Hendaye, Nov. 22. Well-informed Nationalist sources said to-day that negotiations are in progress for an armistice in the Civil War which has racked Spain for sixteen months, but if they are fruitless, Gen. Francisco Franco plans a girantie December offensive to crush Republican resistance.
Sr. Luis Companys, President of the Catalonian Generalidad and at president Vice-Premier in the Negrin Cabinet, about to leave for Barcelona after the completion of conferences in Paris refused to discuss various reports of negotiations between the warring sides, Among them was the report that while he was in Brussels, he had offered Catalan support to a Bourbon restoration in Spain, designed to enthrone Don Juan under a wide constitutional regime, provided that Catalonia retain its autonomy.
It was widely rumoured here that Gen. Franco favours peace, provided the Republicans agree to an eventual restoration of the monarchy, Nationalist quarters in St. Jean de Luz reported that certain foreign diplomats were acting as intermediaries in negotiations for a general peace, or for a separate peace with Catalonia, which has never, in the opinion of foreign observers, been a whole-hearted supporter of the Republican cause.
Tt was reported that, in the event of an armistice. Generalissimo:
"Free, Frank, Confidential"
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