763.72115/2631b
The Secretary of State to President Wilson
My Dear Mr. President: The head-line summaries in the Press this morning gave an erroneous impression that this Government had officially protested to Germany against the deportation of the Belgian civilian population. The real situation is as follows:
Various telegrams during September and October from our representatives in Brussels and Berlin reported10 that the German Government had determined on the policy of enforcing labor on Belgian civilians, many of whom were to be brought to Germany to work in various industries, thus releasing German workmen to go to the front. On October 10th the American Chargé d’Affaires in Berlin cabled11 that he had received through the American Legation at Brussels two letters from the President of the Comité National de Secours et d’Alimentation of Brussels stating that the German military authorities had demanded from presidents of local committees complete lists of unemployed workmen who were receiving aid from committees in the district and that where lists were refused the presidents were imprisoned, and asking for instructions. The Department replied on October 19th12 that he might informally and orally draw the attention of the Minister for Foreign Affairs to the reported action of the military authorities in Belgium if he deemed it advisable; and Mr. Grew reports13 the receipt of the following memorandum from the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs in reply to his inquiry at the German Foreign Office.
“Against the unemployed in Belgium who are a burden to public charity, in order to avoid friction arising therefrom, compulsory measures are to be adopted to make them work so far as they are not voluntarily inclined to work. The order issued by the Governor General on May 15th, 1916.”
Mr. Grew then pointed out the unfortunate impression which this decision would make abroad, and said that he thought it ought at least to be brought to the Chancellor’s personal attention in the light of the consequences which the order would entail. Mr. Grew then asked whether the Foreign Office would approve of his seeing the Chancellor if he was so authorized by his Government, to which the Under Secretary replied in the affirmative.
Meanwhile the Belgian Minister here had on several occasions expressed to the Department his Government’s deep concern in these [Page 41] deportations; and he has officially transmitted to the Department a copy of a telegram from his Government14 in which the following paragraph occurs:
“The Government of the King applies to the active intervention of the United States Government in order to stop this deportation of its workmen to Germany and to obtain the freedom of those who have already been taken to Germany.”
The Minister concludes his note of transmittal by expressing the hope, “that the Government of the United States . . . will kindly bring its powerful influence to bear to put an end to a condition of things that is as barbarous as it is unjust.[”]
On November 2d, in reply to Mr. Grew’s inquiry as to whether he would be authorized to take the matter up with the Chancellor, the Department informed him by cable15 that in view of the possible serious consequences which may result from the proposed policy in Belgium, he was authorized to request an interview with the Chancellor; that the Department left to his discretion the extent which his informal representations with the Chancellor should go, which must necessarily be guided by circumstances and upon his general attitude in the matter; but I authorized him to point out to the Chancellor the unfortunate impression that the proposed policy if carried out would create in neutral countries and in the United States which has the welfare of the Belgian civilian population very much at heart. You will see that our action in the circumstances could not possibly be construed as a protest on behalf of the Government of the United States.
Our course has been analogous to the steps which we have taken with the Turkish Government in an endeavor to stop the further deportation of the Armenian civil population. It is interesting to note in connection with the Armenian deportations that on October 8th [, 1915] Count Bernstorff sent me a copy of a memorandum which was presented to the Turkish Government by the German Ambassador in Constantinople,16 which was a formal remonstrance of the German Government, and in which the German Government declines any responsibility for the consequences they may involve.
Last spring the Department’s attention was called to the deportations of the French civil population from Lille, Roubaix and Tourcoing, very similar in effect to the present deportation of the Belgian civil population; and on June 21 we informed Mr. Gerard17 that, acting under instructions from his Government, the Belgian Minister [Page 42] had brought this matter to my attention, and that the Belgian Government, feeling that a similar measure may be taken with the population of occupied Belgium, had requested this Government to bring to the attention of the German Government that such an act would be in violation of international law as well as the law of humanity. Acting on his own initiative Mr. Gerard utilized the occasion of his visit to headquarters in connection with the Sussex matter to express to the Chancellor the hope that the deportations could cease and so avoid the consequences which might seriously affect the existence of the Belgian Relief Commission in the occupied portion of France. The result of Mr. Gerard’s friendly conversation was that the deportations from Lille, Roubaix and Tourcoing almost immediately ceased.
This morning I have made it clear to the newspaper correspondents that my recent instruction to Grew in regard to the deportations from Belgium must not be construed in the nature of an official protest of this Government; for it was made wholly on behalf of the Belgian Government and People.
Trusting that the Department’s course meets with your approval, and with assurances [etc.]
- See Foreign Relations, 1916, supp., pp. 858 ff.; also pp. 70–71, 77–78.↩
- ibid., p. 859.↩
- Ibid., p. 860.↩
- Telegram No. 4535, Oct. 27, 1916, ibid., p. 862.↩
- Not printed.↩
- Foreign Relations, 1916, supp., p. 863.↩
- Ibid., 1915, supp., p. 990.↩
- Ibid., 1916, supp., p. 858.↩