The Viscount instructs....

Reference: War 1939 : Dealing With Adolf Hitler. p133.  Uncovered editions

Comment: Telegram of Viscount Halifax to British Ambassador in Warsaw.  Illustrates the intransigence of British attitude towards Danzig and an interest to make the issue a casus belli.

Text
Viscount Halifax to Sir H. Kennard (Warsaw).
(Telegraphic.)                Foreign Office, June 30, 1939

You should at once seek interview with Minister for Foreign Affairs and ask him how the Polish Government propose to deal with the situation which appears to be impending.  It would seem that Hitler is laying his plans very astutely so as to present the Polish Government with a fait accompli in Danzig, to which it would be difficult for them to react without appearing in the role of aggressors.  I feel that the moment has come where consultation between the Polish, British and French Governments is necessary in order that the plans of the three Governments may be co-ordinated in time.  It is in the view of His Majesty's Government essential that these plans shall be so devised as to ensure that Hitler shall not be able so to manage matters as to manoeuvre the Polish Government into the position of aggressors.