) That the Foreign Office should
circulate to the Cabinet copies of the Notes recently exchanged with France and other Governments on the subject of Naval limitation, with an explanatory account of the negotiations leading up to the receipt of the Note from the United States Ambassador dated September 28th, 1928, together with a draft of the Reply which, in the view of the Foreign Office, should be addressed to the United States.
(b) That the Admiralty should circulate
to the Cabinet their views on the American Note and on the Reply which in their view should be made.
(e) That the foregoing Memoranda should
be considered at the next Meeting of the Cabinet
+
(d) That the Acting Secretary of State
for Foreign Affairs should try to dissuade the French Government from issuing a Reply until after the Presidential Election.
(e) That in the meantime no official
Reply should be issued by the British Government, but that the Foreign Office should take suitable steps to enlighten the Press privately on the true history of the negotiations which had led up to the receipt of the United States Note.
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