Kr v/hen I showed this telegram this
afternoon to Mr. Dunn he was particularly
interested by paragraph 16 which referjjgl to
a proposal that the British and Norwegian
merchant ships now held in French ports
should be exchanged against the French
merchant ships in the hands of the British
authorities.   Mr. Dunn said that this fitted
in rather well with the State Department's
own idea which was that the question of the
British ships in Moroccan ports could be
treated separately from the bigger question
of the supply of food to French North Africa.
He wondered therefore if we could find out
rather more about this proposal, by whom it
had been made and in what position it was now.
I do not think that we have any information
on the subject in the Chancery and unless
Mr. Helm has any perhaps we had better
telegraph to London.
Incidentally Ifr, Dunn asked
whether we had any informat:on here about
M. Dupuy and his abilities.    From what the
United States Charge d'Affairs at Vichy
had said the State Department were inclined
to thin* that sometimes       Dupuy took rather
too optimistic a view and attached too much
importance to remarks made to him by the
French authorities.    He was rather inclined,
the State Department feared, to treat as
"assurances" statements which were not
necessarily regarded as binding by the
French authorities.
March loth, 19kl

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