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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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