Minute by Cornelius C. Cremin

The Taoiseach told me on the afternoon of the 9th inst. that he had just received Mr. Vinton Chapin¹ and that the latter had read to him the text of a long telegram from Washington the contents of which were more or less on the lines of what I had told him earlier. The telegram apparently also contained a suggestion that it might be well to have the final meeting of the Paris Conference postponed so as to enable the report to be revised. The Taoiseach said that he told Mr. Chapin that, in his (the Taoiseach's) opinion, a European Customs Union, while it might be welcomed by the USA, would be politically impossible, and that, while States would, of course, be agreeable to go into the question so as to examine the difficulties in the way of such a Union, he did not think that the result of their study would lead them to constitute one - to suggest a Customs Union to European States at this stage would be like suggesting to the United States thirty years ago the abandonment of their tariff policy.

The Taoiseach went on to say that the Government had considered the question of a Minister attending the meeting scheduled for Paris on Monday, 15th September, and had agreed that he attend, leaving for Paris on Friday afternoon or Saturday morning. He felt, however, that it would not be right for the Government to authorise the signature of a document of which it had not cognisance, and a special meeting of the Government had, therefore, been called for the afternoon of Thursday, 11th inst., to consider the question. He wished to have as much material as possible available for that meeting.

The Taoiseach authorised me to tell Mr. Archer, in reply to his message of yesterday, that the Government agreed with the view that the final meeting of the Conference should be as impressive as possible and that he (the Taoiseach) would be ready to attend, but that it is essential that the Government have an opportunity to consider the nature of the reply beforehand. He also said that I could tell Mr. Archer of the American démarche in case this should lead to a change in plans as regards the date of the final meeting.

I spoke to Mr. Archer on the foregoing lines the same afternoon. He undertook to speak to London and to put it to them that something should be done so that the Government be put in possession of the text of the final report, or at least of its general lines, by Thursday.