Please convey the following message from the Prime Minister [3]
immediately to the Prime Minister [4]-
The Foreign Secretary [5] and I saw Reynaud [6] this afternoon
(Thursday) [7] at Tours. Reynaud said that the French Armies were
at the last gasp and Weygand [8] said that he thought it would
very soon be necessary to plead for an armistice in order to save
the soil and structure of France. If France were to continue it
was imperative to have proof that the United States would come in
with sufficient speed. Reynand then referred to a message which he
had sent to Roosevelt on June 10th (you will have seen this in the
press. It was published at Roosevelt's suggestion and Roosevelt's
speech on that day was not in fact an answer to it).

Reynaud said Roosevelt's speech of June 10th was encouraging and
he said that he proposed to send a further appeal to Roosevelt
saying that the Allied cause lay in America's hands. Reynaud added
that he felt that he could not carry his Government with him in
continuing the struggle unless Roosevelt's reply to his appeal
conveyed a firm assurance of immediate aid, though he did not mean
by this an expeditionary force. He said that the French Council of
Ministers had instructed him to enquire what our attitude would be
should the worst come, and he therefore asked me whether we would
admit that France, having done all she could, might enter into a
separate peace.

I said that it was still our one thought to destroy Hitlerism.

There would be no reproaches but we could not consent to French
making a separate peace. The first thing was for Reynaud to put
the position squarely to Roosevelt and then await his answer.

I returned to London this evening, Thursday. Meanwhile, Reynaud
sent the appeal to Roosevelt which he contemplated (you will have
heard his broadcast). This was crossed by a very remarkable
message from Roosevelt, the terms of which are as follows:-

Your message of June 10th has moved me very deeply. As I have
already stated to you and to Mr. Churchill, this Government is
doing everything in its power to make available to the Allied
Governments the materials they so urgently require and our efforts
to do still more are being redoubled. This is so because of our
faith in and our support of the ideals for which the Allies are
fighting.

The magnificent resistance of the French and British Armies has
profoundly impressed the American people.

I am personally particularly impressed by your declaration that
France will continue the fight on behalf of democracy even if it
means the slow withdrawal [even] to North Africa and the Atlantic.

It is most important to remember that the French and British
fleets continue the mastery of the Atlantic and other oceans; also
to remember that vital materials from the outside world [a]re
necessary to maintain all Armies.

I am also greatly heartened by what Prime, Minister Churchill said
a few days ago about the continued resistance of the British
Empire and that determination would seem to apply equally to the
great French Empire all over the world.

Naval power in world affairs still clearly carries the lessons of
history, as Admiral Darlan well knows.

We read this as an invitation to France [to continue.] Roosevelt
of course is not able to declare war without the assent (? of
Congress) but his message goes very (? far towards) such a step
and seems to me to give the assurance which Reynaud requires.

We are accordingly sending a message to Reynaud in the following
terms:-

In this solemn hour for the British and French nations and for the
free democracy to which they have vowed themselves, His Majesty's
Government desire to pay to the Government of the French Republic
the tribute which is due to the heroic fortitude and constancy of
the French Armies in battle against enormous odds. Their effort is
worthy of the most glorious traditions of France and has inflicted
deep and long lasting injury upon the enemy's strength. Great
Britain will continue to give the utmost aid in her power. We take
this opportunity of proclaiming the indissoluble union of our two
peoples and of our two Empires. We cannot measure the various
forms of tribulation which will fall upon our peoples in the near
future. We are sure that the ordeal by fire will only fuse them
together into one unconquerable whole. We renew to the French
Republic our pledge and resolve to continue the struggle at all
costs in France, in our Island, upon the oceans and in the air,
wherever it may lead us, using all our resources to the utmost
limits, [shar]ing together with [sic] the burden of repairing the
ravages of war.

We shall never [turn] from the conflict until France stands safe
and erect in all her grandeur, until the wrong[ed] and enslaved
States and people[s] have been liberated, and until civilisation.

is freed from the nightmare of Nazidom.

Till the day dawn will dawn [9], we are more sure than ever. It
may dawn sooner than we now have the right to expect.

I hope Reynaud will now be prepared to carry out the intention
which he expressed to us.

We are confident that you will be in full agreement with the tenor
of our assurances in the above message to Reynaud, more than ever
now that Roosevelt has committed himself, as we think he has, in
his reply to Reynaud quoted above. If you feel as we do, we
earnestly hope that you will feel able to make a public
declaration to the French Government on the lines of our message
set out above at the earliest possible moment and issue it to the
press as soon as our message is published. (NOTE-This message has
been published).

We regard this as a matter of very great urgency and importance.

I may add that we are urging the publication of Roosevelt's
message, which in any case stands on record, but we have not yet
received his consent.