File No. 199.1/135
The Ambassador in Great Britain (Page) to the Secretary of State
[Received 10.05 p. m.]
1843. Your 1280, March 16, 5 p. m., last paragraph. Foreign Office would prefer that their confidential memorandum of February 11 should not be published, but they have no objection to the publication of a similar memorandum dated March 25 which I have now received. This memorandum is identical with that of February 1 from the latter’s beginning down to and including Section 2 which concludes “applicable to radiotelegraphy.” Thereafter the memorandum of March 25 reads as follows:
3. The necessity for control of cables in its relation to matters which may be described generally as being of a purely naval or military nature is obvious and needs no demonstration. In addition to this it is clear that in view of the great importance of restricting the enemies’ supplies and withholding facilities from them for carrying on their trade His Majesty’s Government can not be expected to afford the use of British cables to enable neutral and enemy countries to make arrangements with each other for the conduct of that trade and the principle upon which the censorship of commercial telegrams is conducted is to withhold so far as British cables are concerned all facilities for carrying on trade directly or indirectly with an enemy country.
4. Accordingly all cables are liable to be stopped which show clear evidence either by the text of the telegram or by the known facts as to the sender or addressee that they refer to a transaction whether in contraband or non-contraband to which a resident in an enemy country is one of the parties.
[Page 713]5. This principle it will be observed is applied impartially to British, Allied or neutral subjects who endeavour to trade with the enemy through the medium of British cables.1