Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1940-11-04
vichy Envoy Reports
Peiain Reply Receives
Good Reception Here
M. Henry Hoye Delivers
Answer to Presidents
Inquiry on Colonies
BY GARRETT ID. HORNER

A message presumably designed to
clarity the effect of increased French
collaboration with Germany on
French possessions In this hemi-
sphere was said by French Ambassa-
dor CASTOR Henry Haye to have met
apparently satisfactory" reaction at
the State Department today.
M. Henry Haye delivered the mes
sage, constituting reply from Mar
shall Petain, head of the Vichy gov
eminent Of France, to recent COM
munication from President Roose-
welt, to Secretary of State Hull, and
then conferred separately with Mr..
Hull and Undersecretary Of State
Sumner Wells.
Contents Of the exchange Of
communications were not made
public, but it was presumed that
President Roosevelt had sought in
formation concerning developments
pointing toward closer relations be-
tween France and Germany, par
ticularly with reference to effects
on the status of French possessions
in the Caribbean area, and that the
message delivered today gave assur-
ance that France did not contem-
plate giving Germany any control
over its colonies.
No Immediate u. 8. Move.
M. Henry Haye, telling reporters
that whether the communications
would be made public later was q
matter for the State Department,
said he had received assurances the
United States did not contemplate
any immediate move in connection
with the French possessions.
Marshal Petain's reply was pre-
sumed to be In line with assurances
delivered by M. Henry Haye to the
State Department last week that
France had not entered into any
agreement with Germany to give
the Nazis either civilian or military
privileges in the French colonial
possessions In this hemisphere.
Meanwhile, conflicting reports
about the possibility of a German
"peace offensive" confronted ofhcials
here as diplomatic and naval activ-
ity indicated continued keen interest
in the status of French possessions
in the Caribbean area.
State Department officials said
they had heard a ''rumor" that
Reichsfuehrer Hitler planned an ad-
dress on peace to the German peo-
pie, but emphasized that they had
no official information on the sub
ject.
made in England" Say Nazis.
Authorized German sources de-
clared, meanwhile, that all talk Of
a new peace move by Hitler is made
in England" the Associated Press
reported from Berlin. The Nazi
sources said the reports were in
tended to influence the presidential
election here.
Mystery surrounding American
naval operations in the vicinity Of
the French West Indian possessions
was heightened by unofficial reports
of two or three submarines being
sighted near the Panama Canal,
coincident with the hurried depar-
ture of several destroyers from the
Canal Zone.
The only Official word from the
Navy Department about activities
of its warships and planes in the
Caribbean area was announcement
Saturday that the eight de-
stroyers and six planes which left
Key West earlier in the week under
sealed orders were engaged in
scheduled exercises"
st. Lucia on Itinerary.
1t was learned, however, that the
training and patrol operations on
which the naval craft were dis
patched would take at least some
of them to the British island Of
st. Lucia, on which the United
States recently acquired rights to
establish naval and air base sites.
st. Lucia is in the immediate vicin-
ity of the French island possession
of Martinique.
Obviously it would be convenient
for this Government to have adequate
forces in the vicinity If necessity
should arise under conditions laid
down by the Act of Havana to take
over any of the French possessions
to prevent them falling to German
control.
The United States has manifested
special concern over the future
status of Martinique, in the event
of any settlement" between Ger
many and defeated France. The
French aircraft carrier Bearn also
is in port there with some hundred
American-made warplanes she was
carrying to France at the time the
country collapsed.
Whether the reports Of a new Ger
man peace effort had any connec-
ton with previous reports of a