Letter from Count Gerald O'Kelly de Gallagh to Joseph P. Walshe (Dublin)
(109/B/30) (Copy)

I have the honour to inform you that I attended the Annual Dinner at the Elysée on Wednesday night the 29th inst. There were about 170 guests present and I had the opportunity of meeting a number of French people to whom I had not yet been introduced.

After dinner there was a reception for which some 3,000 invitations had been issued. The dinner was only for chefs de mission, but the whole diplomatic corps was invited to the reception, which lasted until about 1.30 a.m. Mr. Cawley came to the reception, but owing to the density of the crowd I did not see him. I did not stay to the end but left about midnight as, I need not tell you, I was very tired.

The Papal Nuncio mentioned Mgr. Robinson to me and congratulated me on the reception given him. Mgr. Robinson stayed with Mgr. Maglione on his way through Paris to Dublin.

I had a longish talk with M. Adatci,¹ whom I had not been able to see before, on the question of the League of Nations. You know how friendly M. Adatci has always been to us. I knew him very well in Brussels and he was the first person to entertain us after our arrival in Paris. But I do not think Japan will vote for us on the League if Australia maintains her candidature. When he heard that Australia was in the field, he said that I would appreciate how delicate it would be for Japan to oppose Australia - Australia, Japan and America being the Pacific powers. He then asked what Britain's attitude in the matter was. I professed complete ignorance. In view of M. Adatci's hesitations I thought it very much better not to press the matter in any way. My own impression is that while he might be genuinely pleased personally to [see] us on the League Council, his Oriental prudence made him fear all sorts of complications with Australia and Britain. He promised, however, to notify his Government of our candidature.

As you are doubtless aware, there is every likelihood of M. Adatci being offered a judgeship at the Hague in the near future, in which case he would cease to represent Japan at Geneva.