The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Italy (Page)3
Sir: Under date of September 22, 1914,4 the Ambassador at Madnid telegraphed the Department that the King of Spain had proposed [Page 1051] to him that the American and Spanish diplomatic representatives accredited to the different belligerent governments make a joint request of those governments that hospital supplies in transit on the high seas may be considered by them as neither contraband nor conditional contraband of war, but free.
The Department therefore instructed the heads of the different missions accredited to the countries at war, acting in conjunction with their Spanish colleagues, to bring the matter to the attention of the respective governments.
A despatch has now been received from the Ambassador at London, transmitting a list of hospital supplies which the British Government states it would be prepared to accept as coming within the description contained in the Declaration of London, provided that a general agreement among the belligerent powers can be obtained.
A copy of this list is transmitted herewith,1 which please submit to the Italian Foreign Office with a view to obtaining, if possible, the agreement of the Italian Government in the matter, as indicated by the British Government, and inform the Department of the result of your representations.
In your efforts to obtain the desired agreement please cooperate with your Spanish colleague.
I am [etc.]
- The same, mutatis mutandis, to the Ambassadors in France, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia, Japan, Turkey, and Spain.↩
- Foreign Relations, 1914, Supplement, p. 831.↩
- Not printed.↩