Forgot to post this yesterday,Back Door to War The Roosevelt Foreign Policy 1933-1941 by Charles Callan Tansill...

... ON SEPTEMBER 2, in preparation for the meeting of the Council of the League, Anthony Eden and Pierre Laval had a long conversation with reference to the Italo-Ethiopian dispute. Eden endeavored to impress upon Laval "in the strongest terms the British point of view, stating how it was backed throughout by British public opinion, by the Church, by the peace and League societies, and by the Labor and Liberal parties." He then remarked that "unless Mussolini altered his projects the question of sanctions would necessarily arise and that these might mean war." If this emergency arose Britain was "prepared to do its part." After this ambiguous statement, Eden expressed the opinion that "if Britain was willing to go so far at this time as to take its share and run the risks incident to sanctions, France must feel that this would be, if not a guarantee, at least a sure precedent for the future in case difficulties should arise with respect to German aggression." Laval replied that he had not as yet decided whether to ask Britain for "specific assurances as to further action in other cases should the affair be pushed to the extremity of sanctions against Italy."1

Two days later, Hugh Wilson had luncheon with Eden at Geneva. Eden informed him that a number of the representatives of the "small states" had assured him that they were in favor of "the application of the Covenant" in the matter of the Italo-Ethiopian controversy. When he had endeavored to elicit from them a definite assurance of support, however, they had evaded his efforts. He then referred to the apparent desire of French statesmen to make diplomatic "bargains." In Paris, Laval had asked him what Britain would do in case of trouble in Austria. Eden had merely replied that the "building up of collective action would certainly be a precedent for British future action." When Laval pressed for a more specific statement, Eden countered with the observation: "I am unable to give you an official answer."

Eden then confidentially informed Wilson that, with reference to the Laval-Mussolini conversation on January 7, Laval had told him that "he had given Mussolini a free hand as far as France was concerned only in regard to economic measures. On the other hand, Mussolini had told Eden immediately thereafter that the French 'had agreed to accord him complete liberty of action in Ethiopia.' "

At the conclusion of this lunch, Eden "spoke in tones of the deepest appreciation" of the action of Secretary Hull "in having the Socony Vacuum Company withdraw from the concession." This had "cleared the air enormously and made him 'happier than anything in this dreary situation.' " 2
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